Charles Dickens is my favorite author, and each novel I read causes my admiration to grow more and more.  “Dombey and Son” is a somber, moody book which is relentless in its exploration of greed and pride.

Like a great 90 minute symphony, this book is a slow progression of story and mood that builds over 600 pages to a climax so chilling that I kept gasping aloud.  Reading some of these Dickens novels can be a test of patience, but I have yet to not feel rewarded for my efforts.  His deliberate and brilliant prose builds slowly over successive chapters toward a conclusion that we have been dreading for hundreds of pages.  And yet even being pulled through the ringer by this master writer feels satisfying as the impact of his message is so brilliantly constructed and devised.

Master Dombey of “Dombey and Son” is a study in pride and arrogance.  His negligence of his daughter, Florence (the true heroine of this book), is heart-breaking and maddening.  The many scenes where Florence pines for the love of her neglectful father and feels somehow responsible …sneaking downstairs to simply listen at the door for his breathing and hoping he might suddenly appear and hug her for once in her life… these moments are as heartbreaking as any I have ever experienced in any book.

In a master stroke, Dickens pairs Dombey with a “trophy wife” who surprises him by being as prideful as himself, and the great battle of the book ensues.  Caught in the crossfires are the usual cast of colorful characters that we always expect from Dickens.

Included are such delightful characters as Capt. Cuttle (never was such a colorful sea captain ever seen in the pages of a book!), Doctor Blimber, another in a long line of inept and pompous schoolmasters, Mrs. Blimber, who constantly laments that she never knew Cicero, and the lovable Mr. Toots, whose unrequited love gives him to say things like “If I could be run over–or– or trampled upon — or– or thrown off a very high place — or anything of that sort — for Miss Dombey’s sake, it would be the most delightful thing that could happen to me.”

The villian, the endlessly creepy Mr. Carker with his giant teeth and horrible smile, is maligned for being the ultimate brown-noser and suck-up.  His pretensions and fake intentions are the most horrible thing in a book full of neglect and shame, saying alot about Dickens’ feelings toward businessmen of this nature!

Overall, “Dombey and Son” is a somber book with many sad characters and events, but which all add up to a worthwhile and rewarding read.  It’s simply enjoyable to read Dickens’ brilliant prose, even if your foot shakes with impatience or the chill bumps attack each time Mr. Carker appears on the page.  It’s another brilliant novel by the author I admire above all others.

SPOILER ALERT: Plots points and events are discussed, so stop reading NOW if you have not finished the book!

I don’t envy Dan Brown.  How in the world does anyone follow the best selling novel of all time?  What a mind-crushing task that must have been.

The book is the expected roller-coaster ride and many parts of it were great fun.  It includes the expected chase scenes and nail-biting close calls, along with lots of puzzles, mystical elements and symbols to decipher in cool ways.

I especially like the villain in this book, a hyper masculine tattooed crazy with delusions of saving the world from salvation.  His story and the surprises attached to it were one of the great pleasures of the book, and I found him a worthy foil for the adventure.

Also, I found the overall message of the book to be a good one, and one worth sharing with millions of readers.

But when this book is surely made into a movie, I will NOT be going to see it.  When I started the book I was looking forward to a fun thrill ride, but instead of the twists and turns of Space Mountain (or even The Hulk coaster), this speeding train takes us straight to Halloween Horror Nights.  Apparently Mr. Brown’s answer to how to “top” himself  was to add EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY terrifying thing he could imagine.  The situations read like a laundry list of mankind’s great phobias, including  drownings, dismemberment, being buried inside a tiny box in the dark, drowning inside a tiny box in the dark, being chased through a giant room in TOTAL darkness, death by fire, death by screw driver in the neck, death by home invasion, bleeding to death–it’s just exhausting.  It’s one thing to be forced to READ these passages, but there is no way I’m going to watch them actually happen on the big screen.

(I learned this lesson with “Revolutionary Road,” a gripping and shattering novel that was just too real on the screen.  Read the book instead!)

I’m not sorry I read this book, but I enjoyed both “DaVinci” and “Angels and Demons” much more.  His stories don’t need all this gore and blood to thrill us.  I’m glad to hear that Mr. Brown is now taking a vacation before resuming work!  I appreciate his talent and hope he gets back on track.