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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Game Is Afoot, But We'll Never Know the Outcome,
By James Paris "Tarnmoor" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Penguin English Library) (Paperback)
It is so strange to see a long, well-plotted novel suddenly come to a dead stop. (Of a projected twelve episodes, Dickens wrote six before his death.) The title character is either murdered or missing, and a large cast of characters in London and Cloisterham (Dickens's Rochester) are involved in their own way in discovering what happened to Edwin Drood. There is first of all John Jasper, an opium addict who suspiciously loves Drood's ex-fiancee; there is a nameless old woman who dealt him the opium who is trying to nail Jasper; there is a suspicious pile of quicklime Jasper notices during a late night stroll through the cathedral precincts; there is Durdles who knows all the secrets of the Cathedral of Cloisterham's underground burial chambers; there is the "deputy," a boy in the pay of several characters who has seen all the comings and goings; there are the Anglo-Indian Landless twins, one of whom developed a suspicious loathing for Drood; there is the lovely Rosebud, unwilling target of every man's affections; and we haven't even begun talking about Canon Crisparkle, Datchery, Tartar, and a host of other characters. All we know is that the game is afoot, but we'll never know the outcome. It would have been nice to know how Dickens tied together all these threads, but we can still enjoy THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD because -- wherever Dickens was heading with it -- it is very evidently the equal of his best works. Life is fleeting, and not all masterpieces are finished.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Drood Is So Good,
By
This review is from: The Mystery of Edwin Drood (New Oxford Illustrated Dickens) (Hardcover)
It is a tribute to Charles Dickens' reputation that to this day this unfinished novel, a mystery no less, still garners such speculation as to who allegedly murdered Edwin Drood. There are organizations created for the sole purpose of analyzing the novel and to theorizing whom the culprit may have been, if indeed there really was a culprit. After all, only Drood's watch and his shirt pin are produced, not his body.As in all of Dickens' novels, the characterizations are the thing. You have the innocent young woman with the somewhat eccentric guardian and his Bob Cratchitlike assistant. There is the dark, possibly unfairly accused, but hot headed antagonist of Drood. Then there is Drood's brooding choirmaster uncle, John Jasper, who frequents opium dens, and who may or may not have ulterior motives in his seeking revenge. Durdles, the stone mason, and a somewhat weird character, provides some chilling comic relief in cemetery scenes with his stone throwing assistant. There are also the typical Dickensian characters, which includes a snooty older woman, a class conscious, spinsterish school mistress, and in a hilarious restaurant scene, an unappreciated, hard working "flying waiter" and a lazy, wise acre "stationary waiter." It is a shame that Dickens died before he could complete "Edwin Drood." What is here are the beginnings of an exploration of man's dual nature, a journey into "the heart of darkness" so to speak.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Prepare to Be Frustrated!,
By
This review is from: The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Penguin English Library) (Paperback)
I say this not because the novel is bad -- it's actually quite good -- but because it was left unfinished; Dickens died while writing this novel. I was prepared to be frustrated that I would never know how the mystery was solved, but the novel ends before you really get to know what the mystery is! Edwin Drood disappears and is presumed dead, and Dickens makes it look as if a certain person is guilty of his murder. Of course, Dickens would never have been so obvious, so it has to be a red herring. In addition to the murder, a person who is obviously in disguise just barely appears on the scene before the story abruptly ends, leaving no clue as to who this person may be. The novel is well-written and intriguing, but without an ending, it's a little frustrating!
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