Victorian Lit for someone who finds Dickens a bit flowery...?

[Calidore]

That's why it puzzles me that I like (even love) Dumas, but not Dickens. Maybe Dumas's sentences and word use work better in French than Dickens's in English?
[snip]
Or maybe it is that Dumas's characters are less of a caricature than Dickens's?

I think you've touched on it above: Dickens was more into social commentary and satire, while Dumas wrote ripsnorting historical action-adventure-romances. As with pretty much every kind of literature, it comes down to the individual reader's taste. I like Dickens, but I love Dumas, because he's a whole lot more fun.

[Emil Miller]

I think you've touched on it above: Dickens was more into social commentary and satire, while Dumas wrote ripsnorting historical action-adventure-romances. As with pretty much every kind of literature, it comes down to the individual reader's taste. I like Dickens, but I love Dumas, because he's a whole lot more fun.

The difference between Dumas and Dickens is that Dumas was French and Dickens was English and nothing highlights the fact more than their writing.

[victorianfan]

I strongly recommend Anthony Trollope.

[Veho]

I think Dickens is no doubt wordy but not to such an extent that I've noticed. However I do find occasionally (but not too infrequently) that I come across a sentence that just makes no sense to me. This makes me feel discouraged as I end up working out a sentence for five minutes because I like to understand everything I read. Also, I don't know why I get confused by some sentences when others don't seem to. I'm not particularly dim, I hope. Winge over!

I'm not a big fan of Dickens either but I can appreciate him - if they were just shorter they might actually be better. I understand why they're so long though.

[kev67]

Just finished reading Great Expectations, and whilst I appreciate it is well written, I struggled with his style of writing. It seemed very over wordy which got in the way of the story for me. My favourite 'classic' authors are Steinbeck and Orwell, which are obviously 20th century. However I'm really interested in reading novels from the Victorian era. Are there any who write in a more simplistic style than Dickens?

Maybe you'd like Joseph Conrad if you like Steinbeck and Orwell. All Conrad's books end miserably (well that's the impression I got after reading three of them). TBH, I cannot remember whether Conrad was wordy or not. I don't think he was but there was a lot between the lines.