Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

I am, by now, familiar enough with the shortcomings of Dickens; sentimentality, a manichean worldview and some shocking anti-Semitism. All three are particularly heinous in this early work, with the further impediment of an implausible and passive protagonist, yet somehow the novel still captivates.

The evocation of the grottier parts of London, inhabited by iconic characters such as Sikes, Nancy, Fagin and the Artful Dodger is utterly splendid, and every time the narrative leaves the capital it loses momentum. Certain scenes will, I suspect, stay with me forever, particularly the penultimate chapter featuring Fagin facing up to his horrible fate.

On the anti-Semitism question, it is especially egregious in the first edition (the one I read) wherein Fagin is continuously, and disparagingly, referred to as "the Jew". Most of these references were amended in later editions, apparently in deference to a Jewish friend of Dickens.

I suppose this is the most famous and widely read "classic" novel that I had not read up until I read it, if you see what I mean. I don't know what takes its place...The Three Musketeers maybe?