Summary from Amazon: When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, he takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother’s seamstress, and in the affairs of Amy’s father, William Dorrit, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr. Pancks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, and the tipsily garrulous Flora Finching, to Merdle, an unscrupulous financier, and the bureaucratic Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office. A masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit is one of the supreme works of Dickens’s maturity .

It took me about a week to read this book. Which is a fairly long time, for me. The reason for this is that I couldn’t simply sit down and read this book for hours on end. I’d read a few chapters, then I’d have to put it down. Little Dorrit was written during the nineteenth century, so Charles Dickens’ language was quite different then what we use today. Because of this, I had to stop every once in a while and let the current circumstances of the book soak in before I continued.

Although it took me awhile to read this book, I’d have to say it was fairly amazing! One of the things that really stood out to me was the uniqueness of all the character’s speech. For example, Mr. Dorrit had his “ha” and “hum”, Barnacle Junior seemed to end most of his sentences with “you know”, Pancks had his snorts (for lack of a better word), Mr. Sparkler’s women always had “no begaud nonsense about them“, and Fanny was always wishing herself dead. I thought that was really cool because, for the most part, I could tell who was talking even before reading who said what!

Even cooler than the character’s speech were the characters’ themselves. Particularly the main character, Amy Dorrit. The way Dickens’ wrote her makes her a rare jewel. I know of no person who is truly selfless. Amy really does care for others than she does for herself. That is something you don’t come across very often, in both books and life. Amy’s love life is something I very much enjoyed as well. I really didn’t know if she would be able to find love, in the end.

The plot itself is absolutely mesmerizing. And I have to say, I had no idea how it was going to end! The book is very detailed, so the plot moves along a bit slow. It contains so many different aspects. There’s romance, lots of mystery, family life, and so much more!

This book truly is a great classic that I think many people should read. Overall, this book absolutely amazed me!

My rating- 5/5 stars

P.S. If you'd like to watch a great film adaptation of Little Dorrit, I recently watched one that completely enthralled me. Just click here.

Posted by Melanie at 10:34 AM    

Labels: 5 stars, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit