Possibly the kindest and most humane of all writers, Dickens just can't help himself in Little Dorrit. A cynic might say he was so wordy because he was paid by each one. I prefer to think he was just too kind-hearted to do anything but full verbose justice to every sentence. Little Dorrit's twin virtues are art and social commentary. The swindler Merdle gets his come-uppance, but this is no mere morality tale.

Dickens is too big-hearted to be a scold. The common humanity of good and evil characters alike are revealed without the necessity of debasement. Read it for the endlessly artful sentences and the droll insight into the nature of the human beast which make the ambition of most contemporary writers seem trivial in comparison.

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