114. Hard Times

Hard Times
Charles Dickens
1854
Around 350 pages

I hope the four posts I did give you enough reading material for awhile since this is a really busy time for me and I have a couple other books lined up before I get to the next one on The List.  Of course, if it takes you two weeks to read four posts, I don't know why you are on a book blog in the first place.

This is our seventh Dickens book on the list and there is no end in sight.  When I am done with all of these I am going to reward myself with cupcakes.  Hell, I am going to do that any way but at least now it will have meaning.

Josiah Bounderby is a rich factory owner who predictably is a major jerk (hey, it is Dickens after all and he is rich).  He marries his best friend's daughter, despite him being gross and her being good looking.  Stephen Blackpool, a factory worker, walks around with a halo around his head but is stuck married to a terrible woman.  And there is someone named Sissy, I think?  Damn, now I can't remember.  And I am having trouble finding any particle in me that cares.

So the good news?  I think this is the shortest Dickens on The List.  This book aims to bring attention to poverty in England at the time.  I don't know about you, but every year in school we would have a unit on the Industrial Revolution so I kind of already know that it have sucked to be alive back then.  Maybe in his time, he was divulging new information, but I was bored as soon as I turned the first page.

RATING: *----

Interesting Facts:

Mixed reviews from critics.  Yay, some are on my side for once!

UP NEXT: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.