Like all Charles Dickens novels Hard Times features some great, memorable characters. The setting of the industrial city of Coketown is vividly described as a miserable, polluted town. There are some strong themes of class struggles between the working men in the factories and the harsh upper classes who seek to exploit them. Nearly all of the upper class characters are depicted in a negative light while the real heroes of the story are from the working class. As always, Dickens finds an entertaining way to shine a bright light on the social problems of Victorian-era England. <p> Hard Times isnt like Dickenss other novels, Dickens endured himself much further to with this novel as he has his characters perform Thomas Carlyles enduring philosophy. <p> The novel follows the Gradgrind family who is raised adhering to FACTS and living in a society which worships the manufacturing machine. As the novel progresses, connections are made and broken, and the characters come to the realization that there is much more to reality than the material facts. <p> Hard Times is told so compassionately. The reader cares for these people and their tragic lives. The story is also told with biting humor that still cuts at todays society (this novel feels really modern), and the underlying philosophy is one which is so needed in our post-modern world. <p> You will thoroughly enjoy this novel and highly recommend it.
