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Claire Tomalin has written one of the more recent biographies of Charles Dickens: Charles Dickens: A Life . Our library has both the text and the audiobook so I decided to try the latter.
It was an enjoyable experience, but in the end I was disappointed with this biography. It lacked depth and detail. In fact, when one contrasts it to the work by Una Pope-Hennessy, Charles Dickens, published in 1945 just after all of the letters of the author became available, this new "Life" is dwarfed in size, detail, insight, and analytical skill. Pope-Hennessy does a far better job dealing with the novels, whereas, Tomalin simply dips quickly into some of them. {The Pope-Hennessy biography BTW is still easily obtainable in paperback--but neither as an ebook nor audiobook--so far as I know}
So, this audiobook is pleasant enough but not of much use if you are looking for something that sheds new light on or even a new perspective of Dickens. For that you must go elsewhere.
Last edited by fantasyfan; 01-28-2013 at 07:47 AM.
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