The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is closely modelled on the 18h-century novels that Charles Dickens loved as a child, such as Robinson Crusoe, in which the fortunes of a hero shape the plot. The likeable young Nicholas, left penniless on the death of his father, sets off in search of better prospects. His meandering route to happiness includes work as a teacher at Dotheboys Hall, where the brutal Wackford Squeers ill-treats his impoverished pupils, and a spell as an actor with the absurdly melodramatic Crummles troupe. Nicholas's many adventures give Dickens the freedom to follow the eccentricities of a vivid gallery of characters, exploring themes of class, love, and self-awareness with exuberant comedy and biting satire.

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor

On the audio performance of "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" and the story told therein

I saw and was captivated by the eight hour Royal Shakespeare Company production of "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" in 1984 and have attempted to read the novel off and on ever since. To my great displeasure I have ever been able to accomplish that task. However, I found this audiobook if the novel to be just as enthralling and moving as that seminal theater experience of three decades past. Simon Vance is the perfect storyteller, rendering the complex tale quite lucid and bringing the multitude of characters to vivid life. Even the loquacious and sometimes tiresome Mrs. Nickleby became amusing in Vance's performance as he made even her long-winded speeches positively musical. I can think of no better way to pass a long car trip or hours on a beach than by listening to this lovely and compelling audio rendering of "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby."

Master Performer Reads a Classic

Simon Vance rises to the top of
his profession narrating a tale that has
it all—-villainy, romance, pathos, adventure told by Charles Dickens.
Vance performing alone carries the
impression that there are a troup of
actors portraying scoundrels and Dickensian eccentrics. At 30 hours
in length I could not have enough.

Entertaining

If you could sum up The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby in three words, what would they be?

A Fun Book

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby?

When Nicholas is talking with Smyke as he is nearing deat.

What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Really captured the spirit of each character.

Excellent voice acting

I enjoyed the dramatic plot and especially the perfect work by the narrator who performed many diverse characters

Heroes and Villains

Dickens' first pass at a romantic novel and a fine romance it is too, centred on a young hero of conspicuous gallantry and peopled with pantomime villains and damsels in distress by the seeming coachful. Simon Vance handles it all with wit and dexterity, relishing the various dialects and stages of youth or decrepitude in the array of characters. I can't resist mentioning in this context the preposterous provincial thespian Vincent Crummles, and wishing that Dickens had found more for him, through Vance, to say. Amid all the swashbuckling exploits, though, Dickens finds time to depict in Ralph Nickleby one of his most chilling portrayals of evil, a man as close to purely malicious as ever was committed to paper, but withal restrained, subdued, sardonic, and wholly believable. Some critics have found fault with the characterisation, and one can concede that point, particularly in relation to the impossibly cheery Cheeruble brothers and their almost transparent ward Madeline Bray. There is also a drawn out side story involving the fawning relatives of a petty government official with little connection to the main plot that would clearly be a candidate for "abridgment". However to make too much of these points would be carp unduly at what in the end is intended as, and succeeds extravagantly as, no more than a ripping yarn.