More on Hard Times

I’m in Part 2 of Hard Times. It’s getting slightly confusing. Part 2 is set a year after Part 1. Now, Louisa Gradgrind, Thomas Gradgrind’s oldest daughter, is married to Mr. Bounderby. Young Tom Gradgrind, Louisa’s little brother, has financial issues or something (I’m not quite sure. I said the book’s getting slightly confusing, remember?). So, okay, what do Mrs. Sparsit (Mr. Bounderby’s old housekeeper) and this new guy, Mr. James Harthouse, want? Well, I’m not sure, but I think Mrs. Sparsit wants influence over Mr. Bounderby, and Mr. Harthouse wants influence over Louisa? The bank was robbed, and Stephen Blackpool (who was fired, and is also an outcast among his fellow Hands) was suspected? What? Mrs. Gradgrind, Louisa’s mother, just died?! Huh?

I’m just going to keep reading, in the hope that the mist clears later on, and the book gets interesting later on. I want to hear more about the Coketown factories and the Gradgrind model school, not about people using each other as pawns in a confusing game of sorts, like in a soap opera. (Not to say it’s bad writing or that I dislike Dickens’ works, but I’m just not into watching relational issues in people’s lives.)