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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Dickens in December 2016!
6 word review:
Our Mutual Friend = Best. Dickens. Ever.
More comprehensive, less melodramatic review:
Okay, first of all, this is seriously the best Dickens I've read. For those who follow my Dickens in December project annually (looking at you, Kat), you're probably thinking, "But Jesse, you say that every year!" Well okay, guilty as charged, but looking back, only Bleak House has impressed and captivated me like Our Mutual Friend.
First, let's talk about the characters. Starting with their names. And oh, what names! Noddy Boffin (aka The Golden Dustman), Gaffer Hexam (real name Jesse), Bradley Headstone, Rogue Riderhood and his daughter Pleasant Riderhood (one can only hope that "Little Red" was his pet name for her), Sloppy (no last name necessary), Fascination Fledgeby, Rumty Wilfer, and last but not least, the Veneerings, who are not given first names, nor personalities, but are, as their name suggests, just supposed to look pretty from the outside.
Our Mutual Friend was Dickens's last finished novel, and he is obviously at the peak of his craft. Each of these characters represents something important to Dickens, whether for good or ill, and he crafts them skillfully in a story with more twists and turns than apresidential election soap opera (sorry, too soon?). By the end, I was literally cheering aloud when each character got exactly what he or she deserved.
Speaking of the presidential election, Dickens certainly would have had plenty to say about that recent event. He was never shy about jumping in and tackling the wrongs he saw in society around him, and this book is no exception. The side-story of the Veneerings and their elegant trappings lashes out and lands squarely on the chin of that part of society that Dickens scorned.
As for the heroes, Mr John Rokesmith and Miss Bella Wilfer, among others, they are some of the tenderest characters you will ever meet. The double transformation that occurs in Bella is inspirational, and the never-ending patience in the face of opposition that is faced by Mr Rokesmith make me want to hang posters of them on my wall. (Seriously, why has no one ever come up with that? Posters are wasted on pop stars that shoot through the sky and burn out in 6 months...)
So, bottom line: go read Our Mutual Friend. In the immortal words of everyone's BFF Larry the Cucumber: "I laughed, I cried, It moved me Bob!"
6 word review:
Our Mutual Friend = Best. Dickens. Ever.
More comprehensive, less melodramatic review:
Okay, first of all, this is seriously the best Dickens I've read. For those who follow my Dickens in December project annually (looking at you, Kat), you're probably thinking, "But Jesse, you say that every year!" Well okay, guilty as charged, but looking back, only Bleak House has impressed and captivated me like Our Mutual Friend.
First, let's talk about the characters. Starting with their names. And oh, what names! Noddy Boffin (aka The Golden Dustman), Gaffer Hexam (real name Jesse), Bradley Headstone, Rogue Riderhood and his daughter Pleasant Riderhood (one can only hope that "Little Red" was his pet name for her), Sloppy (no last name necessary), Fascination Fledgeby, Rumty Wilfer, and last but not least, the Veneerings, who are not given first names, nor personalities, but are, as their name suggests, just supposed to look pretty from the outside.
Our Mutual Friend was Dickens's last finished novel, and he is obviously at the peak of his craft. Each of these characters represents something important to Dickens, whether for good or ill, and he crafts them skillfully in a story with more twists and turns than a
Speaking of the presidential election, Dickens certainly would have had plenty to say about that recent event. He was never shy about jumping in and tackling the wrongs he saw in society around him, and this book is no exception. The side-story of the Veneerings and their elegant trappings lashes out and lands squarely on the chin of that part of society that Dickens scorned.
As for the heroes, Mr John Rokesmith and Miss Bella Wilfer, among others, they are some of the tenderest characters you will ever meet. The double transformation that occurs in Bella is inspirational, and the never-ending patience in the face of opposition that is faced by Mr Rokesmith make me want to hang posters of them on my wall. (Seriously, why has no one ever come up with that? Posters are wasted on pop stars that shoot through the sky and burn out in 6 months...)
So, bottom line: go read Our Mutual Friend. In the immortal words of everyone's BFF Larry the Cucumber: "I laughed, I cried, It moved me Bob!"
IT IS DONE AND I DID IT!
