Category Archives: Book Reviews

Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens

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Dombey and Son (Cronos Classics) eBook by Charles Dickens - 9782378073671 | Rakuten Kobo Greece

In this work the author presents his views on the relationship between money and human nature. Dombey was haughty, imperious, and cruel when he had a great deal of money. After he went bankrupt, he confessed to his daughter and became both weak and kind. Florence and Gay took him in, and old Dombey, loving his grandson, lived a quiet and happy old age. Dombey and Son also truly reflects the development of industrial capitalism in Britain in the 1830s and 1840s, especially the development of the railway industry occupies an obvious place in the novel.

The work describes the vanity and hypocrisy of small citizens and the evil of the marriage system in Victorian England. The author tries to show the great corrosive and destructive effect of money on family relations (mainly father-son relations and husband-wife relations), which reflects the social reality that family relations have been reduced to the naked money relations in capitalist society. Paul’s premature death and Florence’s failure to seek her father’s love powerfully reveal the dominance of money and the fact that money is doomed to failure when it competes with emotion.

However, while criticizing the money relationship, the author tries to counter the money relationship with emotional education and moral influence. In fact, the root cause of Dombey’s transformation was his subsequent change in rank, and not the result of his daughter’s warmth. It must also be pointed out that it is obviously one-sided and inadequate for the author to attribute the monetization of family relations only to the conflict between money and emotion, which reflects the limitations of the author’s world view. Dombey and Son is a tightly structured novel created by Dickens, which is quite different from the loose structure in his earlier works.

The appearance of all the characters, and the development of the story, is arranged around the development of Mr. Dombey’s destiny, and the events are organically bound together, and the story is very lively and interesting. The artistic techniques Dickens used in his novels are varied. There are biting sarcasm, humor with a smile, objective descriptions, deliberate exaggerations, direct and simple statements, and also witty metaphors. Dickens’s characters are all alive. They have their own unique character, but also their own unique language. Even a dog, a parrot, a pair of tongs, and a curtain sometimes give vivid expression to their thoughts and feelings.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

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This heartwarming story is not an ordinary book. It is told through the eyes of a dog, Enzo! The book actually begins at the end of the book, or more specifically: the end of Enzo’s life (cue the tears). Enzo knows his time is up, but his owner Denny does not.

Then, the book goes back to the beginning, when Denny first adopts Enzo from a farm. Denny at that point is a bachelor, a professional race car driver. Enzo during his first year with Denny learns a lot about cars and car racing. About a year or two later, Enzo becomes a big brother and protector to Zoë, Denny and Eve’s daughter. Everything seems to be going well until it doesn’t.

*Warning: Spoilers ahead

Enzo silently watches as Eve suffers from constant headaches making her unpleasant to be around. He can sense the illness inside Eve but cannot say anything to warn the family. Eve fights a tough battle, but unfortunately, it is not a fight that she wins.

Denny, fresh-faced with his wife’s passing, is now faced with a custody battle with Eve’s parents who deems Denny as unsuitable for Denny to raise Zoë. He ends up selling his house and giving up racing temporarily in order to do anything they can to take back custody of his daughter.

The rest of the book consists of arduous trials consisting of an accused assault (that was not true), difficulty in getting back Zoë; things just are not going well for Denny. Luckily there is a turn around for Denny at the end; he gets back custody of his daughter, the assault charges are dropped, and gets an amazing offer of a new job as a car test and track instructor in Italy. Eventually, Enzo’s race is reaching an end, and Denny realizes this so he lets Enzo run to a field, where Enzo can run faster and never stop.

I definitely recommend this book but it is a tear-jerker (fair warning)

-Phoebe L.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive.

Book Review: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

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A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: 9780553212440 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

The novel is mainly about a miser. A miser had saved a lot of money, yet he was unwilling to add a lump of coal to the clerk’s fire. His nephew kindly invited him to the Christmas Eve party, but he thought his nephew was just trying to take advantage of him by refusing. Activists asked him to give a little Christmas food to the poor, but he was mercilessly rebuffed. He went home at night, and in the darkness he saw a face. Was it really a ghost? Or is it his vision? However, the appearance of the ghost has changed him completely.

Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by three Christmas spirits: Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. Christmas Past shows him how his sister cared for him in his lonely childhood, and how, as an apprentice, his kind boss, Fitzwig, danced with the crowd and entertained his staff on Christmas Eve. His heart began to soften, and he regretted his treatment of his employees and his transformation from a poor but happy young man to a rich but friendless boss. Present took him to a Christmas party at the home of one of his subordinates. It was a little clerk on a poor salary. There were no Christmas presents, no turkeys, but everyone had a happy smile on their faces. Yet to Come showed him the loneliness of being in bed with no family or friends to see him at Christmas when he was old. He began to rethink the meaning of life, and found that giving was happier than receiving. All this gradually awakened the other side of his humanity — compassion, kindness, love and joy. In an instant, his inherent selfishness and coldness collapsed and disappeared, and he became a good Samaritan.

So on Christmas morning, the morning after the ghost’s visit, Bob, an employee, arrives late for work, expecting Scrooge to be angry. But instead scrooge said to him, “Merry Christmas to you, my good fellow! I’ll give you a raise, and I’ll do my best to help your poor family. Get the fire lit quickly and buy a coal basket.” Then he bought a very big Turkey and had it sent to Bob’s family. Then, on his first visit to his nephew, he greeted people on the street with “Merry Christmas” and they smiled kindly at him. For the first time in his life Scrooge felt truly happy. His heart was laughing, and he felt the real joy of life in his charity.

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

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The Old Curiosity Shop (Penguin Classics): Dickens, Charles, Page, Norman: 9780140437423: Amazon.com: Books

The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) describes the tragic fate of the collapse of bourgeois in capitalist society. An old man with whom the author has deep sympathy runs an antique shop in a small alley in London. He had to fight against fate to get rich gambling, only to lose the antique shop to the loan shark instead. He and his little granddaughter Nell were ejected from the store. Two people later drifters to the remote countryside and died in the suffering. The kind-hearted little Nell and her grandfather lived together in an old antique shop, a place as magical as a fairy-tale cave. But little Nell did not know that her grandfather, who loved her dearly, hid a secret from her.

There was a crisis lurking in their seemingly uneventful lives — to make a living, and to leave little Nell a legacy that would enable her to live happily ever after. Desperate to get rich, he secretly gambled and borrowed money from the usurious upstart Daniel Quilp. Little did Grandfather think that they had fallen into the clutches of Quilp. Quilp tried to take over the old antique shop and the beautiful Nell. Nell’s sinister cousin, Freddy, had long coveted the business. He teamed up with his friend Dick Swiveller in an attempt to get Dick to marry little Nell, and then they could divide her inheritance between them, but grandfather found out.

Later, Daniel Quilp and his lawyer collect from turent, the old antique shop owner, an insatiable vampire who not only uses usury to take away all the old antique shop’s property, but also wants to take possession of beautiful Nell. Later, Quilp and his lawyer came to collect money from Grandfather, the owner of the old antique shop. The insatiable vampire not only used the usury to take away all the property of the old antique shop, but also wanted to take possession of the beautiful Nell. For the sake of his grand-daughter’s happiness, the old grandfather had to give up his old shop, which he had run for so many years, and take Nell with him to flee from home.

The two were forced to flee London and live a vagrant life of begging. On their way to escape, the two meet a variety of people, some good, some evil intentions, but Quilp has never stopped tracking them. In desperation, a good priest took them in and took them to his orphanage. But here, unfortunately, little Nell became very ill. In the end, the little Nell, who was physically and mentally injured and mentally exhausted, passed away.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

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What if your family had no choice but to pack up all your belongings into a small car and travel a thousand miles on the road? And the destination is no place like home? What would you do?

