Who thinks Charles Dickens is a nonsense writer?

Question

With overly wordy writing?

His opening "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", I am sorry, but this makes NO SENSE! NONSENSE???

JUST WHAT THE HELL DID HE MEAN BY "IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES AND IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES"???

I PUT THE BOOK THE BOOK DOWN AFTER READING THAT GARBAGE!

Answer 1

lol, remember having to read this tripe at school! we had to give reasons to what we thought he meant...if the reason differed from the teachers, it was wrong! in other words, we had no opinion! I've hated that crap ever since!

Answer 2

Books from the past are long and "overly wordy" because some were not published in book form first. They were serialized in newspapers and later converted to book form. His writing is beautiful and maybe when you are more mature you will appreciate a true master on his work. They don't call them classics just for the heck of it. Maybe you should spend some time and think about what possibly the opening quote could mean. If you cannot come up with anything ask a teacher to help you make some sense of it. How can you complain if you give up on the first page. Have you ever made a bad impression on someone and wanted a second chance to redeem yourself?

Answer 3

I do think that Charles Dickens can be very descriptive, which can sometimes be confusing, but so are alot of other authors. This may put you off the books, but try to continue as it is probably a good read. I have recently read quite a lot of 'Great expectations' and I suffered the same problem with the lengthy descriptions, but perseverance helped me to get an 'A' on my English coursework. YEY!!

The sentence above isn't nonsense. Haven't you ever had a day where something really good and something really bad happened?

Answer 4

Charles Dickens was not a nonsense writer. His books highlight the inequalities of his own age, Victorian England. He focused public attention on such issues as the Poor Laws, Child Labour and much more. He was also in America. Find out more about Charles Dickens before dismissing him. He was hailed a hero both here in UK and USA. His books lead people to think and had much to do with the 'reform movement' on both sides of the pond.

Could you come up with a better name for a man who is both mean to his employees and has a mean attitude to Christmas than Chas. Dicken's SCROOGE? The name is self explanatory.

Answer 5

I love Charles Dickens. He likes to caricature people- some of my favourites are Uriah Heap (pile of crap basically) for solicitors and The veneers- All polish on top but underneath nothing!

His books were set in the Victorian Times and were wrote as mini magazine serials to buy weekly, not as novels. Obviously time prevents them being so appealing to us today- but his characters are brilliant- still the same sort of people in society today- the greedy etc.

Think of that line again- the best and the worse of times? How can that be- well you know yourself sometimes things go right , but there is still lots wrong. You could win the lottery, but someone somewhere is starving!

Answer 6

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" is the opening line for one of Dicken's best known novels, "A Tale of Two Cities".

The story is set at the time of the French Revolution, when the oppressed French poor took matters into their own hands and rose up against the tyranny of the aristocracy. Unfortunately things got very bloody. The new rulers of France, the revolutionists, began an attempt at wholesale extermination of the elite class and sent hundreds of them to their death on the gallows.

In the story a man gives his up his own life and goes to the guillotine in the place of another man.

As with many other revolutions through the ages, this bloodshed eventually spread to ordinary people, who were killed because paranoia took over and the revolutionists became afraid of "betrayal and treason".


Prehaps that what Dickens meant when he wrote those words. A time when an oppressed people were being liberated (best of times?), was also one of the bloodiest in the country's history (worse of times?).

I also like to think that the book is trying to tell us something about humanity. Acts of great courage, such as that by the man who dies in the place of another, often show up at the worse times in human histroy.

Incidentally the French Revolution also inspired thinking in America and is often credited as the example which lead to America's own revolution againt British rule.

A Tale of Two cities is a book that has captured and moved readers since it was first published.

Give it chance.

Answer 7

How can you read a first line of a book and because it's meaning isn't clear straight away just give up?

Perhaps if you had kept on reading you may have been able to form an opionion about what he was trying to say.

Answer 8

I'm going to defend Dickens - his novels deal with social issues of the time and human qualities. They are also a useful historical document - Dickens wrote about the world around him - to me that is more truthful than any historical speculation.

Answer 9

I wouldn't say it is nonsensical, I think it's the different style of writing from the authors. However, if their books are not good enough, why would they be published and recommended to people?

Answer 10

My goodness, you give up easily! Read 'A Tale of Two Cities' again. No, he is not a "nonsense" writer. Is there such a thing as a 'nonsense reader'?