I say it’s worth doing because I’ve just finished it and wouldn’t want to think that the last three months I’ve spent on it have been for nothing. If you reallllllly like Dickens, Victorian literature and culture, and/or have a lot of leisure time, you might get something out of this.
That being said, I’ll say that I found it slow-moving, verbose (even by Victorian standards), and densely packed (at times I’d finish five pages and be unable to go on). Dickens certainly does his share of rambling in this one. And the title character is incredibly dull. Some of the supporting characters are mildly interesting and colourful, but DC himself is mind-numbingly boring at times. In my opinion, the worst (beating DC’s criminally weak and neglectful mother by a mere hair), however, is Dora, a character so irritatingly ditzy and stupid she makes Kelly Bundy from ‘Married With Children’ look like Marie Curie in comparison.
The book has withstood the test of time, I guess, and is part of many literary canons, so reading it does perhaps increase awareness of Anglo and Western culture. But proceed with caution (this is not a page-turner), and make sure you have a pillow handy in case you nod off.