Is Charles Dickens really all that great?

By window_verse

I get why everyone praises Dickens, but he just hasn’t clicked for me. He’s probably one of the most famous “classic” authors, and I’ve tried about four of his books, but they kept feeling worse as I went. I don’t think it’s the old-fashioned writing either, since I actually like stuff like Charlotte Brontë, Melville, and Poe. What bothers me is that his writing feels really repetitive and kind of flat. And I’m always getting stuck in those overly descriptive parts where every paragraph seems packed with adjectives, which makes it hard for me to stay interested. If you’re into Dickens, I’d genuinely like to hear which specific book(s) you like and what you see in them. Maybe I’m just expecting the wrong things from his stories.