This book was quite the slog, and I did not enjoy parts of it because it was filled with unkind people. But Dickens handled the material more gently than a modern writer would have, and for that, I was grateful. The book is dated, of course, in its treatment of women. I was impressed with Dickens’ creation, Ria, the Jewish “fake usurer”, who turned out to be very kind and wise. And it was amusing to have 2 con artists marry each other, expecting that the other had money. Some of the language in this book was incomprehensible to me… I don’t remember having that problem with Dickens.
