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May 30, 2019LibraryUser53 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Early 19th century situation-comedy in book (or audiobook) form. Many similarities to the Seinfeld TV series; i.e. much ado about nothing. Here's the plot: A few men and women go about their business of trying to enjoy life, with sort of a "have your cake and eat it too" plan. Men like women. Women like men. What could possibly go wrong? Instead all sorts of mundane complications seem to be conspire to get in the way. At one point the main characters end up in prison in a comedic Kafkaesque scenario, another similarity to Seinfeld. Upsides: It's a fun, easy listen about early 18th century routine life in the UK, perhaps as would be reported in a local newspaper gossip column at the time. Each chapter is more or less independent of the others; as a series of humorous and mostly heartwarming stories, this is something you can listen to over a length of time without losing the continuity. Given Dickens is the author, a person could learn a few things about how to write an interesting paragraph as well. Finally, the audio-book reader does a good job. Downsides: Dicken's forte' is his interesting use language to tell a story; plot and character development on the other hand, not so much. Also the early 1800's writing style might be off-putting to some modern readers; it comes across a little on the too-silly side. Overall, for an easy enjoyable audio-book that you can listen to over many weeks at 10-20 minutes at a time, recommended.