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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
This book wasn’t bad, I’ve just never hated anything more in my life. Hope this is understandable. Thank you, Charles dickens, for making me hate Victorian literature. It’s been real.
One thing that one has to accept with Dickens is that his heroines will be long-suffering, and that men will decide what's good for them, for which they will be grateful.
Given that, I think this the best of his books.
It has the fewest Victorian-plot coincidences, and it has the most and best swathes of bitingly funny satire of soi-disant high society. How the Lammle marriage comes about, and how each of them, in becoming a couple, brings the other down from spoken moral rectitude to the barest pretense of it is as horrific in a quiet way as all the rantings, drownings, and so on.
Bradley Headstone is a remarkably believable depiction of the stalker boyfriend who can't seem to stop himself from sinking into obsession--and violence. Eugene Wrayburn is a fascinating, witty guy for an idle dog.
There are some bits of brilliance--the depiction of the riverside society; Mr. Boffins' educational plan; the Veneering parties.
There were signs of actual personality on Bella's part (when we meet her, she is mourning over being forced to wear black because the guy she was engaged to--whom she had never met--had drowned, which pretty much has finished her socially. Why shouldn't she mourn?)even if the machinations behind her romance are quite wince-worthy.
Dickens also tries to make up for comfortably unexamined Antisemitism, and the subsidiary characters are wonderfully memorable.
Altogether it's a real page-turner. Glad I reread it.
Given that, I think this the best of his books.
It has the fewest Victorian-plot coincidences, and it has the most and best swathes of bitingly funny satire of soi-disant high society. How the Lammle marriage comes about, and how each of them, in becoming a couple, brings the other down from spoken moral rectitude to the barest pretense of it is as horrific in a quiet way as all the rantings, drownings, and so on.
Bradley Headstone is a remarkably believable depiction of the stalker boyfriend who can't seem to stop himself from sinking into obsession--and violence. Eugene Wrayburn is a fascinating, witty guy for an idle dog.
There are some bits of brilliance--the depiction of the riverside society; Mr. Boffins' educational plan; the Veneering parties.
There were signs of actual personality on Bella's part (when we meet her, she is mourning over being forced to wear black because the guy she was engaged to--whom she had never met--had drowned, which pretty much has finished her socially. Why shouldn't she mourn?)even if the machinations behind her romance are quite wince-worthy.
Dickens also tries to make up for comfortably unexamined Antisemitism, and the subsidiary characters are wonderfully memorable.
Altogether it's a real page-turner. Glad I reread it.
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
excellent! bit confused at first, but the pieces fell together well!
Does the world really need my review of Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend? Do I have anything to add to the 1,396 reviews already existing on Goodreads?
Probably not, so I will be quick. It is a satire on the middle class – and we never get tired of those. It features a wide selection of grotesque characters and a few sharp working-class girls.
This was Dickens’s last finished novel, written when he was suffering from various ailments, and most likely in some form of constant pain from his permanently swollen foot. This atmosphere of pain, suffering, sickness and death is quite visible in the novel.
There is also a character of a deformed precocious child that adds to the book’s melodramatic flair. This was what particularly vexed Henry James when he reviewed this novel very negatively.
On my part, I want to say that if I were Bella, and I found out that my husband and two of my dearest friends had played some weird psychological game on me, some bizarre test/torture, there would be hell to pay. But Bella was just like: “LOL, you doughnuts!”
Probably not, so I will be quick. It is a satire on the middle class – and we never get tired of those. It features a wide selection of grotesque characters and a few sharp working-class girls.
This was Dickens’s last finished novel, written when he was suffering from various ailments, and most likely in some form of constant pain from his permanently swollen foot. This atmosphere of pain, suffering, sickness and death is quite visible in the novel.
There is also a character of a deformed precocious child that adds to the book’s melodramatic flair. This was what particularly vexed Henry James when he reviewed this novel very negatively.
On my part, I want to say that if I were Bella, and I found out that my husband and two of my dearest friends had played some weird psychological game on me, some bizarre test/torture, there would be hell to pay. But Bella was just like: “LOL, you doughnuts!”
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
With every Dickens I read, I become more and more certain that he is the greatest wit of all time. He seamlessly mixes high satire with feeling description, romance, mystery and general comedy. Whilst at times this became almost a satire of itself, it is so well written and rounded off that it doesn’t matter. Dickens, chapeau.
Dickens' last completed novel, OMF, is a complex wonder, full of brilliantly characterized people, whether they're major players or those who stop in just for a scene or two. Having read it weekly in the way in which it was originally published, in installments of 3 or 4 chapters each, I can recommend the benefits of doing it this way, as it allows the reader to sit with the characters for a long, lovely time. OMF, like all of Dickens' novels, has plenty of characters to love and plenty to loathe. Ever so much fun.
reflective
slow-paced
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes