«Tal es la llave del misterio y del arte mecánico para educar la razón sin rebajarse a cultivar los sentimientos y los afectos. No usar nunca la imaginación. De algún modo, mediante sumas, restas, multiplicaciones y divisiones es posible resolverlo todo sin imaginar nunca. Traedme, dice M’Choakumchild, un niño que solo sepa andar y me comprometo a que no use nunca la imaginación».

Charles Dickens presenta aquí una obra profundamente crítica con la Inglaterra del siglo XIX. Por un lado, tenemos a los proletarios, quienes se pasan la vida trabajando en las fábricas en unas condiciones deplorables y cuya única salvaguarda son algunos revolucionarios como Slackbridge, que deben su fama a su reputada retórica. En confrontación con estos, tenemos una clase alta, representada por unos burgueses y antiguos nobles, incluso miembros del parlamento, quienes emanan unos aires clasistas propios de la moral victoriana. Personajes como Louisa o Esteban Blackpool, cada uno miembro de una clase distinta, deberán enfrentarse a esta realidad tan polarizada que, lejos de mostrarse crítica, se vuelve cada vez más inestable.

Definitivamente, Tiempos Difíciles es una obra de crítica social que se lleva por delante el sistema educativo - véase la desventura de Thomas Gradgrind y su sistema - y toda la clase alta de la época, criticando desde el esnobismo de los burgueses como el Sr. Bounderby, hasta los propios políticos y el parlamento, el cual lo califica como estercolero nacional. Me parece que este es el punto más interesante que le encuentro al libro: la capacidad que tiene de representar un tema que desborda ampliamente las formas literarias mediante la trama de sus personajes y su capacidad de detallar los escenarios, como buen realista. Siento, eso sí, que el propio argumento, más allá del tema que hay de fondo, le falta un poco de chispa, lo que a veces puede conseguir una falta de enganche.

Aun así, teniendo en cuenta sus virtudes y defectos y algunas otras obras del autor, la calificación que le voy a dar es de: 7/10. ( )

Moral of the story - Sometimes there is no happily ever after.

Favourite characters - Rachael, Sissy Jupe, Jane Gradgrind
Least Favourite character - Mr Bounderby
Favourite character's name - Mr McChoakumchild ( )

I studied "Hard Times" for O level so a revisit by audio was always going to be interesting. It's also short - which is a bonus. I was surprised by how little I remembered. I remembered some of the characters but the plot had disappeared completely. It was OK - not the best nor the worst Dickens. ( )

People who brush aside Dickens because they think it's all going to be old, overhyped, crusty stories are missing out BIG TIME. Dickens is truly hilarious, and that wit paired with dynamic characters and multilayered tales make for positively riveting reading. I was laughing out loud throughout this book, like when Mrs. Sparsit calls Bounderby a "Noodle" behind his back, or when the robbery occurs but serious talk about it keeps getting derailed because no one can stay on topic and instead they start talking about snoring and such.
There were a couple tricky bits to get through, primarily just reading the phonetically written dialogue of Blackpool and Rachael. But I just looked at a quick Shmoop summary for those couple chapters and then read them again and that helped me immensely.
Everything else was just really REALLY good! I'm someone who enjoys recurring motifs and themes that can be picked out directly, and Dickens does an excellent job of presenting these to the reader without shoving it down their throat. In "Hard Times" Dickens presents a look at imagination and emotions VS a very factual, no-nonsense attitude, all set against the industrial city of Coketown. It's a very well-paced and put together novel, and I enjoyed it thoroughly! ( )

This is a proud moment. The moment in which I announce the conquering of one of my biggest literary-related fears. The finishing of a full-length Charles Dickens novel. Of course, I've read A Christmas Carol over and over---but that doesn't really count. It doesn't count because, for one thing, it's a novella. Secondly, everyone, everyone, knows the story. It's easy to read A Christmas Carol because you can fill in the hard stuff with visions of Mickey Mouse and Jiminy Cricket, if you really need to.

But Hard Times! Oh, the joy! (...and, Oh! The oxymoron!) It was just the right level of difficult for me. My knowledge of vocabulary was challenged, but I understood it all in context enough to laugh, smile, sigh, and nod my way through the whole wonderful book. I don't know why I've been so afraid to tackle 19th century classics. Every time I read one, I thoroughly enjoy it and come away feeling fulfilled and that I've spent my reading time wisely.

Book Description: "Set amid smokestacks and factories, Charles Dickens's Hard Times is a blistering portrait of Victorian England as it struggles with the massive economic turmoil brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Championing the mind-numbing materialism of the period is Thomas Gradgrind, one of Dickens's most vivid characters. He opens the novel by arguing that boys and girls should be taught 'nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life.' Forbidding the development of imagination, Gradgrind is ultimately forced to confront the results of his philosophy--his own daughter's terrible unhappiness. Full of suspense, humor, and tenderness, Hard Times is a brilliant defense of art in an age of mechanism."

My Thoughts: There is so much to enjoy about this book that I do find it difficult to really put it all into an orderly review. I was surprised by the many elements of mystery, romance--even a bit of edge-of-your-seat action at the end! I do wish some of the characters would have ended up with happier endings. I found that many of Grandgrind's "facts" were truths of his own making and it caused me to reconsider some of the things in my own life that I would consider "facts". I also chuckled, a lot, at the revelation of Bounderby's "origins".

The "unwanted wife" trope, reminiscent of both Jane Eyre and Silas Marner, was interesting to see. I like to think that Dickens was riffing off Bronte's work of seven years earlier and that Eliot, in turn, was inspired to include the theme in her work, seven years later.

I liked the idea that both Sissy and Stephen's wife were making big impacts on the characters without actually being present in the story. Stephen's wife, especially, was a major player---yet her time in the novel takes up but a few sentences. If it weren't for her though, many of the characters' lives would have taken entirely different directions.

A couple of my favorite quotes were:

"If he had only learnt a little less, how infinitely better he might have taught much more!"

Also, Dickens's fun play on Peter Piper: "If the greedy little Gradgrinds grasped at more than this, what was it for good gracious goodness' sake, that the greedy little Gradgrinds grasped at?" ( )