Our Mutual Friend is Charles Dickens' last completed novel, first published as a book in 1865. Even by Dickens' standards it's an incredibly grim, depressing book. It's been adapted into two silent films, three miniseries, and two radio dramas.
There are so many interconnected plots it's hard to tell which is the main one. Then there are subplots that aren't connected to one part of the story but are connected to another, and more characters than are in some entire series. One plot revolves around Lizzie Hexam, who goes into hiding to escape both of the men pursuing her. Another plot is about Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, who've just inherited a fortune after the death of John Harmon. Connected with this plot is Bella Wilfer, who's only interested in getting money, and who doesn't like John Rokesmith, the Boffins' secretary. Yet another plot, largely unconnected with any of the above, is about Lizzie's friends Jenny Wren and Mr. Riah, who get involved in the schemes of the loathsome Mr. Fledgeby. And that's not even mentioning Eugene Wrayburn, or Riderhood, or the Lammles, or Mr. Wegg and Mr. Venus...
Some books are so complicated you need to either read them quickly or keep a chart of who's who. (Or watch an adaptation first, so you have a general idea of the plot. Not the 1998 series, though; you'd better know at least the main plots to watch it.) I managed to read this book in less than two weeks, and even then I forgot things that had happened earlier. (How on earth did people cope when it was originally being serialised?)
Our Mutual Friend has some of Dickens' most biting satire. But after reading it twice I can't help feeling that he could have shortened the novel by at least fifty pages if he hadn't created whole characters and subplots for the purpose of satire. The Veneerings in general and the Parliament chapters in particular have little effect on the plot. The 1998 series cut them out almost entirely without losing much. Even their eventual downfall happens off-screen, after the book ends. Same goes for Fledgeby, though at least we see him get his comeuppance.
Mr. Boffin's apparent descent into miserliness isn't a bad plot in theory. Neither is the discovery he was acting. But in practice, it has so little foreshadowing that it left me blinking in confusion and wondering what just happened. (Not to mention the fact Mr. Boffin never struck me as the sort of character who could convincingly play a part for so long.) Bella's switch from a money-obsessed brat to a more admirable character is much better written.
On the bright side, Lizzie and Bella are two of my favourite Dickens heroines. Mr. Venus is one of my favourite minor characters ever, with his wonderfully morbid "art" and the black comedy it brings. (To paraphrase Pride and Prejudice: "Teeth in the teacup? Happy thought indeed." 😆) Eugene spends most of the book as a jerk, but he changes for the better towards the end. And John Rokesmith is one of those characters who I simultaneously want to hug and want to yell at them to just tell the truth already! Seriously, half the plots would have been resolved chapters earlier if he had admitted his identity and explained what really happened.
If you want to read this book you'd better be prepared for a loooooong, often confusing, and almost constantly depressing story. I enjoyed it in spite of that, but other people might not.
Is it available online?: Yes, on Gutenberg.
Rating: 7/10.
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