Summation

Overall, Oliver Twist is a well-written novel that emphasizes many of the key issues in the Victorian age. However, there are a couple observations of note that I have made:
a. There are many speculations that Charles Dickens was paid by the word. That, from this novel, seems to be an accurate statement. Dickens prefers to say in ten words what he could have simply said in two. For example, rather than saying "Oliver was sad," he prefers a longer (to say the least) approach with something like: "Oliver was depressed and mournful; the only thing on his mind was his misfortunate, and he walked the streets with a melancholy step, a desolate look shadowing his face - the only thing he desired was an inkling of happiness."
b. In addition, Dickens wrote in segments. In the Victorian age, rather than output the novel of Oliver Twist, he put out volumes, chapter by chapter. Therefore, every chapter ends on a suspenseful note, in order to keep the masses interested in his writing. Every so often, he would release another volume and he wanted more people to return to his writing and read the sequels. Only later was the entire novel bound into one volume labeled Oliver Twist.
c. More specifically regarding the novel, itself, it is, as I mentioned above, a little unbelievable that Oliver ends up with more family than anybody else. In fact, the title, Oliver Twist, is just a misnomer (it's a false name created by Mr. Bumble in accordance with his alphabetical method of naming orphans). One of the primary themes of the novel is Oliver discovering his true identity, yet the novel's title is his "fake" name! It's also ironic that, throughout the course of the novel, Oliver ends up with more family than anybody else. It's a slight bit fantastical that Oliver Twist ends up being related to nearly every single person he meets, in one way or another, be it the nice Mr. Brownlow or the notorious criminal that turns out to be his half-brother, Monks.

Despite these criticisms, I enjoyed reading Dickens and look forward to another encounter with this obviously brilliant author soon.