Hard Times

Rating:
Summary: The Marxist Connection
Review: Coketown is "the inner-most fortifications of that ugly citadel where Nature was as strongly bricked out as killing airs and gases were bricked in at the heart of the labyrinth of narrow courts upon courts, and close streets upon streets, which had come into existence."

Hard Times takes place in 1854, six years after Karl Marx first published his ideas in the Communist Manifesto. Marx revolutionized the way people looked at history. His historical science was a radically new way of looking at human history, our past, our present, and our future. Marxist themes are plentiful in Hard Times, everything from the Bourgeoisie to the Proletariat are represented in this account of the industrial revolution.

Dickens provides an excellent portrayal of real-life people faced with hard times amidst an economic boom. This is a touching story, giving names and faces to the people who are creating, being replaced by, and being abused by the industrial revolution. The Communist Manifesto is not complete until you have read Hard Times.

Rating:
Summary: Brillant
Review: Hard Times is a fantastic account of how social history intemingles with economic and politcal history as Dickens is a noted writer for the politcal atmostphere of Victorian Britain. This book takes a hard shot at Utilitarinism and with good reason. The imagery and description in this book are simply brillant. A definate read if you want a look at how it was in the Victorian Era.

Rating:
Summary: Hard Times in High School?
Review: Recently, my own teacher made me read this book, and needless to say, it only picks up in the end where Dickens finally realizes that he's left too many loose ends for this novel to be good. It's definetely not Great Expectations or David Copperfield as the entire thing is depressing, morose, and a bother to read. Dickens throws in characters that don't furthur the plot (do I hear paid by the word?)The characters aren't real, I mean nobody could be worse off than Stephen Blackpool; the allusions are driven home, the Bounderby as wind motif; and its basically hammered out. Luckily, its the shortest one of Dicken's works and I wouldn't recommend any teachers forcing this upon students...it will make them flock to their nearest Cliff's Notes retailer (Amazon.com...) in droves. So for me, it was Hard Times indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Dated, Yet Startlingly Modern
Review: HARD TIMES has its own special place in world literature, even as it does in Dickens's own oeuvre. Its brevity contrasts with the longer works for which Dickens is more famous, and its satiric skewering of rampant capitalism leaves an imprint on the reader's mind not soon forgotten.

Dickens holds up Thomas Gradgrind for us, Sir, a singular member of the industrial community of "Coketown," a man who is so obsessed with Facts that he never allows his children to Feel. They are to "discard the word Fancy altogether." To ensure this strict materialistic philosophy, the children are taught by a schoolmaster named "McChoakumchild." In Gradgrind's friend Josiah Bounderby Dickens gives us possibly the most layered, complete and abhorrent hypocrite in all of English literature. Moliere's Tartuffe is the height of sincerity compared with Bounderby, who seems really to have convinced himself of his own myth after many years of browbeating others with his pompous false modesty. The fact that he is a factory owner who mercilessly exploits his workers only makes him the less endearing. And this is the man Tom Gradgrind gives his daughter to in marriage!

The book's narrator clearly distinguishes the good guys from the bad guys, all in an effective effort to show that humans need to appreciate sentiment and sympathy much more than they need to worship dollars and cents. In 1854 HARD TIMES showed the triumphalist British industrialists their dark side. It stands today as a treasured statement against cost-benefit ratios and anti-intellectualism in a world where CEOs "earn" $10 million bonuses the same week 4,000 workers lose their jobs. It will stand tomorrow anywhere people are scorned for showing their feelings, beaten down in body and spirit, or victimized by rank injustice.

Rating:
Summary: god this is awful
Review: "Is there anything more dull than this damn book?" - Gradgrind

Rating:
Summary: Short and Exquisite
Review: Some critics go so far as to say this is not an important part of Dickens. In my opinion this is a serious error. If anything, this is one of his best creations. The characters are plausible. In addition, the passages are dramatic and chilling. Dickens also fills this work with suspense, powerful images, and dramatic irony. Not one page is wasted. Don't let the thin length of this book fool you. This is a phenomenal masterpiece in every sense of the word.

Rating:
Summary: Short and Exquisite
Review: While this is certainly one of Dickens' shorter novels, that does not stop me from considering it an exquisite masterpiece. In all honesty "Hard Times" (1854) is full of chilling passages and convincing characters such as Thomas and Louisa Gradgrind. There is not one single dull moment. Also, every chapter is full of striking images. In addition, the suspense and dramatic irony are well placed. To be sure, many of Dickens' full length books such as "Dombey & Son" (1848) and "Bleak House" (1853)are exquisite as well. But, don't let the thin length of "Hard Times" fool you. It is a masterpiece and one I highly recommend!

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not up to Dickens standerds
Review: Charles Dickens was the greatest writer of all time, unfortuntly you can't tell that from Hard Times. Not that its a bad book, for your average writer its pretty good, but I agree that it doesn't have his usual humour and that its kind of flat. Its also kind of a one subject book too, you know, it mainly deals with parents who put down their kids imaginations. I did like it though, it just wasn't as memorable.

Rating:
Summary: Hard Times
Review: I picked up Hard Times preparing to enjoy it since Charles Dickens is my favorite author. While not going so far to say that I was disappointed,I will say that it was the first Charles Dickens novel that I almost felt like not finishing. Not only is the plot rather humorless, but the characters are charmless and almost uninteresting. If it hadnt been written by Dickens then I may have liked it better but as it was it did not have any of Dickens usual charm and humor.

Rating:
Summary: Dark and rich
Review: Dickens' shortest novel is an attack on utilitarianism, the squelching power of schools and factories to eliminate joy from life among the rich and poor alike. (Dickens perhaps prefigures Orwell with his Coketown of horror.) While some of the business about labor unions is unsuccessful, the love/despair story of Louisa Gradgrind is superbly rendered. A very good novel for those unsure of themselves in life!