MobileRead December 2014 Discussion: The Cricket on the Hearth (spoilers)

[WT Sharpe]

The time has come to discuss the November 2014 MobileRead Book Club selection, The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens. What did you think?

[issybird]

Frankly, I was disappointed. I thought it mawkish and obvious, with the plot twists visible a mile away. I listened to the Audible freebie narrated by Jim Dale and I thought he did a wonderful job and wrung every possible bit of interest from the tale. At that, I probably wouldn't have made it through the tedious and twee introduction about the relative merits of the kettle and the cricket had it not been a book club read.

The best bit was using the baby as a battering ram. I also liked the description of Caleb's home/workshop, populated by the dolls, and gallant Caleb was my favorite character.

I was also deceived by its characterization as a Christmas story, being set at the end of January. My fault - I assume it was published as the sentimental type of story people in the mid-19th century enjoyed at Christmas. Overall, though, this was sub-par Dickens and I infer it's prettty typical of other popular and forgotten works of the time. A man's got to make a living, even if his muse has absented itself.

I hope someone who liked it more can persuade me otherwise!

[WT Sharpe]

Well, I kind of liked it. It was no Christmas Carol, but it served its purpose. I thought the idea of using something as simple as a cricket's chirp to get people to pause and rethink things was interesting.

I read it twice. First I read HarryT's excellent version on my Kindle (contained in his Christmas Books by Charles Dickens upload to our library), then I listened to a free Librivox audio version read by Ruth Golding (an excellent reader, by the way).

I also read the runner-up for this month, The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, which, in my opinion, after a great start ran out of steam before it reached the finish line. I found it to be half hilarious and engaging, followed by a too-long wait for the end.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I also read the runner-up for this month, The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, which, in my opinion, after a great start ran out of steam before it reached the finish line. I found it to be half hilarious and engaging, followed by a too-long wait for the end.

I read this also and I agree. The antic fun of the first part was eclipsed by the sentimental ending. I decided that it was the fable of how the Old World at first gives way to the energy of the New World, but in the end, the Old World conquers and absorbs the brash upstarts. No wonder that as an unabashed Yank, the first part was more to my taste. Go, team!

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by issybird

I read this also and I agree. The antic fun of the first part was eclipsed by the sentimental ending. I decided that it was the fable of how the Old World at first gives way to the energy of the New World, but in the end, the Old World conquers and absorbs the brash upstarts. No wonder that as an unabashed Yank, the first part was more to my taste. Go, team!

Wilde certainly seemed to have some unique opinions about U.S. citizens. I loved the family's reactions to the ghost, but if had I seen what they saw, I doubt my reactions would be in any respect similar.

I almost abandoned this during the cricket versus teapot chapter. Then I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to give audio books another chance. (Thanks WT Sharpe for the Librivox mention). So I listened to the rest of it last night. A light weight piece of fluff. It was obvious Dickens, but far from his best.

[BelleZora]

Yea, the cricket versus the teapot almost ended it for me, too. But I muddled through to the last when Tackleton is overcome by the spirit of Christmas and becomes an entirely different person as did Scrooge, except that Scrooge's transformation was more believable.

According to Wikipedia, The Cricket on the Hearth was a commercial success in 1845 quickly going through two printings and was performed repeatedly in stage adaptations to the end of the century. So the most interesting thing about this book for me is how much literary tastes have changed in the last century and a half.

[WT Sharpe]

I thought the cricket vs. the teapot segment was very cleverly written; I thoroughly enjoyed that part and thought it was one of the book's highlights. Dicken's anthropomorphic portrait of a frustrated teapot trying to keep up the pace was wonderfully painted in my mind. I could see how a creature as simple as a cricket could assume a teapot was a rival in a singing contest.

Hamlet53, I agree that The Cricket and the Hearth was far from Dicken's best, and BelleZora, I agree that Scrooge's transformation was far more believable and the ground for it far better prepared than was Tackleton's, but I certainly enjoyed the playful cricket vs. teapot segment far more than either of you.

[fantasyfan]

I thought it was the Victorian equivalent of a soap opera. Dickens pulls out a whole series of clichéd plot elements such as the long-lost brother (and lover), moralistic fantasy, and two varieties of the Autumn/May romance with a touch of "After the Ball is Over". The characters are typical of what one finds in a Dickens work, and many of them create a sense of Déjà vu. The blind girl is one of Dickens's "sweet" women. She just doesn't work for me. I find Dot and John reasonable enough though it seems odd that Dot would wait so long to share vital information with a dearly loved husband--a fact which makes their reactions plot-forced.

Dickens cheats a bit early on by implying that Dot is involved in some illicit affair which sets up the reader for her meeting with Edward. Of course, the reader would have to be gullible to be fooled.

In no way does this match A Christmas Carol and it isn't really a Christmas story at all. Nonetheless, even minor Dickens is worth reading and there are some nice turns of phrase; I like the play on "founding" and "fondling" which reminds us of his social conscience. And, of course, he neatly ties everything up at the end.

[sun surfer]

I went back and forth with this one. I liked the beginning like Tom did and thought the cricket/kettle battle was funny, and was with issy in thinking the idea of the baby hitting everything was the funniest bit. It then lost my interest with the rest of that chapter.

Then reading the middle chapter gave me a nice warm fuzzy feeling, although I had just dosed up on my pain medicine. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed it! But it was wearing off in another sitting when I read the final chapter and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much though I think my favourite part of the story was the final few sentences.

All in all I'm glad I read it. It doesn't have any resonating feel-good moral like A Christmas Carol and so I can see why it eventually faded away despite being enormously popular at first printing.

[treadlightly]

I thought the story was entertaining despite a slow start. I had pretty low expectations after the first few paragraphs so I was happy that it turned into a story.

[issybird]

It seems as if modern readers have a lower toleration for prolonged whimsy than our Victorian forebears.

[WT Sharpe]

Very strange. My reaction to the story seemed to be almost a mirror reversal of the majority. I found the whimsical opening to be the most engaging part of the tale. Maybe my recreational activities in the 60s had something to do with it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

According to Wikipedia, The Cricket on the Hearth was a commercial success in 1845 quickly going through two printings and was performed repeatedly in stage adaptations to the end of the century. So the most interesting thing about this book for me is how much literary tastes have changed in the last century and a half.

Interestingly, the book which was the most commercially successful of Dickens's five "Christmas Books" during his lifetime was "The Chimes" (the second of the five to be published). It was only in the early years of the 20th century that "A Christmas Carol" achieved the runaway success it has since maintained.

I must say that "The Cricket on the Hearth" is far from being my favourite of the five, but given that generally all the attention goes to ACC, it's nice to read the other four from time to time. They're all short reads which can be easily read in an evening.