A review by sashshearman
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
4.0
This was Dickens last-and unfinished-novel. If you read it, you may be disconcerted by the abrupt finish before any loose ends have been tied up. Notwithstanding that I still recommend this book as a cracking read.
The novel starts in the dinghy confines of an opium den and a Gothic atmosphere pervades the novel. It is set in the imaginary Cathedral town of Cloisterham, replete with low vaulted ceilings, dark graveyards and musty crypts. There is even an old crone who calls people 'Deary'. Who, but old crones, have ever called anyone Deary?
The story moves quickly and is more of a prototype thriller in the Wilkie Collins line than any other Dickens novel I have read and I imagine Dickens was heavily influenced by Collins when writing this story. Sometimes it takes me a while to get into Dickens stories but this one grabbed me from the beginning.
As with most Dickens, there were some very funny bits, Mr Grewgious had me laughing out loud more than once. I did not mind that I didn't know the ending-I went straight to Wikipedia and found an article quoting Dickens's biographer Forster, to whom the former confided his intentions about the plot. I enjoyed reading various theories about the unfinished story, rejecting some theories and adopting others.
I highly recommend Dickens last work as an engaging and amusing mystery.
The novel starts in the dinghy confines of an opium den and a Gothic atmosphere pervades the novel. It is set in the imaginary Cathedral town of Cloisterham, replete with low vaulted ceilings, dark graveyards and musty crypts. There is even an old crone who calls people 'Deary'. Who, but old crones, have ever called anyone Deary?
The story moves quickly and is more of a prototype thriller in the Wilkie Collins line than any other Dickens novel I have read and I imagine Dickens was heavily influenced by Collins when writing this story. Sometimes it takes me a while to get into Dickens stories but this one grabbed me from the beginning.
As with most Dickens, there were some very funny bits, Mr Grewgious had me laughing out loud more than once. I did not mind that I didn't know the ending-I went straight to Wikipedia and found an article quoting Dickens's biographer Forster, to whom the former confided his intentions about the plot. I enjoyed reading various theories about the unfinished story, rejecting some theories and adopting others.
I highly recommend Dickens last work as an engaging and amusing mystery.