The Pickwick Papers

This hilarious book tells the outrageous adventures of a cast of characters to remember forever. It's a joyous, humane, and faithful portrait of the British society. It is full of acuteness, irony, tenderness and sarcasm about the human condition. As in all of his books, Dickens reflects his experiences (prison for debts, etc.) in this book which tells the love affairs, countless drunken nights and fights in which the Pickwickians get. Apparently a book whose only purpose is to entertain, it is, like all intelligent humor, a bitter but optimist critique of the human being. The cast of characters is wonderful, and you will be just delighted you picked up this volume.
"The Pickwick Papers" was the first fictional book by Dickens, and it shows how capable of good humor he was. The title's character is a restless good-spirited man, a Don Quixote with a British touch, whose adventures are less noble and a lot more messy that those of the Don. The story of his friendship with the rest of the crew is hilarious and moving at the same time. Come read the story of this excentric lot, as they drink their way in and out of trouble.

Dickens is in a slightly more humorous mood in this book than in many of his later writings. He follows the adventures of the "remarkable" (read: likeable, well-intentioned, generous, rich, naive, and fawned-upon) Mr. Pickwick and several of his companions who go out to observe and write about places and events in other parts of England (for the enlightenment of the rest of the Pickwick club). Their adventures and the stories they collect in the process range from the humorously bumbling to the tragic to the genuinely touching.

As usual, Dickens is satirizing away, giving social commentary on useless fops, hypocritical pastors, scummy lawyers, debtors' prisons, etc. The book also has Dickens' trademark rambling style, unlikely coincidences, and silly names, but as always, the characters are so entertaining that it is a pleasure to read. The slightly pompous Pickwick and his bordering-on-sycophantic friends are somehow endearing rather than annoying, the ridiculous side-characters remind you of people you have known, and the downfall of one of the "bad guys" is pitiable and moving rather than a cause for rejoicing. Classic Dickens...good stuff!