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Little Dorrit (Version 2) by Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) LibriVox
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5.0 • 8 Ratings
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Little Dorrit, one of the three great novels of Charles Dickens’ last period, was produced in monthly installments from 1855 to 1857, and is considered one of his most profound. Dickens’ father spent three months in Marshalsea Prison for debt, which made a lasting impact on his life. This story centers around life in Marshalsea Prison and, as always, society in general.
Book One begins in the infamous Marseilles Prison in France, where two prisoners, Rigaud the French rogue and the ever cheerful Italian Cavaletto, share a cell. We meet them again later, but the scene shifts quickly to the English debtor’s prison, The Marshalsea, where Mr. Dorrit is confined. His daughter Amy is born there, the only baby ever born in that prison. Tiny as a baby, she grows into a sweet-natured tiny adult, better known as “Little Dorrit.” The other inmates love and respect the child and the caring woman she becomes. Mr. Dorrit is also revered by them, and as the inmate with the longest term of imprisonment, he becomes “Father of the Marshalsea.”
Enter Arthur Clennam, who meets Mr. Dorrit and Amy. He notes that she takes care of her father’s every need, and also cooks, cleans, and mends the clothes of her older siblings. Arthur suspects that Dorrit was wrongly imprisoned, and begins investigating the case, which may involve his own family as well.
In Book Two, Mr. Dorrit has been freed, and his family begins a new life. Arthur Clennam, now a dear friend of Little Dorrit, becomes partner with an engineer and inventor named Daniel Doyce, but a surprising event occurs which puts Arthur into prison. The twists and turns of fortune for himself, the Dorrit family and many others are changed forever. (Summary by Mil Nicholson)
Customer Reviews
Dramatic
For my personal taste, I’d give this reading 4 stars (as I will explain), but the talent and professionalism clearly rank it at 5 stars.
If given a choice between the discursive content of a novel and the dramatic/performative potential, I tend to prefer the former, and that is just a matter of taste and temperament.
What Mil Nicholson, the reader, does is provide almost every character with a recognizably different voice. In the case of Blandois, this worked perfectly for me, because I don’t have the ability to hear his lines with his European accent, while Mil Nicholson does—with the result that Blandois is filled out as a character, made almost tangible.
Mr Clennam speaks as though his jaw is difficult to open, and this is not an accident. It makes him highly recognizable, and also vulnerable. I suppose that is fitting with the trajectory of the novel. There’s may be some textual hints to support the voice he's given (but I missed them if they are there).
Flora is done masterfully, and this is where my taste conflicts with the style of the reading. Flora is a good-hearted, chattering nuisance who hardly makes sense to the other characters in the novel. Ms. Nicholson lends to this dialogue a very fast, high, chirping voice that is probably very close to what Dickens aimed for… but it is so well done it’s hardly intelligible to my ears.
I had a similar reaction to the Father of Marshalsea: in the text he frequently punctuates his lengthy statements with “hi” and Ms. Nicholson turns those utterances into a whiny, nearly asthmatic old man’s voice that is, again, probably the very thing the text points to, but, again, is so well done that I really want the man to stop speaking.
Little Dorrit herself sounds much as one would expect (always youthful, decently bred and educated, and unpretentious).
Thank you, Ms. Nicholson, for lending your time and talent the way of this novel. The recording quality itself is high. Each chapter beginning and ending is clearly stated, making it easy to keep track of the 70 chapters straight.
Reader
EXCELLENT READER!!!!
Wonderful reading
Just finished reading/listening to Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend, and I was both thrilled and grateful to find this version of Little Dorrit, recorded by the same talented reader whose recordings of those other works I enjoyed so much. The quality of a reading makes an absolute world of difference, and the effort the reader puts into hers really brings these works to life. Thank you!
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