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Review title: What could he be thinking of?
Product review: Although I find this book slightly more interesting than did the reviewer who likened it to Sominex, I have to confess that I am trying to finish it out of obstinacy and of my interest in Dicken's life. Ackroyd's writing style does indeed get on my nerves, particularly his effusions about Dickens' genius. Maybe he was a genius, but we don't have to be reminded 40 times a chapter! What bothered me the most were the chapters inserted here and there that were Ackroyd's fictional accounts of Dickens meeting his characters or other writers who did not live in his time. I found them corny and unbearable. I have never seen anything like this in other biographies, and I think that's a good thing. The only reason I am giving this book 2 stars is that it reflects an incredible amount of scholarship. But I have no idea why it is so well-regarded.
