I started reading Oliver Twist, but after the part where he is kidnapped by the thieves after being rescued by the nice gentleman, I had to put it down. I just can't read anymore about how this impoverished child is horribly beaten and mistreated by everyone around him, even though I know it's a caricature, and I'm sure there is redemption in the end. I'm actually not enjoying it, and I don't want to force myself to finish a book just because it's a classic. And while I love the way Dickens writes, the racism was also too much for me.
Then I tried picking up Agnes Grey, until I got to the part where the>! psychopath boy finds a nest of baby birds !<and I had to put that down because I didn't want to know >!what he did with them.!<
I guess I'm just not in the mental state to handle any cruelty? It's weird because Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books of all time, and I JUST finished my first re-read in >10 years and loved every minute of it, even though the whole first section is pretty brutal.
I just finished the whole Anne of Green Gables series, as well as everything by Jane Austen (except Northanger Abbey – just waiting for it to come back in stock at my library). I'm really enjoying the classics because of how witty and well-written they are.
Any recommendations for other Dickens books or other well-written classics that are not SO intense with the cruelty to children and animals? I've thought about re-reading Count of Monte Cristo and/or the 3 Musketeers, but now I'm afraid I'll find horrible stuff in there that I don't remember from my first read. I'd also be down for a classic romance, an adventure similar to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, or something really witty and funny like Terry Pratchett's style (I've read every Discworld novel).
by mg7610