Set in the “Dirty Thirties” during the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma, the Grapes of Wrath highlights the Joad family as they plan their new future in California, where workers are needed. In their eyes, California is their dream land and the rumored “Promised Land.” The family of thirteen people pack their necessities and are determined to take on the rigorous road to California.

Tom Joad, one of the main characters, leads his family through the obstacles on the road that include starvation and extreme heat. Each family member looks onto the road while facing internal and external challenges. The novel essentially teaches the importance of holding onto dignity and hope during hardships. The Joad family not only maintain hope for a better future, but they also unite together as a family.

Steinbeck additionally embraces the ideal American dream that, in reality, starts within the individuals with hope and determination. His use of symbols and literary devices portray the motif of endurance.

Overall, Steinbeck’s novel makes the reader go on his or her own journey while reading about the up’s and down’s of the Joads. At the end of the long path, the reader realizes that the obstacles they had to face teach them more about their ultimate destination.

-Zohal N. 

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Overdrive. 

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

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NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (complete, unabridged and with all the original illustrations from first publication) - Kindle edition by DICKENS, CHARLES. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Nicholas Nickleby is a boarding school teacher, an ambitious young man who is left penniless by the death of his father. His usury uncle not only refused to extend his hand to help, but uses his sister’s beauty for his own profit. He was upright and kind, and fled back to London to help abused schoolchildren. After many trials and tribulations, he fought with bad guys and exposed his uncle’s plot. Finally, he succeeded and married the girl he loved. Through his experience, the author reveals that at that time, the so-called poor run schools were actually profit-making places, the students suffered from hunger all day long, and whipping became the most important means of education.

Like most of Dickens’ works, Nicholas Nickleby is set in a contemporary setting. Most of the action takes place in London, with some episodes in Portsmouth and some in Yorkshire and Devon. This work satirizes social injustice in the form of irony. In the subject matter of this book, the main one is the education at that time. Dickens strongly criticized the education system at that time. He believes it is a serious crime that the British education system allows poorly functioning boarding schools to abuse children. Kindness and compassion are the main themes of this book. Noggs also plays the role of guardian angel because he is kind and upright. The friendship between Smike and Nicklyby further shows Dickens’ pity for some unfortunate people.

Greed is also an important theme of the novel. All characters make others suffer for their own financial gain. Most of their mistakes are caused by the love of money. Just as the Bible says: Money is the root of all evil. The book also deals with sexism and the passage of teenagers into adulthood. The book tells the story in the third person. Sometimes, the feelings of the characters are directly written out, and sometimes the feelings or thoughts of the characters are indirectly expressed through some small actions or facial expressions. When Dickens describes the abused children in chapter 8, he employs different rhetorical devices such as exaggeration, metaphor, alliteration and personification to leave readers with images of those children.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

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I was very astonished by the author’s premonition of our current society. He uses Montag as a prototype of human disconnection and the power of electronic devices on us these days. However, the only thing different between Montag and people these days is that he has between dissuaded from the importance of electronic devices but the people these days haven’t.

Truth proved that TV and smartphones are very addictive these days, which the reason why a lot of teenagers are sent to rehab centers, not for drugs or something else, but merely because they cannot stop playing games or going on their phones and computers. But who can say that this is a less horrible addiction than drugs? Not only the kids are like this, but the parents are no different. Some parents often hand their children the iPad to merely keep them quiet, or instead of wasting their time and playing with them, they’d rather the children play with their gadgets. Therefore, Mildred actually exists everywhere, and in my opinion, she is only a symbolism for this phenomena.

Lastly, this novel serves as an admonition to people in our current society. We have no more feelings and are numbed by the excitement and easy amusement offered by the TV. But once the connection is severed from those that we love and those around us, it is very unlikely to pick it up when the only thing we care about in this world is the happiness of ourselves the how many electronic devices we should have to accomplish that.

-Coreen C. 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. 