In the ten or so weeks it took me to read this, I didn't meet a single person outside of my book club who had ever heard of it. I hadn't heard of it, either, until Kristin suggested it as an alternative to Bleak House. Now I'm trying to decide why it's apparently so obscure, since it doesn't seem too far off the path of the Dickens novels people DO read.
Anyway: it's long, and unless you take notes, you won't remember everything that happens. But it's also pretty delightful—a good, elaborate yarn that didn't go where I thought it was going to at ALL. Dickens is familiar with injustice, but he's also pretty committed to making HIS version of the universe a just one, and it's interesting to see how that plays out.
If you're looking for something big but not too heavy, this is a good choice.
In the ten or so weeks it took me to read this, I didn't meet a single person outside of my book club who had ever heard of it. I hadn't heard of it, either, until Kristin suggested it as an alternative to Bleak House. Now I'm trying to decide why it's apparently so obscure, since it doesn't seem too far off the path of the Dickens novels people DO read.
Anyway: it's long, and unless you take notes, you won't remember everything that happens. But it's also pretty delightful—a good, elaborate yarn that didn't go where I thought it was going to at ALL. Dickens is familiar with injustice, but he's also pretty committed to making HIS version of the universe a just one, and it's interesting to see how that plays out.
If you're looking for something big but not too heavy, this is a good choice.
Not quite as good as Little Dorritt or Bleak House, but very much in the same vein, and I liked this one way more than Barnaby Rudge, or Dombey and Son, or The Old Curiosity Shop. It's Dickens at very close to his best: heavy handed, overblown, and brilliant.
We start by following a father and daughter who make their living by fishing dead bodies out of the Thames and robbing them. The father, mind you, has principles. He only robs the dead, and would never think of robbing the living. For a while, at least, its open to doubt whether he would hasten people into the state where they would become robbable. And these are some of the better people in this book.
The main plot revolves around the will of a rich man who somehow has made his fortune by creating mountains of dust. The image of these dust mountains is both silly and tremendous, and it quite literally looms over much of the book.
The cast of characters is as vast, and as shallow, as ever. What can you expect with characters with names like Veneering? But I don't read Dickens for his characters. They are always paper thin. He doesn't write about real people, so much as he creates elaborate, and fun, Punch and Judy skits.
To a certain extent, this book is supposed to be about the corrupting tendencies of wealth. But he can't bear to have his characters be anything other than black or white. The ones who are bad and seeking for wealth, are always that way. And the good folks tend to be ever so good. And even when he makes it seem like there is a real change in character, it turns out just to be a sham, with two exceptions. One is the purification of Bella, and the other is with the best character in the book, Jenny Wren. She is a nearly crippled woman, with an alcoholic father. She makes her living by making doll's clothes for rich people, and she is acerbic, witty, and about the fullest and best character that Dickens ever wrote.
The plotting here is better than in most Dickens. The coincidences and absurdities are there, but they are nowhere nearly as annoying as in some other books. It doesn't turn out that everyone is related to everyone else. And the coincidences seem more to get things moving here, instead of in other books, like Oliver Twist, where they seem to conveniently resolve everything.
I only have one more Dickens left - his first, Sketches by Boz. Who knows if I will ever get around to it. I'm glad I saved this one up, but I think I need to do more re-reading of good stuff, than completing an author's work merely for the sake of completion. So, given the choice, would I rather read that, or re-read Great Expectations or David Copperfield. Seems easy when I put it like that, but somehow I know I will end up reading the book I'm pretty sure will be a chore.
We start by following a father and daughter who make their living by fishing dead bodies out of the Thames and robbing them. The father, mind you, has principles. He only robs the dead, and would never think of robbing the living. For a while, at least, its open to doubt whether he would hasten people into the state where they would become robbable. And these are some of the better people in this book.
The main plot revolves around the will of a rich man who somehow has made his fortune by creating mountains of dust. The image of these dust mountains is both silly and tremendous, and it quite literally looms over much of the book.
The cast of characters is as vast, and as shallow, as ever. What can you expect with characters with names like Veneering? But I don't read Dickens for his characters. They are always paper thin. He doesn't write about real people, so much as he creates elaborate, and fun, Punch and Judy skits.
