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Title: Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens, Richard Pasco ISBN: 0-14-086490-3 Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks Pub. Date: September, 1998 Format: Audio Cassette

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Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (12 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: Dickens' Other Historical Novel
Comment: When one says "Charles Dickens" and "historical novel" in the same sentence, the immediate impression is of the French Revolution adventure "A Tale of Two Cities". But Dickens wrote another historical novel 18 years before, in 1841, the complex and colorful "Barnaby Rudge", set during London's anti-Papal riots of June 1780, when there was a reaction against the Catholic influence in Parliament. Populated by a large cast and activated by a plot of intrigue and danger, it is one of the best of Dickens in his early period. In fact, it is perhaps Dickens' most under-rated work. As usual with Dickens, the characters find themselves in a labyrinth of relationships. Sir John Chester is an impoverished habitué who tells his handsome son he expects the young man to insure the family fortune in the time-honored tradition of decadent nobility: by marrying money. "With regard to our circumstances, Ned, you may set your mind at rest upon that score. They are desperate." His son is appalled, the more so as he is in love with Emma, the daughter of a country gentleman, Geoffrey Haredale, Sir John's moral opposite. Running parallel to this love story is that of Joe Willet, the good-hearted son of John Willet, the proprietor of the Maypole Inn, where much of the action takes place. Joe is courting the daughter of Gabriel Varden, an honest, hard-working locksmith, a proletarian hero. (Originally he was the book's title character.) Gabriel's daughter Dolly, Joe's inamorata, is one of those human cookies so adored by Victorian England. (All through the 19th Century articles of clothing were named after her: the Dolly Varden bonnet, the Dolly Varden cape, etc.) Touching these families is Barnaby Rudge himself, a strange, simple-minded boy whose naïveté leads him into joining the rebellion led by the Protestant radical Lord George Gordon, who also appears as a minor character. Barnaby's constant companion is a talking raven; their conversations sound like vaudeville routines. His mother hides one of those dark family mysteries Dickens used so suspensefully in "Oliver Twist"; and this theme is reflected in Sir John Chester's secret: he is the illegitimate father of ... the story's least likely character. The novel is filled with Dickensian trademarks: ironic drama, an odd sense of humor, and, of course, strong sentimentality. With the bloody Gordon riots as a climax, "Barnaby Rudge", elaborate and absorbing, is an impressive predecessor to Dickens' better-known tale of the Reign of Terror.

Rating: 4
Summary: Highly Overlooked
Comment: This book is probably the most overlooked of Dickens' major efforts. It lacks the silly slapstick and joy of Pickwick Papers, and is missing the biting social commentary (at least not as biting) of Little Dorrit and Hard Times. Also, it is always listed in the "about the author" section as being somewhat of a commercial letdown at the time.
The truth is that it is a great book. It has enough silliness to let you know that it is Dickens, but is accompanied by a good bit of darkness. In fact, it's almost macabre at times.
In the end, this is a great story from a master storyteller. Isn't this the true benchmark of a classic? For all the ingenius stylism of "The Sound and the Fury" would we love it half as much (if at all) if the styling didn't accent a most captivating tale? Well, "Barnaby Rudge" is just that....a thoroughly captivating tale in the classic Dickens style.

Rating: 2
Summary: What a mess
Comment: This recording is perhaps one of the worst I have ever encountered. I admit to having only listened to it for few minutes before giving up, but what a mess of an effort. I am sure that when this was originally broadcast there must have been a narrator. Here it is merely a series of voices and it makes things very difficult indeed. There are also some rather rural accents featured on this recording, making it extremely difficult for an American to follow. This is a well-intended, but ultimately a mess of an attempt to render one of the novels of Dickens into drama. The whole thing seems like someone brought a tape recorder down to the pub on a Friday night and hoped for magic to take place.