Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

I'm about 90% of the way through this Dicken novel, and although I can say it's good, I can't yet bring myself to call it great.  A few thoughts:

• It's the first Dickens novel I've read of which I can't tell whom is the protaganist of the story.  None of the characters strike me as unabashedly good or evil.  Everyone seems to show both characteristics.  In reality, humans are more often of this middling sort, but not in Dickens.  We know Oliver Twist is good from page one; conversely, Fagin is just as clearly bad.  I'm confused as whom I should be rooting for in Chuzzlewit.
• Of course it's entirely possible this will resolve itself in the course of the 10% that remains.  Martin Chuzzlewit (the younger) did make a resolution to change his habits for the better as he returned from America, but he has barely figured in the story since re-appearing in England.  Mr. Pecksniff has gone the other direction, starting as completely benevolent, the very picture of domesticity with his two girls living at home with him.  The prospect of money has altered him severely.
• I suppose this idea that money (or the prospect of it) changes people for the worse could evolve as the main theme of the book.  It has certainly consumed Pecksniff, resulting in his isolation from his two daughters, Mr. Pinch, and Chuzzlewit the younger.

After Completing the Book:

Now that I've finished the book, and read some critical reviews, the theme has become much clearer: Too much focus on self, to the detriment of helping others, will ultimately work to your demise.  Greed doesn't pay.

I'm also resolved that this book, despite its name, doesn't have a traditional protagonist.  Although Martin Chuzzlewit (the elder), and his elaborate experiment to test those around him, serves as the central figure, he barely appears in the book at all.

As to his experiment, Chuzzlewit's wealth and old age has put him in a position of soon bequeathing an enormous sum on his descendants.  The problem is that they are all scheming to take the larger part of their inheritance.  Their greed, their over-emphasis on self, results in Martin Chuzzlewit's experiment to test his descendants, most notably Martin Chuzzlewit the younger.  Be renouncing him, forcing him on his own, he teaches him the importance of those around him (Mark Tapley, Mr. Pinch).  Only by learning to appreciate others does the young Martin Chuzzlewit gain the acceptance of his grandfather and put him in a position to inherit his estate.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Dickens novel without involving a wide circle of fantastic characters.  I especially enjoyed the modest Mr. Pinch, the very picture of virtue.  Poll Sweedlepipe is classic.  The old man Chuffey is fantastic.  Chevy Slyme.  Dr.  Jobling.  The list goes on and on.

One character that I genuinely disliked was Mrs. Gamp.  I simply felt her annoying and superfluous to the story.  Her importance to the story was far (very far) outweighed by the number of pages devoted to her nonsense.  I was surprised to read in some critical analysis that her character is often noted as one of Dickens' most prolific.  Very bizarre.

I'm stepping away from my Dickens project for a bit, opting to explore other English novelists for a time.  I will certainly return to the Dickens novels, especially since I'm approaching his most prolific works.  

Next up for me is Samuel Richardson's Pamela, often cited as the first English novel (written in 1740), which I've already begun.  It parallels my non-fiction reading right now, a biography of the 18th Century French philosopher Voltaire, along with one of his most famous written works, Letters on England.