To a certain extent, this book is supposed to be about the corrupting tendencies of wealth. But he can't bear to have his characters be anything other than black or white. The ones who are bad and seeking for wealth, are always that way. And the good folks tend to be ever so good. And even when he makes it seem like there is a real change in character, it turns out just to be a sham, with two exceptions. One is the purification of Bella, and the other is with the best character in the book, Jenny Wren. She is a nearly crippled woman, with an alcoholic father. She makes her living by making doll's clothes for rich people, and she is acerbic, witty, and about the fullest and best character that Dickens ever wrote.
The plotting here is better than in most Dickens. The coincidences and absurdities are there, but they are nowhere nearly as annoying as in some other books. It doesn't turn out that everyone is related to everyone else. And the coincidences seem more to get things moving here, instead of in other books, like Oliver Twist, where they seem to conveniently resolve everything.
I only have one more Dickens left - his first, Sketches by Boz. Who knows if I will ever get around to it. I'm glad I saved this one up, but I think I need to do more re-reading of good stuff, than completing an author's work merely for the sake of completion. So, given the choice, would I rather read that, or re-read Great Expectations or David Copperfield. Seems easy when I put it like that, but somehow I know I will end up reading the book I'm pretty sure will be a chore.
Have you ever had a hard time choosing how to rank a book? Hm. Maybe I need a life if I see this as a dilemma.
I have a friend who is lending me BBC dramas; the effect is that I enjoy the movie and then read the book. This was one that I enjoyed, by and large. But. Dickens was paid by the word. Yikes. (although that concept might also explain people like Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind, as well).
The character who probably struck me the most was Silas Wegg. All the qutoes and concepts from the book, save one, came from him: keeping up appearances to oneself (as well as others), turning one's benefactors into injurers, and the base greed and opportunism that he represents.
Bradley Headstone was just creepy, and shows that that kind of person (obsessed, cruel, murderous, creature under the rock thrust into daylight) has been around for a long time.
I'd say more, but it's time for breakfast.
I have a friend who is lending me BBC dramas; the effect is that I enjoy the movie and then read the book. This was one that I enjoyed, by and large. But. Dickens was paid by the word. Yikes. (although that concept might also explain people like Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind, as well).
The character who probably struck me the most was Silas Wegg. All the qutoes and concepts from the book, save one, came from him: keeping up appearances to oneself (as well as others), turning one's benefactors into injurers, and the base greed and opportunism that he represents.
Bradley Headstone was just creepy, and shows that that kind of person (obsessed, cruel, murderous, creature under the rock thrust into daylight) has been around for a long time.
I'd say more, but it's time for breakfast.
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
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this book - the unbelievable but fun plot twists, the quirkiness of people’s occupations, the perfect balance between joy and darkness, the complexity and evolution of the characters and the out-of-this-world humour. Loved it and it has become one of my all time favourites.
Surprising to nobody, I truly adore Dickens’ style. That said, if I hear the word “cherub” or “cherubic” one more time this year, I will lose my mind.
I am worried that I might like Our Mutual Friend more than Bleak House. I had thought that Bleak House was my favorite Dickens novel but re-reading Our Mutual Friend (or actually listening to it this time in the outstanding Simon Vance recording), I might like it even better. It has one of the best set piece openings in Dickens, going from a dark scene on the Thames to a light scene in a drawing room. Dickens wields his kaleidoscope of characters and plots better than just about any other novel, without the types of awkward and overly implausible and complicated conclusory parts as you have in Little Dorrit and Nicholas Nickleby. The complexity and dynamism of a number of the characters surpasses much of the previous, including Bella Wilfer (although she turns into a painful cartoon in the last quarter), Eugene Wrayburn, Mr. Boffin (although that also falls apart a bit when we learn of the ruse in the end), and many more. The comic characters like Jenny Wren are strange, complicated and amusing. And the villains are interestingly villainous, although I still prefer the cartoon theatrics of early villains like Quilp to Fledgeby and Mr. Wegg, but both of them are wonderful too. There is some to complain of, like the implausible reversal for Mr. Boffin. But overall my main complaint is that Dickens wrote this when he was 53 and one can only imagine how much better he would have gotten if he had lived long enough to write more complete novels. This might even be seen not as a late work but the middle period he continued to grow from.
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced