Mystery of Edwin Drood (Everyman Library Classics) [Import] [Hardcover]

Charles Dickens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2004 | Series: Everyman Library Classics

Dicken's last, unfinished novel published in 1870, Edwin Drood is a murder mystery with an atmosphere all of its own. The novelist's unique descriptive powers are brought to bear on a drama which foreshadows the detective stories of Conan Doyle on the one hand and the nightmarish novels of Kafka on the other. Set, like so many nineteenth-century English novels, in an apparently innocuous provincial city, the story rapidy darkens when the atmosphere thickens with a sense of impending evil. As in all Dickens's greatest books, it is the gulf between appearance and reality which drives the action. In public a man of unimpeachable integrity, the benevolent John Jasper leads the Cloisterham cathedral choir. In private he is an addict who frequents the sleaziest opium dens. Apparently smiling on the engagement of his nephew, the Edwin Drood of the title, he is so consumed by jealousy that he terrifies the boy's fiancee Rosa Budd, and plots to murder him. Despite being one of the author's darkest books, Edwin Drood is filled with the bustle of memorable minor characters who populate all his stories: Billikins, the landlady; the foolish Mr Sapsea; the domineering philanthropist, Mr Honeythunder; and the mysterious Datchery. Several attempts have been made to complete the book and solve the puzzle, but even in its unfinished state it remains a gripping and troubling masterpiece.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is in Electronic Paperback Format. If you view this book on any of the computer systems below, it will look like a book. Simple to run, no program to install. Just put the CD in your CDROM drive and start reading. The simple easy to use interface is child tested at pre-school levels.

Windows 3.11, Windows/95, Windows/98, OS/2 and MacIntosh and Linux with Windows Emulation.

Includes Quiet Vision's Dynamic Index. the abilty to build a index for any set of characters or words. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Peter Ackroyd has written biographies of - amongst others - Dickens, Eliot and Blake. His novels include Hawksmoor and Chatterton.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Random House (November 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857152832
• ISBN-13: 978-1857152838
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,697,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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, December 27, 2000

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, May 17, 2002

By 

IRA Ross (LYNDHURST, NJ United States 07071) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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!, June 6, 2000

By 

Lauryn Angel-cann (Frisco, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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!