Most helpful customer reviews
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
More mysterious every time, Dec 18 2002
I've read this several times and this time it seems even more haunting. It would have been a relatively short novel for Dickens even if he had finished it, and the fragment gives the impression of being very carefully planned. There are no unnecessary scenes. Every character seems to havea point. The cathedral town is vivid. I ince visted Rochester on acold day and it was quite eerie having lunch in a restaurant that was actually a house in the book.But who did it? This time I have noticed more clues. I am sure the answer is something like "The Moonstone". A murder committed under her influence of opium. Jasper seems to try the drug on Durdles (in the crypt) and on Neville and Edwin - who feel very strange after having wine with him. My money is on Neville being the killer - but under the influence of opium - so he actually does it, but Jasper is responsible. I assume Edwin ended up in the quicklime, but he could easily have escaped. It would be a bit daring to kill of an ionnocent character in a family novel. Jasper had wasted his time as Edwin does not want marry Rosa, so in the end I suspect Jasper would confess - but what would happen to Neville? Legally he would still be guilty, so I imagine he would go back to Ceylon. That would leave Rosa to marry Tartar and Crisparkle to marry Helena. Very neat. Oh, and then Bazzard would be Datchery (the black eyebrows...) But like some other good mysteries there is a strangeness about this book which is beyond the actual plot. Wonderful.
|
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Drood Is So Good, May 17 2002
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.
|
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet Torment for Mystery Lovers, Mar 5 2002
This novel has stayed on my mind ever since I read it. It's so frustrating that Dickens died before completing this novel. On the other hand, the fact that this classic British mystery was never finished has created a great opportunity for literary critics and mystery lovers alike to try to solve the mystery for themselves. We'll never know who Dickens really had in mind as the murderer, or if indeed there was a murder after all. That's a huge loss. But it's a great ride for readers to try to make up their own minds.I still haven't made up my mind about who did it. Sure, there is a very obvious suspect in Jasper, but that doesn't mean Dickens thought he did it. Some people have speculated that Dickens wrote this novel as a tribute to his friend Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone," so perhaps the opium addiction would have played a huge part in the mystery. It's even possible that Dickens saw a bit of himself in Jasper's tortured love life because of the way it paralleled his own life. After all, Cloisterham is supposed to be based on Dickens' Rochester. Then again, just because Dickens sympathized with someone, that doesn't mean that character was innocent, either, does it? Now you see why this story continues to torment mystery lovers. Like any other Dickens novel, this one has lots of memorable characters, from the suspicious and tormented Jasper to the Reverend Crisparkle to Princess Puffer. And of course, the enigmatic Datchery. The gravedigger and his obnoxious but perceptive boy assistant provide both Dickensian eccentric characters and possible clues. The power of this book even today is clear in the way it inspired an award-winning Broadway musical where the audience got to solve the mystery on their own. (By the way, 1935 movie with Claude Rains was good, but some of the main characters were cut out, and others seemed little like the characters in the book, even if they were fine actors.) Anne M. Marble
All About Romance and Holly Lisle's Forward Motion Writing Community
|
|
|
Most recent customer reviews
|
