Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (1864)

Our Mutual Friend is sometimes considered to be an under appreciated gem amongst Dickens' better known works, so I had high expectations.

The book opens with a sinister and brooding scene that reminded me at once of another of his later works, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The story then shifts rapidly to a humorously satirical portrayal of the Veneerings, a couple of superficial social climbers whose many dinner parties provide the setting for several chapters of the book. The blend of dark tragedy with genuinely comical moments continues throughout an enjoyable story.

If one can take a single message away from this book it would be that love is more important than money, and this point is hammered home fairly hard by the author.

The book follows the largely unrelated fortunes of Lizzie Hexam and John Rokesmith, whose lives are briefly linked when Lizzie's father is wrongly accused of John's murder. Both strands of the tale become love stories as Lizzie falls for an indolent lawyer far above her lowly station, while John pursues Bella - a girl selected for him (for reasons unknown) by his father during his unhappy childhood.

Lizzie's story makes grim reading as we see her lose her father and then attract the attentions of an unhinged stalker, whose obsessive passion forces her to flee London. Meanwhile, John wins Bella's heart while featuring in a real collectors' item - a truly surprising Dickensian plot twist.

I enjoyed Lizzie's half of the book most. Dickens is so busy fooling is with John that by necessity we can't really get to know him, and the way he deceives his young wife "for her own good" is rather unsavoury to a modern reader. That said, the book has one of the author's greatest supporting casts including one of my all time favourites (Jenny Wren). It's a well-written page turner that falls just sort of greatness.

 

Rating: 7/10 - no Oliver Twist, but well worth reading

 

Up Next: Anna Karenina - I'm hoping for War and Peace without all that boring "War" nonsense.

Dombey and Son, by Charles Dickens (1848)

As a huge fan of Charles Dickens I have read all of his better-known works, and I'm now working my way through his more obscure novels. Dombey and Son came 11th in a recent poll to find Dickens' most popular book, but is it a hidden gem?  

[Spoiler Alert - Don't read this post until you have read the book]

Dombey and Son focuses on the eponymous character's pride and obsession with the grandeur of his business, and the effects of this obsession on his relationships. The hero of the book is his daughter Florence, who struggles unsuccessfully to win her father's affection for nearly 900 pages.

What I liked:

While many critics dismiss the book as becoming pointless after the early death of Dombey's son Paul (and Dickens felt the same about it), I was engaged and touched by Florence's struggle for love and acceptance. This may be because I have a daughter of the same age as Florence is when the novel opens (although my daughter has no such struggle to contend with).

As always with Dickens there are several wonderfully depicted supporting characters, amongst whom the lovable imbecile Captain Cuttle stands out especially. The haughty and self-destructive Edith Granger is an interesting departure from most of Dickens' female characters and Mr Carker makes a suitable panto villain.

It's not big and it's not clever, but lovers of unintentional double entendres are richly rewarded by this book - mostly because of the character Walter Gay. Who could read the following passage without at least a smile?:

'Gay,' said Mr Dombey, turning a little to look at him over his shoulder. 'Here is a—
'An opening,' said Mr Carker, with his mouth stretched to the utmost.

Snigger.

What I didn't like:

Like Oliver Twist, Little Nell and Little Dorrit, Florence Dombey is perhaps almost too perfect for me to fully embrace her. We get to see her grow up from 6 to 17 over the course of the book (unlike those three characters) but over that time her character nevers evolves far beyond the timid girl we meet on page 2.

A fair amount of time is spent arousing our interest in Alice, an interest which feels slightly wasted by the time she dies towards the end of the book having had little impact upon the story's key events.

There is no surprise whatsoever when Gay miraculously reappears after being presumed dead for the past 500 pages - explaining that he has been too busy to write a letter in the year since his shipwreck.

Lastly, the happy ending (drawn out rather longer than usual) is marred for me because we are not privy to Dombey's inner thoughts (he is too grand to allow us that) and we don't really come to feel sympathy for him or understand the thought process by which he finally realizes that he has wronged Florence and that he does love her after all.

Score:
7/10 - a good read, a page turner at times, but not up to the standard of his finer works.

Do you like pandas? I'm rather partial to them. They seem to like eating bamboo.