Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty [with Biographical Introduction]

After a lifetime of knowing about this work only "Here comes Poe with his raven, like Barnaby Rudge,/Three-fifths of him genius, and two-fifths pure fudge," I finally read this, sometimes called Dickens' least-known novel; and almost immediately started rereading it. True, I had a research reason for immediate rereading; but find it holds up better, perhaps, the second time around. True, Dickens is particularly weak with his female characters in this one, most of them being incredibly tedious as sexist "comic relief," and the two heroines seeming sympathetic only by dint of being young. The only lady who really interests me is Barnaby's mother. But many of the male characters don't come off much better. There is a very interesting villain of the suave and polite variety, whose principal opponent is rather smoldering and almost equally interesting; and I can't help but like Gabriel Varden the locksmith (who by one account was very nearly the title character). By and large, however, it is Barnaby himself and his raven Grip who make this novel rewarding to read.

Not one of Dickens well known titles. A dark story that lays the characters and their surroundings in great detail. Not the easiest of language to digest quickly but beautifully constructed and a story that keeps moving and makes the reader want to move along just to see who gets their well deserved come uppance. Not a summer beach read, more a winter's evening spread over a couple of weeks.

This Kindle edition is of poor quality, given the price. There are no illustrations (the book is touted as “illustrated,” mind you. Typos are not uncommon throughout. However, and this is crucial, the abysmal copy and near flood of typos beginning in chapter 47 suggest an outright long grift on the part of the publisher! In chapter 46 entire sections are repeated—repeated! Sirs! Did you not hire an editor? If so, did you not pay the poor sot?!

This is one of two historical novels that Dickens wrote--the other one being the Tale of Two Cities. Dickens does a masterful job. The story takes place during the anti-Catholic riots of 1780 in London. The riots were brutal and savage based on pure prejudice. Many Catholics had their houses burned down. The rioters even burned down the London jail when some of their fellow rioters were imprisoned. As usual, Dickens takes the side of the underdog Catholics who are being savagely abused. Dickens weaves in two love stories which both end happily. One of the protagonists is Barnaby Rudge, a boy with down's syndrome. He personifies the goodness that is in all people. His pet Raven has much to say in repeating what he hears. In one of the ironies in the book, the hangman of London ends up being hanged because he is one of the instigators of the riots. I wonder why this book has not garnered more attention. It is quite good. Dickens shows how a mob can get out of control. The riot scenes are quite graphic. This is not one of the prouder moments of the history of London.

Admittedly a lesser known work by Dickens, I found it a great read. Sure, it's a bit slow in the early chapters, but what part of any Dickens work doesn't have its moments. The cast of characters is diverse, as usual, and bring different social circumstances to the Gordon Riots in 1780 England. The chapters devoted to the Riot itself are packed with action that kept me reading far past my normal quitting time. More importantly, Dickens paints a vivid picture of both religious persecution and the irrational and unpredictable quality of a widespread riot. With brief references to the War for Independence, the novel serves as a solid insight into some of the thinking that led our Founding Fathers to enshrine fundamental liberties in the Bill of Rights.The academic review that precedes the novel is a waste of time for any reader for enjoyment and a perfect example of the horrid quality of writing in academia today. The reviewer needs to spend less time assembling critical comment and spend some time learning how to write like Dickens.

For being one Dickens' lower rung novels, it is still quite a good action/adventure novel. There's character development and backstory in the first third of it but then that all fades away into an exciting adventure novel (no different than most stories like that). Dickens never stops amazing me. I read through the long description of the mob burning down Mr Haredale's house twice to myself and then once out loud to a friend because it was just that breathtaking. I would recommend this to people who enjoyed Gary Paulsen books when they were teens.

This is one of dickens lesser known works but it's one of his best. Once you get into the story the action never slowsI'm glad I chose as one of my bucket list items to read all of dickens major works. The penguin classic while paperback is a nice edition to have the scholarly notes help those new to dickens

The book is in a little bit worse shape than “good”. Spine is starting to crack & pages loosening

