paulataua 's review for:

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

3.0

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This near 900 page tome is Dickens’ last novel and one that seems to divide lovers of the author. Having just finished it for the first time, I can understand why. The positives are there, the social critique, the array of engaging characters and their stories, and just the joy you feel reading Dickens. There are, however, things that would grate on the nerves of anyone with modern sensibilities. Neither of the two ‘heroes’, Rokesmith and Wrayburn, acts in a way that endears them to us. Rokesmith’s testing of Bella, and Wrayburn’s pursuit of Lizzie are quite unforgivable through modern eyes . These, however, would have probably been accepted by the contemporary reader and I think we ought to try and put those things to one side . Not my favorite Dickens by a long way but, as with all Dickens’ work, well worth reading.