I enjoyed listening to this. Dombey is a cold arrogant business man. He thinks his daughter is useless. He has no time or interest in her, since she won't be continuing Dombey and son. He gets his son, but the son dies young. Much of the book is focused on his daughter Francis who wants her father's love. Dickens has a wonderful way of creating characters. ( )

A very high three stars. This book has some very funny passages, and a lot of emotion. It's not one of the greatest Dickens works, and it definitely loses some of the drive after the major tragedy one-third of the way into the book, however it is still very interesting, full of fascinating themes and characters. The 14th of Dickens' major works, and the seventh of his novels, Dombey and Son sits very comfortably in the second act of Dickens' life, in which his social and communal responsibilities slightly lowered his novel-writing output, and his desire for integrated works of character growth and investigation - begun with Martin Chuzzlewit - is in full swing.

Perhaps it's because the first third, with the aching characters of Paul and Flora, and young Paul, is so strong and unified, that the gradual splintering of the plot leads one to feel a little bit underwhelmed as things move toward a climax. The climax itself, being in many ways an emotional rather than narrative one, is also unlike anything Dickens had previously entertained. It's really rather powerful at times. As I said, this is a high three-stars, but it definitely just creeps into my Dickens Top Ten. ( )

Spec-TAC-ular. ( )

Probably my favourite of the readalong so far. I found the story more interesting and the characters definitely more interesting. Even Florence who was a typical "perfect" Dickens heroine wasn't annoying. Edith was so interesting - you empathise with her even as she careers towards her fate. Nearly all the side female characters steal the show. But I loved Mr Toots - so funny and sweet at same time. ( )

3.5 stars

Mr. Dombey is part of the social elite who pins all his hopes on a son joining his business, while ignoring the existence of his daughter.

Since I am not an expert on Dickens, I won't even attempt to go into the social and political themes presented in this story. I really liked the first third of the book but eventually most of the characters felt like caricatures. The good were angelic, the absurd were very absurd, the proud were prouder than a peacock, but many seemed one dimensional. If readers can make it through the slog-like final third of the story and overlook some really odd occurrences inserted to make the plot work, there is some redemption be found in the end.

I was glad to have read this once but it definitely is not my favorite novel by Dickens. [b:Great Expectations|2623|Great Expectations|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631687432l/2623._SY75_.jpg|2612809] and [b:A Christmas Carol|5326|A Christmas Carol|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1406512317l/5326._SY75_.jpg|3097440] still remain at the top of my favorites list. ( )