Hard Times readalong 2022

Piggy I believe Dickens did the dirty on Mrs Gaskell actually - he had her writing for his magazine Household Words and North and South was due to be published serially in it in 1854. Then he scooped her by rushing out Hard Times in the magazine a few months before her. Not very gentlemanly. I’m going to look the exact details up in Jenny Uglow’s biog of her, I think I’ve got it somewhere.

Chapter 16 52andblue. Most chapters so far have been short-ish so reading pace is being sped up.

Yikes! I'd forgotten I joined this thread (doh!)
Orders paperback, breaks spine, gets reading.
Where do I need to catch up to by end of Feb, please?

Thanks

Oh right! That teaches me to skim read! Ch16 is doable

It’s up to chapter 16 in Feb now @YnysMonCrone - we agreed upthread to make the instalments a bit bigger!

Just checking in as I am only on Ch4 - but determined to catch up to Ch12 by the end of Feb.

Also loving the characters so far.

Mrs Gradgrind seems completely ineffectual. I wouldn't say she would ever stand up for her children against her husband. 'Mrs Gradgrind, stunned as usual, collapsed and gave it up.'

Welcome @Bunnybunny1 of course you can join!

I was delighted to hear that Mrs Gradgrind had 'no nonsense about her'.
Sparkler would have been delighted. Little Dorrit was written directly after Hard Times, Dickens must have thought it was a verbal tick that had more mileage in it.
Agree that Bounderby is vomit inducing with his nefarious interest in Louisa, and couldn't help but think he may have 'jumped the shark' on names with M'Choakumchild!

That line was excellent LadybirdDaphne and the scene mentioned by StColombofNavron where Mrs Gradgrind looked sympathetically at the tongs was also very funny.

I liked the opening chapters too, much easier to get into than LD or OMF, no wondering if someone is a human or a table a la Twemlow.

Bounderby was good value too. I highlighted this bit:
“ ‘You may be astonished to hear it, but my mother ran away from me.’
E.W.B. Childers replied pointedly, that he was not at all astonished to hear it.”

I think Dickens really captured the ick factor when Bounderby kisses Louisa too. Her father stills sees her as a child, but clearly she’s on the cusp of womanhood and Bounderby has an unhealthy interest.

Ooh can I join?

I like a bit of Dickens in campaigning mode - good choice of book, Piggy, so different to David Copperfield and OMF. You can feel his righteous indignation at the treatment of the children and the refusal to let them be children. But funny too.

I’m interested in the fact that he went to Preston to research and used it as the basis for ‘Coketown’.

I enjoyed the opening chapters also. Bounderby is a great character really well depicted, definitely reminded me of the four Yorkshiremen sketch

I like Louisa, she seems to have great spirit.

I felt terribly sorry for Sissy, I was urging her to stick with the circus although narratively she needed to make the choice she did.

I really enjoyed the depictions of the circus life and the snippets we got about the various acts.

Agree this has got off to a better start than Little Dorrit. Gradgrind is a real fun sponge, isn't he? Loving Louisa's defiance, hope it doesn't get completely ground out of her as the story goes on.

Of=off

Hello everyone! Yes, I enjoyed reading the first segment too. I read it in school aged 16 or 17, so it's really interesting to see how much I remember of it.

I agree, it seems more accessible than 'Little Dorrit'. We are straight into the classroom where the utilitarian philosophy of Gradgrind et al reigns supreme. Dickens gives his characters such descriptive names; M'Choakumchild, the teacher :) His powers of description are excellent, he is so scathing. Chapter Two is entitled ''Murdering the Innocents'. We know exactly how he feels about 'his (Gradgrind's) cannon loaded to the muzzle with facts'.

Louisa Gradgrind and Cecilia Jupe are two strong-willed girls and it will be interesting to see if they put up a resistance to the fact-grinding machine. Bounderby seems an odious person. I think Louisa has the measure of him, trying to scrub his kiss of her cheek.

I felt sorry for Cecilia (Sissy) left behind by her father. That chapter was very entertaining. I enjoyed the retort by Kidderminster to Bounderby who seems unimpressed by his self-made success; 'Oh Lord! If you've raised yourself so high as all that comes to, let yourself down a bit'.

I would also like a dog called Merrylegs :)

Looking forward to catching up with you. Have downloaded the book on my kindle.

I have enjoyed the first few chapters. I don't feel I have much of a handle on things yet as it seems like a lot of introductions and scene setting. I made a note of this sentence which for some reason made me howl out loud with laughter and just feels like perfectly constructed.

*'For years, ma'am, I was one of the most miserable little wretches ever seen. I was so sickly, that I was always moaning and groaning . I was so ragged and dirty, that you wouldn't have touched me with a pair of tongs.'

Mrs. Gradgrind faintly looked at the tongs, as the most appropriate thing her imbecility could think of doing.*

Ewww to Mr Bounderby and his interest in Louisa and smirked at the children named Adam Smith and Malthus. I think the characters are very vivid.

I'm not really into it yet I don't think, but am looking forward to continuing and seeing where the story goes.

I’ve enjoyed this first instalment too. I feel very sorry for the Gradgrind children, doesn’t sound like they have much fun (and this is another example of Dickens being clever with the names, reflecting life being a bit of a grind for them). I loved the description of Mr Gradgrind and his house being very square.