Having moved to another state, I haven't had internet since the beginning of June. I wrote this probably about a month ago and it's just been sitting in an open word doc waiting for when US Internet decided to finally get wired into my apartment building, but IT STILL HASN'T HAPPENED. I finally caved and just bought the public wifi that the city of Minneapolis just randomly has streaming in my neighborhood, but at this point I don't remember anything too much more detailed because I've since finished the new Ondaatje book Warlight, and am also now over halfway through Emma. Time flies, I tell you. Anyway, on to David Copperfield.
With Ciderhouse Rules
fresh on my mind, David Copperfield came
next before I even knew it. Because of the former, I knew this was a story
about an orphan, but I didn’t expect it to contain so many of them. David, Emily, Traddles, Ham…
Surprisingly for an orphan tale, too, David’s story is a
remarkably happy one. In the beginning (and honestly, probably even up to
halfway through the book), I kept expecting the most unfortunate things to
happen to the main character whenever such an opportunity presented itself, but
he always had luck on his side and
somehow came away unmarked. Even with having the misfortune of a stupid and
naïve mother and a “cruel” step father and aunt in his youth, I still found it
kind enough of them to pay for D.C’s lodgings and schooling, which is a lot
more than many other literary characters found themselves having.
In as lengthy a format as this novel was, I find it hard to
imagine it capturing the attention of the orphans in The Ciderhouse Rules. How long would it have taken Homer to finish a
round of it? Would a child really be able to follow the narrative?
Regardless, I found it charming. And as Charles Dickens’
self-proclaimed favorite, I can get a sense of the author’s cheery fondness for
D.C. guiding him through every adventure, much like the cast of Copperfield’s
supporters, who I found to love just as much as if they were my own angels
(Traddles had me from the moment he drew his first skeleton). Maybe Dickens
even put a bit of himself in each of them. I hope so, anyway.
