Martin Chuzzlewit

It's already been said how rambling this novel can be, but in many ways Dickens wrote it as ideas came into his head with only a mild inkling as to how it would all end. And although his characters tend to be wholly righteous or wholly evil, this does at least allow for excellent comedy, for it is by emphasising the extreme aspects of character at the expense of a more well-rounded disposition that we can laugh at some aspects of ourselves.

A good read.


Another Dickens Comic Masterpiece   May 31, 2000
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

Martin Chuzzlewit is a gigantic sprawling Victorian novel about relationships. In typical Dickensian fashion it is both serious and comic as it deals with various relationships between family members (in particular Martin Chuzzlewit senior and his grandson, Martin junior), friends, acquaintances and enemies. There are a great many brilliant characters in this novel, though I would especially single out Seth Pecksniff, the worst, the most hypocritical and vile villain imaginable, and Tom Pinch, a better man and friend than anyone could ever ask to meet.

Although the plot does tend to ramble at times, in the last quarter of the novel where the focus switches to the actions of Jonas Chuzzlewit, it moves along at a fair old clip.

This might not be Dickens' greatest novel (I would place at least four or five of the others before it) but it is, nonetheless, a minor comic masterpiece that has a great deal of wisdom and sheer pleasure to offer any reader. And oh! what characters you're guaranteed to meet on the way!


Martin Chuzzlewit is funny, memorable, and insightful.   April 3, 1998
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Martin Chuzzlewit is a funny, memorable, and insightful book. The engravings in the Oxford Illustrated edition are a charming addition to this story of hypocrisy, family intrigue, selfishness, loyalty, and friendship. Dickens's use of language is precise and often stinging. The book is laced with humor in the service of more profound goals. If you buy the Oxford Illustrated edition, skip the critical essay at the start of the volume, as it gives away some plot elements best left for the reader to discover. (Read the essay AFTER you have finished the book, if you like, or just ignore it.) My 9 rating reflects the combination of humor, satire, memorable characters (most especially the resolutely jolly Mark Tapley and the hypocritical Mr. Pecksniff), and a thoroughly entertaining plot.