The Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens

This was Charles Dickens’ first novel, and it’s less a novel than a bunch of wacky adventures. The overall plot follows Samuel Pickwick and his group of middle-aged buddies as they have British adventures and get into trouble. Like most Dickens novels, this started as a serialized story told over the course of a year or so, and it’s very episodic. Think of this like a TV show before there was electricity. 

Sam Pickwick is a goofy guy. He somehow has money (none of the members of his club seem to have jobs, but they have money) and he wants to go out in the world and have experiences. Most of the adventures are funny, with a lot of slapstick humor. Example: On several occasions the gag is that someone walks into the wrong room and sees another character in bedclothes. That’s the bit. So we’re not really talking about David Sedaris-level comedy here. But the humor is charming. It’s less Far Side than Family Circus. 

And not everything is played for laughs. There’s a lot of commentary about the foolishness of British society, the legal system, prison, poverty, etc. and you can see all the seeds for later (and better-plotted) Dickens works here. 

What I liked most was thinking about young Dickens writing this – he was a smartass kid who was poking fun at things with his words. I respect that. I did the same thing.

The other thing I liked about this (long!) book is that every chapter has an illustration. The entire book started as a literary experiment in which an artist would draw an illustration and Dickens would write a story to go with it. Over time, the story took shape and I think the illustrations were then dictated by the story instead of the other way around. 

And the last thing I like about the book is the character of Sam Weller. Sam shows up after a few chapters and then steals the show. Think of him as Jim from The Office, providing the right amount of observation to the ridiculous situations. But unlike Jim, Sam is also funny and caring. (Shots fired!)

Sam Weller became the breakout star of the story. But, as a whole, this isn’t a good novel. It’s a weird, fun look into the mind of early Charley D. where you see the beginnings of greatness. I only recommend this if you love Dickens and want to see where it all started.

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