Sketches by Boz: Volume 1

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Peter Joyce

Charles Dickens started his literary career as a journalist reporting for ‘The Morning Chronicle,’ a profession which encouraged his observing eye. This collection of essays and short stories was first published in that journal and anticipates, and frequently demonstrates, the genius that was to come.

The Sketches ‘Illustrative of Everyday Life and Everyday People’ are a valuable documentary account of existence in the great metropolis during the early part of the nineteenth century and exhibit to the full the waspish wit, joie de vivre and compassion, for which the author was known.

From the humorous gossip of ‘The Curate’ to the informative ‘Scotland Yard’ and on to a campaigning descriptive piece about Newgate Prison, Dickens takes us on a rewarding journey across our capital city, enlivened by the quirks and foibles of its inhabitants.

This is the first of several volumes of Dickens’ journalistic writing to be published in audio format by Assembled Stories. We are sure you will enjoy them.

©2011 Assembled Stories (P)2009 Assembled Stories

Excellent reading of classic Dickens

Thoroughly enjoyed. Well read. Pleasant sounding and does characters and accents well. Will add this reader to my approved list

Wonderful but hard to follow

the audible version doesn’t conform to the divisions in the printed version. great Dickens though.

Simply Fascinating

Beautifully read. This reading transports the listener to another place and time. I have listened to this repeatedly. I love it. The narrator is wonderful and creates the atmosphere so well with his hilarious accents. I can't wait until Part II is released. Thank-you to the person who suggested this title for an audible presentation.

For people who want to know all of Dickens’ work

I would not recommend this title to people who don’t already like Dickens. His novels are far better, and even among the novels, some are truly outstanding and some are great for Dickens fans, but, again, I would not recommend them for a new reader (or listener) of Dickens. Sketches by Boz offer us a wonderful view of 19th century London; I doubt he ever imagined that almost 200 years later people would find the sketches of interest because of the historical aspect, in addition to the merit of his writing. But they are quite interesting. Dickens, as always, shows enormous compassion and empathy for the downtrodden. Dickens’ caricature of Jews several times did make me uncomfortable; his presentation of Jews in his work has been written about plenty, but I do want to just make note that it is something I have to put aside to enjoy the literary merit of his work. The narrator was excellent, though he did pause a bit too much between sentences. I do plan on listening to the other volumes, but not immediately. This is the type of work that can be taken in doses, maybe I should even say “should be taken in doses”.

Great - except for the chapter breaks

Fascinating sketches, beautifully read. It deserves a wider audience. But for heaven’s sake, break the chapters up the way Dickens did! It’s impossible to find anything here if you’re looking for a particular sketch. If this ever gets fixed, I’d happily change my overall rating to five stars, even if the chapters don’t have titles. BUT don’t let that stop you from listening to this treasure. Just make sure you have an outline of the contents handy, from Wikipedia or somewhere.

Hilarious Sketches and Memorable Scenes

I laughed, snickered, and chuckled throughout most of these sketches. Dickens London seen through his eyes paints a fantastic yet warm portrait of people and places that burn into your memory. The good, the bad and the ugly--nothing escapes his notice or his satirization. Loved Peter Joyce's British narration. Near perfect emphasis, tone, and individuation of characters. Highly recommend!