... this book could trigger a productive reconsideration of literary history and the history of the novel genre. * Michael Lund, Dickens Studies Annual *
Engaging and singularly jargon-free ... Bowen proves himself more alert to the paradoxes and inner contradictions of Dickens's writing than any commentator since G. K. Chesterton ... He responds with sensitivity and shrewd intelligence to the sheer plenitude of Dickens's imagination ... On the books dust-jacket, Robert Patten is quoted, declaring Bowen to be "the freshest new voice on Dickens for decades, a reader for the new millennium". That seems to me a judgement with which many readers of Other Dickens are certain to agree. * Paul Schlicke, Review of English Studies *
What emerges is a fresh look at, and often a new appreciation for, the fertility of Dickens's imagination and the complexity of the novels. This is an indispensable work for all students of Dickens but most especially for those weary of studies that are mere mechanical application of the latest critical fad. * J. Don Vann, Choice *
an infectiously energetic, affirmative piece of work, and makes thoroughly persuasive claims for the high merits of each of the first six novels ... Certainly, this is a book worth having. * Dominic Rainsford, Dickensian *
excellent ... the acuteness of the books judgements, the breadth of its theoretical and literary reference, and the originality of its ideas combine to make Other Dickens a singular achievement and an important and enduring contribution to the critical literature on Dickens. * John O. Jordan, Victorian Studies *
John Bowens Other Dickens is a book I wish I had written ... The studies of each novel are first-rate - strong enough in each instance to stand alone as a critical essay - and the voice articulate and insightful. * Brian Rosenberg, Dickens Quarterly *
one of the best books to be published on Dickens for some time ... Bowen combines real scholarship with analytical sophistication ... His principled eclecticism results in marvelously diverse and stimulating readings of the novels ... the exuberance, confidence and fluency of the prose suggests the experience of reading a Dickens novel ... Bowen is throughout engaged, excited, and inspired * Juliet John, Notes and Queries *
excellent ... the acuteness of the book's judgements, the breadth of its theoretical and literary reference, and the originality of its ideas combine to make Other Dickens a singular achievement and an important and enduring contribution to the critical literature on Dickens. * John Jordan, Victorian Studies *
a pleasure to read, full of witty and elegant prose, good jokes, sound information, and perceptive commentary. * Susan Morgan, SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *
Reader-friendly, incisive and ... witty. * Richard J. Dunn, Studies in the Novel *
Dickens emerges, not as a clown and conjuror ... but as a major radical voice ... Seldom has Boz seemed more frighteningly coherent. * Jonathan Keates, Times Literary Supplement *
Bowen's determination to look more sympathetically at the early novels ... pays high dividends ... [an] excellent study. * John Lucas, Journal of Victorian Culture *
exhilarating and unfailingly interesting ... an impressive and noteworthy book ... Bowen's is the work of a restless, fresh, and lively young intelligence. * Patrick McCarthy, Dickens Forum *
