Our Mutual Friend

All righty then, back on track. So! Mr. Dickens' last novel, which I have never read before, nor have I read anything about it. It's interesting going into a classic blind. 

On the one hand, as much as I enjoyed Great Expectations, this book feels even stronger and more masterly. Dickens is (so far) really at the top of his game: the characters are thoroughly presented, the scenery is wonderfully present, the humor is sly, and lordy, the names--"Veneering" to describe the newly rich and fairly vacuous family? Lord Snigsworth? Mrs. Podsnap? Hilarious. 

But on the other hand, I found the first six chapters a bit slow going. Not because they bored me--not at all--but there's so much going on, and so many characters to keep track of. Each chapter introduces a whole new batch of people to get to know, which, as entertaining as they are, takes time. Unlike Great Expectations, where we had Pip as the unifying character, so far we haven't had one person jump out as a person who will guide us through the novel.

I also ended up abandoning the copy shown above for a more traditional edition with end notes, because I was pretty sure I was missing out by not having those notes. The edition I'm working with now (Wordsworth) charmed me by having this in the opening to the introduction: "In the same spirit, because the pleasures of reading are inseparable from the surprises, secrets and revelations that all narratives contain, we strongly advise you to enjoy this book before turning to the Introduction."

I approve of that. Thanks for the warning, and I skipped the intro and went straight to the novel. We could spend some time pondering whether or not introductions should be introductions at all, since they usually contain copious amounts of spoilers, or whether they should be at the end of the book as your reward for having arrived there. Whatever. Getting straight to the book brings you to these gems:

"No one can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot."

"He was shy, and unwilling to own to the name of Reginald, as being too aspiring and self-assertive a name. In his signature he used only the initial R., and imparted what it really stood for to none but chosen friends, under the seal of confidence. Out of this, the facetious habit had arisen in the neighborhood surrounding Mincing Lane [again with the awesome naming] of making Christian names for him of adjectives and participles beginning with R. Some of these were more or less appropriate: as Rusty, Retiring, Ruddy, Round, Ripe, Ridiculous, Ruminative; others derived their point from their want of application: as Raging, Rattling, Roaring, Raffish."

"'For when a person comes to grind off poetry night after night, it is but right he should expect to be paid for its weakening effect on his mind.'"

So, in some ways a slow start for me, but overall? Can't wait for the next six chapters.

Comments

[Miss T]

Very nice summary! My comment: Ditto. You picked out some of my favorite passages, and I felt the same way about these chapters. On to the next!