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axl_oswaldo 's review for:
Our Mutual Friend
by Charles Dickens
1.5 stars
Have you ever felt you are about to read 'the book of your life', but then everything ends up going in the wrong direction?
This was my feeling while I was reading Our Mutual Friend, the last complete novel written by Charles Dickens, and honestly, how on earth could you dislike its opening line?:
"In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in."
The first chapter, and especially the first lines of this novel were perfect, even I could say it was one of the most well written chapters I have ever read so far. A man and his daughter, going through the Thames on a boat, working on something that made me feel uncomfortable, but at the same time it was like "I want to know these people right away".
Then, my nightmare reading this book began in chapter 2: a snob family is introduced, a 'new rich' group of people whom I wasn't interested in knowing at all. This disapproval of the new characters was not immediate, but while I kept reading and reading, this family’s behavior was getting really unbearable and my experience really underwhelming.
When chapter 3 began by introducing new characters, a lot of them, it was the first time I asked myself: "should I continue reading this book?" Now, the fact that I ignored my inner voice warning " don't do it", you could consider this as my biggest regret of 2021.
You could say my main problem reading this book was the number of characters, some of them unnecessary to the story, but it was not just this fact. The narrative style was also another problem, and even though it was perfect once I started reading the novel, eventually it ended up being something totally different. The sense of humor of Dickens sounded really unnatural, and no, throughout the whole novel (almost 920 pages) there was a lack of real sense of humor – unlike what I was expecting, I couldn’t even have a moment to chuckle.
Dickens' writing style is good, this is true, but it was not for me at all. The fact that he is using the same adjectives, the same expressions again and again, it was really annoying at some point. And this is curious, because I can't remember this writing style in A Christmas Carol, but in Our Mutual Friend is completely evident that it is presented in the whole book. This was the second thing that certainly put me off.
Besides the unnecessary number of characters, we have unnecessary subplots which are not or slightly related to the main plot. For instance, Mr and Mrs Lammle's story, which was a subplot that made me lose my interest since I wanted to be focused only on the main plot, and furthermore, I never understood why their story was supposed to be important or related to the main plot at some point. In fact, many subplots and many characters were one of my main problems reading this novel since the experience was confusing, difficult to follow, and therefore, quite boring. For the record, this was the first time I fell completely asleep reading a book, and of course, I was sitting as usual.
The ending was an absolute disappointment, which it was not a big surprise at all. As far as I can see, Dickens has written a complete, huge novel here, with a lot of characters, minor stories and the like, but when he tries to end every story, every plot of the novel, it seems like 'time is over', as though the author had to finish everything quickly and abruptly. The ending is disappointing, not because what happens at the end of the book, but because the way it does – from my point of view, it's impossible to feel satisfied with that ending, especially after having read 900 pages or so.
I'm not going to lie you guys, the only reason I continued reading this novel it's because I never lost hope despite the fact that I was struggling with the book quite a bit. Perhaps I should have stopped, perhaps I should realize it was not my moment to read this author, but after all, I can't say I regret it.
I am really sad though, because the nineteenth century, and especially the Victorian age and authors such as Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell, Oscar Wilde, Christina Rossetti, Anne Brontë, and so on, are part of my favorite pieces of literature so far. The fact that Dickens was not for me at all made me realize how different our taste in books can be.
Obviously I'm not giving up on Dickens, even when this time was an unsuccessful attempt, I'm really eager to see the day when my reading experience turns out to be great and I finally can say: "this Dickens (novel) was superb and I've truly enjoyed it".
However, all in all, Our Mutual Friend was definitely one of the most disappointing novels I’ve ever come across, and my biggest disappointment of 2021. Sorry, but it is what it is.
Have you ever felt you are about to read 'the book of your life', but then everything ends up going in the wrong direction?
This was my feeling while I was reading Our Mutual Friend, the last complete novel written by Charles Dickens, and honestly, how on earth could you dislike its opening line?:
"In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in."
The first chapter, and especially the first lines of this novel were perfect, even I could say it was one of the most well written chapters I have ever read so far. A man and his daughter, going through the Thames on a boat, working on something that made me feel uncomfortable, but at the same time it was like "I want to know these people right away".
Then, my nightmare reading this book began in chapter 2: a snob family is introduced, a 'new rich' group of people whom I wasn't interested in knowing at all. This disapproval of the new characters was not immediate, but while I kept reading and reading, this family’s behavior was getting really unbearable and my experience really underwhelming.
When chapter 3 began by introducing new characters, a lot of them, it was the first time I asked myself: "should I continue reading this book?" Now, the fact that I ignored my inner voice warning " don't do it", you could consider this as my biggest regret of 2021.
You could say my main problem reading this book was the number of characters, some of them unnecessary to the story, but it was not just this fact. The narrative style was also another problem, and even though it was perfect once I started reading the novel, eventually it ended up being something totally different. The sense of humor of Dickens sounded really unnatural, and no, throughout the whole novel (almost 920 pages) there was a lack of real sense of humor – unlike what I was expecting, I couldn’t even have a moment to chuckle.
Dickens' writing style is good, this is true, but it was not for me at all. The fact that he is using the same adjectives, the same expressions again and again, it was really annoying at some point. And this is curious, because I can't remember this writing style in A Christmas Carol, but in Our Mutual Friend is completely evident that it is presented in the whole book. This was the second thing that certainly put me off.
Besides the unnecessary number of characters, we have unnecessary subplots which are not or slightly related to the main plot. For instance, Mr and Mrs Lammle's story, which was a subplot that made me lose my interest since I wanted to be focused only on the main plot, and furthermore, I never understood why their story was supposed to be important or related to the main plot at some point. In fact, many subplots and many characters were one of my main problems reading this novel since the experience was confusing, difficult to follow, and therefore, quite boring. For the record, this was the first time I fell completely asleep reading a book, and of course, I was sitting as usual.
The ending was an absolute disappointment, which it was not a big surprise at all. As far as I can see, Dickens has written a complete, huge novel here, with a lot of characters, minor stories and the like, but when he tries to end every story, every plot of the novel, it seems like 'time is over', as though the author had to finish everything quickly and abruptly. The ending is disappointing, not because what happens at the end of the book, but because the way it does – from my point of view, it's impossible to feel satisfied with that ending, especially after having read 900 pages or so.
I'm not going to lie you guys, the only reason I continued reading this novel it's because I never lost hope despite the fact that I was struggling with the book quite a bit. Perhaps I should have stopped, perhaps I should realize it was not my moment to read this author, but after all, I can't say I regret it.
I am really sad though, because the nineteenth century, and especially the Victorian age and authors such as Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell, Oscar Wilde, Christina Rossetti, Anne Brontë, and so on, are part of my favorite pieces of literature so far. The fact that Dickens was not for me at all made me realize how different our taste in books can be.
Obviously I'm not giving up on Dickens, even when this time was an unsuccessful attempt, I'm really eager to see the day when my reading experience turns out to be great and I finally can say: "this Dickens (novel) was superb and I've truly enjoyed it".
However, all in all, Our Mutual Friend was definitely one of the most disappointing novels I’ve ever come across, and my biggest disappointment of 2021. Sorry, but it is what it is.