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

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I read this play last year and had my own thoughts on there. I did like the characters despite their overdramatic characteristics. Moreover, the plot was generally not tedious and did offer some twists which I like such as Juliet faking her death and Romeo not receiving the letter explaining all of it in time.

Through this play, I also learned how family feud can lead to very bad results. If both families would just allow this pair of young lovers to unite then nothing of this sort would have occurred at all. It also shows how distant and nonchalant are parents toward the psychological activities of their children. All they possibly think about is the reputation of their standing in society and who they think upon marrying their child with will bring them the most benefit. Nonetheless, I was touched by the avid love between Romeo and Juliet and how they were willing to sacrifice everything for each other’s sake.

One of the other things that I find interesting is the duel scenes. Originally, Tybalt might not have hated Mercutio and Romeo so much if it wasn’t for the fact that they are rival families. So again the theme of family feud plays a part where blinded hatred caused the two to break the probable peace between them since Romeo and Juliet were already married. So overall, my opinion on this play is that although it can be overdramatic and a little unrealistic in our life, it teaches the fact that parents should give enough attention to their children to prevent any suicidal thoughts.

-Coreen C.

William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. 

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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This novel was one I was assigned as a summer reading assignment which, undoubtedly deterred my interests from the story. It took a lot of psyching myself up to finally delve into the world Marquez had exquisitely painted. But immediately the book was extremely intriguing. The first line of the novel was an eye-catcher stating “On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on.”

This novel, in the beginning, was confusing. The book was not written in chronological order as suggested but instead jumped around in time. This constant shift through time made it hard to understand a cohesive story during the early stages of reading. However, after a few chapters, the story came together. So as a suggestion, do not let this initial confusion deter you from reading this book.

By the end of the novel, this jumping through time helps create a more intriguing story, creating suspense because the author can choose specific information through different times to give to the reader.

This story is also accurate to the customs of the place in which the story was written. So, it gives an almost realistic feel to a seemingly horrific action. It also allows readers to have some insight into the practices of a different era and different location. This story, stating that the main character was to be killed, then follows the actions which allowed the main character to suffer such a horrific fate. This story ended up being one I extremely enjoyed. I finished the book in a day because I just could not put it down. So, sometimes these books that we are forced to read because of school can actually be enjoyable. It gave me something to do over the summer which was fun.

This book is a nice short read for anyone who is interested in a mystery book. I would suggest it to anybody looking to read something different than the popular books that are being written today. For, this book brings a totally different perspective to the way books can be written.

-Ava G.

Chronicle of Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

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This story starts with a very poor Griffith family being Christian missionaries and singing on the streets. The oldest son in this family Clyde desperately wants to escape poverty and therefore left his family to work in Kansas city at a very luxurious hotel. While he was working there, he and his friends were in an accident that killed a little girl which prompted him to escape to Chicago. There, he met his wealthy uncle and appealed to him to ask if he can get a job in his collar company. Moved by his sincerity and svelte manner, Samuel Griffith agreed.

Thus, in New York Clyde witnessed the lives of the upper society after meeting his cousins Gilbert, Myra and Bella. Through Bella, he also met her friend Sondra Finchley whom he immediately has fallen in love with but due to his penury again, recoiled from courting her. After being switched from the shabby shrinking room to the sewing department, Clyde met a very pretty factory girl named Roberta, they quickly fell in love. However, as time passes Clyde found himself in love with Sondra Finchley, who wants to revenge Gilbert for his complacence also fell in love with Clyde later on. Avid to get rid of Roberta who was pregnant, Clyde unintentionally struck her on a boat when they were on a trip and thus let her drown while he could have saved her. Being captured, later on, Clyde was sentenced to death at last.

Personally, I didn’t enjoy reading this novel too much because of its straightforwardness. There weren’t a lot of surprises and twists in the plot. Greed and inhumanity prompted by money seeping into each character were too ostentatious as to paint a sheen of unreality on them. I wish murder plot could be more carefully planned, thus causing the police to take more time in investigating the crime and potentially create some more suspense.

-Coreen C. 

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.