David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

I first read David Copperfield when I was in fourth grade. Even though I only read the abridged version, I still was fascinated by the story and I thought it was very good. Now I'm finally getting around to reading the full version.

First of all, it's very long, so it took me around a week to read. I appreciated reading it on my Palm and having a dictionary only a tap away, since there were many words I wasn't familiar with. But all in all, the book is extremely well written and one of my favorite books by Dickens.

The entire book is about David Copperfield, a young boy whose father dies before he is born. His mother soon remarries to a stern man named Mr. Murdstone. Both of their lives under Murdstone are a burden, and his step-father (Murdstone) sends David to a boarding school. There, David's life is hard, but he meets friends such as Tommy Traddles and James Steerforth. After David's mother dies Murdstone sends David to work in a factory in London. David runs away from that life and turns to his aunt, Betsey Trotwood, who rejected him and his mother when he was young.

Miss Trotwood brings David up to a young man, and from there he goes on to make his fortune in the world by becoming a lawyer. The rest of the book brings together many more characters, and ties in all of the former ones. Really the plot of the book is so complex that it is impossible to explain. The book weaves together the aforementioned characters, along with many others, including the Micawber family, the Peggoties, James Steerforth, Doctor Strong, Mr. Wickfield, Agnes, Dora, and the Spenlow sisters.

All together, Mr. Dickens creates a brilliant novel in David Copperfield. I actually enjoyed having a vague notion of what was coming in the book, but not remembering the book well enough to recall more than only the main plot. I also enjoyed seeing parts that I remembered from the abridged book being explained in more detail in the real book; parts that I had thought were underdeveloped in the abridged version.

The book is very good to read, Dickens' constant plot weaving draws you into the book, in a way that his other books do not. There are some long speeches by some of the characters that are dull to read (Because of the way of speaking in that time in England) but they are few and far between.

I highly recommend David Copperfield to any reader, and especially to someone who has read any Charles Dickens book. Of all of the ones that I have read or started to read (And there are a lot: Great Expectations, Martin Chuzzlewit, Oliver Twist, and more) only this book has entertained me and glued me to its pages as much as it has. I've literally read nothing else for a week...and for me, that's a lot to say.

Download David Copperfield (PDF)

Click on the above link to download this book in PDF format.