Beth F
Sandy
bermudaonion (Kathy)
Stephanie
Trisha
The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl
Evidently Charles Dickens’ last novel, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” is a very popular topic right now. Like Dan Simmons’ latest novel, “Drood,” “The Last Dickens” is centered around this unfinished final novel of Dickens. When Dickens dies halfway through “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” his American publishers Fields, Osgood, & Co are desperately worried. Harper Brothers, a predatory New York publishing house, has already threatened to print cheaper, unauthorized versions of this latest Dickens phenomenon and with the author’s death, it is likely they will see no reason to honor Fields, Osgood, & Co’s exclusivity agreement with Dickens. Add this to the pure intellectual curiousity of wanting to know the fate that Dickens envisioned for Edwin Drood, and the publishers decide to do something, sending Osgood to London in order to try to find some hint of Dickens’ intentions.
I thought “The Last Dickens” to be far more enjoyable than Pearl’s last book, “The Poe Shadow.” However, I think that his first novel, “The Dante Club” is still his best. I appreciated that “The Last Dickens” returned to the same sphere as “The Dante Club,” with many of the same characters reappearing. The stories were also somewhat more similar – a murder mystery and someone recreating parts of a deceased author’s works in real life – without seeming derivative of one another. There were three main threads of story, which was a bit obnoxious at the beginning, but two of them eventually pulled together nicely. The third, the story of Dickens’ son in India, seemed to provide nothing but some rather unnecessary (in my view) historical context to the story.
Even though I figured out the main twist a good ways before the end of the book, “The Last Dickens” was enjoyable. If you like Dickens or you enjoyed Drood, I would guess that you would like this book.
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I was not at all impressed with The Poe Shadow, but maybe I’ll give this one a try! I might have The Dante Club on my shelf, too. I’d better check!
Lezlie
Lezlie’s last blog post..REVELATION
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I think I started the Dante Club but I don’t remember finishing it. Maybe I got distracted. I plan on reading this one as supplement to Drood and that period in Charles Dickens life.
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I really want to read this one but I read Drood just a month or so ago so I am waiting a little while longer before picking this one up.
Ti’s last blog post..Review: Very Valentine
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Edwin Drood does seem to be a hot topic these days. I loved Drood, so I’m adding this one to my list.
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Dickens’ unfinished novel is a much talked about work in literary circles as many scholars have tried to determine how he would have ended it had he lived to finish it. This sounds like a good one.
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After our mini-Twitter discussion, I’m definitely going to pick this one up. I’m just sorry I didn’t do it when I was at the library today and it was sitting on the New Releases shelf!
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Drood-intimidates me by its sheer # of pages. However, I’ve read enough reviews to get the gist of the story so maybe venturing into this one would be the best choice. Enjoyed your review!
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I thought of requesting an arc for this and then changed my mind. Hummm, now I wish I had. Nice review.
Beth F’s last blog post..Publishing and Twitter: A Good Mix?
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Good review! I might have to see about picking this up.
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