Paul Schlicke and Paul Schlicke ( editor ) - Hard Times

Pros: An intelligent, well-crafted novel

Cons: Difficult diction

The Bottom Line: A sharp, haunting, and gentle satire, full of despair - yet also with a curious faith and hope.

Review: After having been miserably bogged down in "A Tale of Two Cities" (grudgingly read for school) and tragically having lost the plot of "Bleak House" (read for pleasure), I was expecting that "Hard Times" (also read for school) would be difficult, to say...

Pros: relevant issues, excellent satire and description

Cons: some may find the ending unsatisfactory

Review: Charles Dickens's Hard Times is a brilliant and complex novel that tackles many social issues that are highly relevant in these times, almost 150 years after its publication. Hard Times is often referred to as Dickens's "Industrial...

Pros: good allusions, witty, pioneering

Cons: can be overwhelming

The Bottom Line: a true class, leaving a lasting legacy upon all other entertainment

Review: In Hard Times Charles Dickens presents a harsh warning about the threats of the industrial revolution on mankind. The despoiling of nature, loss of emotion, theft of individuality, nullification of imagination, destruction of family, lies and...

Pros: True

Cons: Depressing

Review: Charles Dickens’ Hard Times subtly addressed the problems of the economic, and social situations of Victorian England through the fictitious industrial Coketown. In this era, progress is the main concern and industrialization is the tool used to achieve...

Pros: As thoroughly entertaining and Dickensian as any other Dickens novel I've read.

Cons: Dated extreme socialist politics and one unresolved plot issue (which is REALLY unlike Dickens)

The Bottom Line:

Enjoyable and a must read for Dickens fans!

Review: "Hard Times" is set in the ugly and imaginary (but all too realistic) mid-Victorian Northern city of Coketown - a near-dystopian blend of the worst of capitalism and the ravages of rampant industrialization. Its blackened factories belch ...

Pros: Excellent literary elements, good for an advanced reader

Cons: Very Confusing

Review: The only reason I read this book was because it was assigned to me in English Class. Our teacher could pick any Dickens' book, and to think, she picked this one, what a mistake. Anyway, it was a difficult read, especially because my intelligence lacks...

Pros: Great Storlyline

Cons: Not easy reading

Review: Charles Dickens was also one of these critics, expressing his views in the novel Hard Times. In this novel, Mr. Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind, two gentlemen who firmly believe in education and proper schooling, represent the classic liberal view of the...

Pros: satirical humour, ridiculous names

Cons: sanctimonious and uninformed

The Bottom Line: Honestly, it's not worth the ten or fifteen bucks. Even if you find it free in a book bin, it's probably not worth the room on your shelf.

Review: Hard Times, originally published in segments in the magazine "Household Words", is meant to be a brilliantly witty and socially penetrating commentary on the Industrial Revolution, the philosophy of Utilitarianism, and the state of British class tensions...