“Hard Times” By Charles Dickens Review

Without a moral compass to guide them, the children sink into lives of desperation and despair, played out against the grim background of Coketown, a wretched community shadowed by an industrial behemoth. Louisa falls into a loveless marriage with Josiah Bouderby, a vulgar banker, while the unscrupulous Tom, totally lacking in principle, becomes a thief who frames an innocent man for his crime. Witnessing the degradation and downfall of his children, Gradgrind realizes that his own misguided principles have ruined their lives.

I had a lot of expectations for this book since I’ve heard so much good about it. But after reading this book I gotta say that I’m very neutral about this book. I don’t have any strong feelings or thoughts about it. 

This book is one of Charles Dickens shortest books, and I gotta say that that this one is far from being one of his best books. If you want to get into reading Charles Dickens books don’t start with this one choose instead “A Christmas carol” or “a tale of two cities”. Because if you start with this one, it might quickly end your journey with Charles Dickens.

This book is set in a fictional town and it is about the utilitarian and the industrial influence had on the Victorian society. Its for sure a new topic for me since its the first book I’ve read so far about this topic and I gotta say that this book got me interested in this topic in a way. 

The plot as I said above was very unique for me. And I really liked it for the most part but there were times where I found the plot to be dragging at times. I feel like there were some moments in this book which could have been cut short and it would only make this book better.

The characters in this book were amazing, I feel in love with them very quickly. But towards the end I was so tired of them that I started in a way disliking them. Which really disappoint over this. 

The writing style here was okay, but to be very honest after having read other books from Charles Dickens in the past I know that this guy can much better work than what he did in this book.  

I Give This Book 3 / 5

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