Over a hundred reviews already of this marvellous book, but I felt compelled to add my opinion because I enjoyed it so much. Last year I was inspired by an old friend to try Dickens. I started with the ones with the highest reputation. Bleak House, Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Friend. Then I read Dombey and Son and The old Curiosity Shop. So I was thoroughly enjoying myself and thought I would try perhaps his least popular book. It is terrific. Tonally it is different to the others. For one thing there are no drippy, idealised young women in it. Originally Dickens was going to name the book after the locksmith who is the moral centre of the book, but since Barnaby Rudge features more prominently, particularly at the beginning it makes sense that he did not. But just knowing that Barnaby was not meant to be the main protagonist helps to enjoy the book, because for me it is about how people react to upheaval, and there are many people to follow alongside the innocent Barnaby. It also has, for me, the best Dickens villain of all. Apparently Dickens was writing The Old curiosity Shop at the same time. That book made him exceptionally successful. This book is many times better because there is no drippy girl to symbolise innocent goodness, that job is done by the more complex character of Barnaby Rudge. Some criticisms of this book are that the first half is slow. I did not find it so. It is a book of two halves though. Perhaps because he wrote TOCS in the middle? However the entire novel does hang together. Maybe the ghost story strand is a little over wrought? Otherwise I think it is all together wonderful as it contains the best of Dickens without any of the drippy girls.

I read the first couple of pages of this book (on Kindle) and was baffled to find the grammar was very strange - making it almost unreadable. It was as if someone had translated the book into a foreign language and then translated it back to English very badly. To give an example - from this edition (Chapter 1, page 1) ...the virgin monarch had then and there boxed and cuffed an unfortunate web page for a few neglect of responsibility. Now the same sentence from the Penguin Classics edition ...the virgin monarch had then and there boxed and cuffed an unlucky page for some neglect of duty. The latter makes sense - the former would make you think English was not Dickens' first language. I am not bothered about the £2.50 I spent on the book - just bemused. Jon Lynas

Not one of Dickens popular tales, compared to Tale of two cities /Oliver Twist/ Great Expectations etc. Barnaby Rudge is an uneven yarn of factual events, the historic unrest in London that is largely forgotten today (and as far as I know has never been translated to the screen). The Gordon riots are closest we came to another civil war (a century after Oliver Cromwell's uprising). London was ablaze with insurrection and rioting, mob rule and lynching. The prisons were torn open and prisoners cavorted through the streets bewildered by their sudden freedom. The cause of this madness was fear of a reinstatement of Catholic power, the French who had yet to suffer and experience their own bloody Revolution looked on with interest as London was torched by it's own citizens.

'Barnaby Rudge' is one of Dickens's lesser known and lesser read novels apparently, written early in his career but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.Set before and during the anti-Catholic riots of 1780, known as the Gordon Riots, it features a host of vividly drawn characters caught up in the chaos: some good, some bad, some comical; a typical Dickensian cast really including the eponymous Barnaby, an innocent simpleton. Murder, mystery, frustrated love, tragedy, it has it all. The descriptions of the riots and the destruction of Newgate prison are particularly vivid and dramatic. I won't go into too much detail about the plot but if you like Dickens or Victorian literature and haven't read it then I would heartily recommend it.As a footnote, I must say the Everyman's Library hardback edition is delightful. A quality product with all the original illustrations, an introduction from Dickens expert Peter Ackroyd, a timeline of Dickens's life and times and the original introduction from G K Chesterton as an appendix, all for the princely sum of just £12.99. It sits proudly on my bookshelf and I can't wait to purchase other classics from their extensive list in these handsome editions. Great stuff and a pleasure to read.

this is the unabridged version on 22 CDs from Naxos, the reader is great and technically the volume is too low, which is a problem with many audiobooks on CDs, but the quality is excellent.This is one of his two historical novels, it starts in 1775, I love the way he brings people to life ….I wonder whether Barnaby Rudge as title refers to son, as everybody thinks, or his father ….. but if the experts think the title refers to son, it must be so!I am not revealing the plot, many other reviewers have done so, but I am disappointed to know that this is one of his less popular novels ….. I wonder why that is ....With all the prejudice against the Catholic religion in the UK, the story is even more extraordinary because Charles Dickens was English, and he is not taking sides because of religious creed or points of views here, he draws a line between right and wrong, at last and at least an English book that defends the rights of the victims against the aggressors, even when in this case the Catholics are the victims, and they have been attacked by the protestants. As far as I know this is the only book by an English writer, that does justice to justice, when the victims are Catholics and the aggressors are the supporters of the state religion.I can only hope Dickens stood firm in his beliefs and convictions that it was right to denounce the free violence and atrocities against the Catholics, in this case by setting the second and longest part of the story during the Gordon riots in 1780 and illustrating what happened, to the best of a writer's ability who knows right from wrong.Highly recommended.