Book Review: Hard Times

I just finished reading Hard Times by Charles Dickens. This is undoubtedly one of the most boring books I've ever read. SPOILER ALERT!!! (skip this paragraph if you don't want to know) It's a story set in nineteenth century England and is about Mr. Gradgrind. He has a school that only teaches facts. Nothing else, just facts. Thinking for yourself is ridiculed. Then his daughter realizes she hates her life because there is no emotion in it and has a breakdown. Meanwhile, her brother robs a bank and frames a poor guy for it. The poor guy falls down a mine shaft and dies. Mr. Gradgrind realizes the errors of his ways and decides to try and fix his school system.

Most of the excitement of this book is located on the front cover in the form of several sexual innuendos, and it's pretty much all downhill from there. There's no action, drama, or plot twists. There are no symbols, themes, or motifs. There's nothing funny, happy, or exciting. There's just no reason to read this book. But how can this be, Scott? Everyone knows bank robberies are always exciting. At least it must be cool. NO! Dickens manages to script the worst bank robbery ever. He just tells you there was a bank robbery. And that's it.

It's full of sarcasm that gets annoying after about the first page and a half. Dickens describes mundane objects for two pages, and then he kindly tells you what he is actually describing since he somehow manages to forgets to tell you at the beginning of the two pages. But during this novel, I did find myself reevaluating my own life. I was doing some intense interpersonal evaluations. Not because of any epiphany this book led me to, but just because I was so damn bored. My eyes would skim the words on the page, but I wouldn't actually remember anything I read. Instead I would find myself thinking about the theory of evolution or the theory of girls. And then I'd have to go back and read it all over again.

If you've never read this book, that was an excellent use of your time. Kudos to you!

If you have to read this book, I would encourage you to skip on over to sparknotes and read it there. It only takes about twenty minutes and you get the same thing out of it from sparknotes as from the book itself. But I must say, it is well named because you're certainly going to have a hard time reading this book. Good luck!