Sketches by Boz, illustrative of everyday life and every-day people [Kindle Edition]

`Sketches by "Boz": Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People' was a collection of some of Dickens earliest work. Many of these pieces were published in newspapers and magazines before being published in book form in 1836. There were two series, the first being a two volume set in February of 1836, and the second as a single volume in December of 1836. Many of the earliest sketches were published without an author indicated, until he started using "Boz" as his pseudonym. This type of writing served Dickens well as he became used to writing in installments and as many of his novels were published this way. The earliest of these pieces ("A Dinner at Poplar Walk" known in this collection as "Mr. Minns and his Cousin") was published in December of 1833. The latest of these pieces was published for the first time in December 1836 along with the second series volume, and this was the closing piece "The Drunkard's Death". These pieces are organized into four sections in the book, Of the four sections, only the last are considered fictional stories, though to be sure, Dickens uses all his story-telling skill even on those which are considered non-fiction.

The first section is titled "Our Parish" and contains just seven pieces dealing with some of the characters who are part of his church's parish. The last piece doesn't really fit in with the rest for the most part as he starts by discussing knockers and their being replaced by bells, and moves into the problem with renting to single gentleman, which then leads into a very touching story of a mother and her son of eighteen who are poor and mourning the loss of the father. What these stories show is Dickens ability to write about serious subject matter, and yet have a touch of humor as well.

The second section it titled "Scenes", and this section demonstrates Dickens ability to describe the overall feel of a place, from the streets of London, to private theatres, coaches, and so on. This section contains 25 pieces which cover a wide variety of areas of London, types of stores and buildings, as well as the people one finds in these areas. The last piece is "A Visit to Newgate", which is a powerful piece about the conditions a prisoner faces in Newgate prison, and finishing with the environment facing a condemned man during his last night.

The third section is similar to the second section except it looks at "Characters" a bit more than setting, though to be sure this dividing line is not so firm as the section headings would indicate. There are 12 pieces in this section, and like the section before it ends with a piece touching on the criminal system in London with "The Prisoners' Van", a.k.a `Her Majesty's carriage'. In this story, Dickens introduces us to two young women. Once again Dickens clearly has a social conscious and it comes through loud and clear in his writing. Such observations as "What the younger girl was then, the elder had been once; and what the elder then was, the younger must soon become." express so well the situation facing the young and poor.

The fourth and final section is "Tales", and here the stories are more complete, sketches no more, they are full fictional stories in which Dickens puts all the pieces together. Despite being in the last section of this collection, 6 of these 16 pieces of short fiction are actually older than any of the "Sketches" in the first three sections. So while the setup of this collection creates an arc from a non-fictional account, through the development of scenes and characters to a fictional story, that isn't the actual progression of how these pieces were written. In fact, Dickens was accomplished at telling a fictional story from the start of his career.

`Sketches by "Boz"' is nowhere near the most significant work that Dickens produced, but it does offer a good look at his early writing, along with numerous examples of his ability to describe scenes and characters, as well as blend humor and drama together for a very effective result. There are probably many people who could skip this work without missing out on anything, and for that reason I am giving it just three stars, but for those who study Dickens and/or 19th century literature, this is an essential work to better understand one of the greatest writers of the era.

Typical Dickens, very good in some, parts but very very long winded in others. I found the majority of the sketches or stories rather depressing, which although probably reflecting Victorian life quite vividly, seemed to me to have been viewed with a very middle class eye, which is not that easy on the brain or powers of concentration, not a holiday read for sure.

A mixed bag of sketches, with some very funny and moving ones, and a few that were mediocre and forgettable. Some of the best were redolent of Dickens's later distinctive style, though these were his earliest published works, first appearing in magazines between 1833-36. The first seven sketches, grouped under the title The Parish, were good and funny, especially The Election for Beadle and The Four Sisters. The sections headed Scenes and Characters were rather more variable, though as ever Dickens excels when covering the plight of the poor and wretched, for example in Gin-Shops, A Visit to Newgate and The Prisoners' Van. A Christmas Dinner should become a seasonal favourite. The sketches detailing the coming in of the omnibus were very good as well.

The latter set of Tales were varied, with a few dull ones, but also some very funny ones, esp The Boarding House, Mr Minns and his Cousin (Dickens's first published piece as A Dinner at Poplar Walk), Horatio Sparkins and The Bloomsbury Christening. The Black Veil and The Drunkard's Death were very haunting.

The illustrations by George Cruikshank were marvellous, better than those by Phiz in my view, with a Hogarthian sort of feel about them. 4/5