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[lastbestchance]

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this is my arthur clennam icon btw

[oliveoyl]

You wouldn't be the only person to think Little Dorrit is boring (it wasn't particularly well reviewed when it was published, even), and there are definitely characters I don't like--Rimbaud, mostly, and the Gowans. But some of them I just fucking adore, Pancks especially, but even Arthur because he's kind of adorable with his awful childhood and his I'm-elderly-and-nonthreatening complex. I dig on the Merdles, weirdly enough, not least Sparkler. And I guess I also like that it's kind of grown up for Dickens--Amy's perfect but not stupidly so, in that she mostly gets a personality, and he doesn't dress up the prodigal father so much or act like it's cute but shows how awful it is when a child has to shoulder that kind of shit.

Anyway, he got better at that kind of grown-up novel, in Our Mutual Friend, which is my absolute favorite and totally gripping and if you don't like it then I don't like you.

Re: this is my arthur clennam icon btw

[lastbestchance]

Definitely agree with you on Pancks. He was an interesting character