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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
This was everything I want when I pick up a novel by Dickens. It took me a while to get through this, but never did I feel that it dragged on for a long time or that it was unnecessarily prolonged. I barely even noticed how long it was. This book has a great cast of memorable characters, and I grew to love or hate every singe one of them. Every time I opened the book it felt like coming home, like it enveloped me in a warm hug. The stories of all the different characters build up and intertwine and combine to a beautiful whole - funny, sad, dramatic, heart-breaking, heart-warming.
I was going to say that this earns a spot under my top Dickens novels, but then I realized I probably say that for everyone I read (except Oliver Twist, the black sheep), so I'll just say it was excellent and worth every singe one of its 800 pages.
I was going to say that this earns a spot under my top Dickens novels, but then I realized I probably say that for everyone I read (except Oliver Twist, the black sheep), so I'll just say it was excellent and worth every singe one of its 800 pages.
Wow! What an amazing novel! I am a huge Dickens fan, and shamefully had never read this one before, so with excitement I bought it and started my adventure on the River Thames. As is usual with Dickens, there are a plethora of characters with the greatest of names: the Veneerings with their superficial pretentious "layer"; the Boffins; Jenny Wren, the dolls' dressmaker who got inspiration for outfits from the grand ladies at events such as funerals; Twemlow (who I initially thought was a dining table); and Mr Venus, who far from being the Adonis-like figure his name suggests, is a taxidermist. Some of the characters made me laugh: Silas Wegg and his wooden leg, conjuring up fake aristocrats; and some of them made me cringe: Mr Fledgeby's and Eugene Wrayburn's clearly non-PC attitude to Mr Riah. There were elements of suspense in the novel, as well as a love-triangle between two of the male characters and Lizzie Hexham and its "twisted" result. If there is a negative to this novel, it is that it is a bit "wordy", one cannot help but think Dickens could have made an equally comprehensible novel in fewer words. There were times, I admit, that I found it quite tough-going. But the reader must persevere, as in doing so, the brilliance and distinctiveness of Dickens' writing becomes enveloping and one is drawn in to the sometimes romantic, sometimes ugly life on the banks of the Thames in the nineteenth century. An essential read!
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dickens certainly knows how to weave a story! Our Mutual Friend revolves around the death of John Harmon. Harmon, whose estranged father willed him the Harmon estate on the condition that he marry Bella Wilfer--a woman wholly unknown to him, is murdered at sea on his return home to claim his fortune. With this as the basis of the story, we are then introduced to a spattering of characters either directly or indirectly involved in the Harmon matter. It is superbly written, inducing laughter, tears, and horror. It is filled with some of the most noble characters as well as the most devious.
Some of my favorite characters are: Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, Jenny Wren, Bella Wilfer, and, ranking among the creepiest and most certifiably insane characters in literature: Bradley Headstone.
I listened to the audio version of this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Expertly read by narrator Robert Whitfield, it was well worth the 30 hours and 19 minutes. As a side note, I have long been a fan of the mini-series which I first saw years ago on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre (my advice is to watch it with the subtitles on so you don't miss anything).
I am by no means a scholar when it comes to Dickens (or anything else, for that matter), but I do so appreciate his story-telling ability and the originality and quirkiness of his characters.
Some of my favorite characters are: Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, Jenny Wren, Bella Wilfer, and, ranking among the creepiest and most certifiably insane characters in literature: Bradley Headstone.
I listened to the audio version of this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Expertly read by narrator Robert Whitfield, it was well worth the 30 hours and 19 minutes. As a side note, I have long been a fan of the mini-series which I first saw years ago on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre (my advice is to watch it with the subtitles on so you don't miss anything).
I am by no means a scholar when it comes to Dickens (or anything else, for that matter), but I do so appreciate his story-telling ability and the originality and quirkiness of his characters.
well, perhaps the most challenging of Dickens-ion worlds to immerse oneself in... and yet. Thoughts ... oh my! was he demented ? I found myself stepping out again ... abort a Dickens?
Then i gathered up what charts and maps i could find to plot the course and studied those for some time.
No spoilers here. Warning: NOT "A Tale Of Two Cities"
Step out you too. You will not regret it.
Then i gathered up what charts and maps i could find to plot the course and studied those for some time.
No spoilers here. Warning: NOT "A Tale Of Two Cities"
Step out you too. You will not regret it.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
mysterious
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
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This reader's wholly grateful to have discovered such a fine unabridged copy of "Our Mutual Friend"--in the Macmillan Collector's Library edition 1171 pp--for a 2nd read of Dickens' last completed & monumental novel.
And yes, this time 'round that softly brilliant flash in the finish... how necessary and why so those pieces--which I might have so readily left out--fit together for an understanding.
"Relieve us of our money, scatter it for us, buy us and sell us, ruin us, only we beseech ye take rank among the powers of the earth, and fatten on us."
"Power (unless it be the power of intellect or virtue) has ever the greatest attraction for the lowest natures... "
It's all about money and power, who finds it , who's 'found out' by it. And in the words of our friend Rumty,
" 'Ah me!' , said he,
' what might have been is not what is!' "
(By the way if any reviewer knows how one might add the correct information concerning pages under editions of an ISBN to Goodreads database, please be so kind to include in the comments.)
"...and he glanced at the backs of the books, with an awakened curiosity that went below the binding. No one who can read , ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot."
Mr Dickens, you rock! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
And yes, this time 'round that softly brilliant flash in the finish... how necessary and why so those pieces--which I might have so readily left out--fit together for an understanding.
"Relieve us of our money, scatter it for us, buy us and sell us, ruin us, only we beseech ye take rank among the powers of the earth, and fatten on us."
"Power (unless it be the power of intellect or virtue) has ever the greatest attraction for the lowest natures... "
It's all about money and power, who finds it , who's 'found out' by it. And in the words of our friend Rumty,
" 'Ah me!' , said he,
' what might have been is not what is!' "
(By the way if any reviewer knows how one might add the correct information concerning pages under editions of an ISBN to Goodreads database, please be so kind to include in the comments.)
"...and he glanced at the backs of the books, with an awakened curiosity that went below the binding. No one who can read , ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot."
Mr Dickens, you rock! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I really enjoyed this book, though it took me forever to read it. I haven't read all that much Dickens, but as I read this, it struck me what an amazing writer he was and how aware of people he was. So many times I would say, "Yes, exactly," to something he articulated about what a character was thinking or feeling. I also really loved his metaphors. So many of them are so wacky, but so spot on. It was pretty confusing sometimes, especially if I wasn't attending all that closely to what I was reading. I am glad I finally managed to finish it. The first time I tried to read this book, I was i high school. I couldn't get very far into it and switched to Jane Eyre instead, which turned out to be one of my very favorite books. :)