The Cricket on the Hearth | A Fairy Tale of Home
I’m reading this as my Christmas book for the season as well as the beginning of a research project for next year’s NaNoWriMo novel. I apologize for remaining secretive about this project, but I CAN say it involves reading a butt-load of Mr. Dickens!
I am very enthusiastic about this project, and I’m glad Rhiannon feels the same. I’m glad I begin this year with Mr. Dickens with Cricket. I’ve never read it, and it’s nice and short. This commentary, on the other hand, may not be.
Interesting. It seems Mr. Dickens is trying to recreate the feel of the opening lines in A Christmas Carol, here. “Marley was dead: to begin with.” “The Kettle began it!” And both begin with a discourse which introduces the setting of the story.
However, in Cricket, Mr. Dickens spends the first few pages giving us his opinion on where the story should start. He even ventures to argue with one of his characters about it. For the first few pages I wasn’t sure who was telling the story. I assumed Dickens’ voice in the opening lines was that of a character within the story.
I understand Dickens got paid by the word, and a writer has the need to experiment with his work, but this only confused me. I, myself, played with the idea of giving the reader my opinion in such a way, and even interact with the characters. Rhiannon was never receptive to the idea though. Reading this only reinforces her point. I found it rather disorienting.
As for the rest of this first chirp … it’s great in the way only Dickens is great. Sure, at times he can be too verbose in his descriptions for the modern reader, but his dialogue is still flawless.
Because I don’t know anything about the plot of this story, I’m not sure what I’ve just seen here in this chapter. It was a night in the life of a delivery man and his family. We were introduced to the whole cast (I assume, since the book only has three chapters), and he’s set up a lot of things.
Mr. Tackleton sounds like an interesting man. He’s obsessed with his work and his hatred of those who it benefits. He adores the ugly, and tries to project it into the toys he makes. Oddly enough, Mr. Tackleton makes it sound like people actually admire what he does. Such a mixed up man.
He stirs up trouble for John too. John’s revelry at the end of the chapter is beautiful and finally terrible. The meditation the Cricket gives him is interrupted by a virus in the mind put there by Mr. Tackleton. There’s no way I can stop reading at this point.
Pleasing, in an unexpected way. I didn’t think we’d be changing settings at all. I wasn’t expecting that … whatever that was, with Mrs. Perrybingle and the stranger. I assume we find our more about this in the conclusion.
There seems to be quite a few possible redemptions in this story. John, Dot, Caleb, and Mr. Tackleton promise to have revelations, confrontations, and changes of heart. This is where I start to get worried. Mr. Dickens has many things to do in such few pages …
Other than A Christmas Carol, I’ve only ever read one Dickens novel: Great Expectations–and that was for high school. I remember loving every moment of the read, but, when I came to the end, my stomach was ripped out. You see, through his narration, he lead me to believe there was more to the story from the very beginning. When he didn’t deliver, it hurt. I’m afraid that my expectations might be too high here. Let’s hope my disappointment with my first experience with Mr. Dickens was a fluke … and misunderstanding youth. Oh, c’mon, you knew I was going to end up read that book again too. That’s a SHORT one–haha!
My fears were unfounded! Mr. Dickens manages to fulfill every promise made in the previous two chapters. Dot and John are a happy family again. May doesn’t have to marry the miser, Mr. Tackleton comes around, Caleb and Bertha find comfort in the truth … everything.
As I was reading the chapter, at times, I thought to myself, “now this seems contrived,” and some of it was. There are some pretty miraculous turn arounds here, at the end of the story. Bertha would have known she wasn’t surrounded by luxury, I think. She also would have known the true nature of Mr. Tackleton. Once I was finished reading, I flipped over to the title page again, and meditated for a moment … “A Fairy Tale of Home.” That did it. Miraculous turn arounds and mysterious ignorance are completely acceptable–encouraged–in fairy tales. Brilliant to the last drop.
I’m not sure how much this has done for my research for The Dickens Project, but it has given me a peek at what I’m in for in the coming year. Bring it on Mr. Dickens … bring–it–on.
Tags: Books, Genre: Classics, NaNoWriMo
The Dickens Project, Thoughts on Books | Joey | 
25 December 2009 4:20 PM
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