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A review by colinhayes
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
4.0
The Mystery Of Edwin Drood fascinates me. It's Dickens final but unfinished novel making the title more apt than he could ever have known when he began writing it. He died when it was only half finished. As was usual with Dickens he released his novels in parts, they were published monthly. The Mystery Of Edwin Drood was due to be published in 12 monthly parts but he died after writing only 6 of those parts.
This is perhaps one of Dickens darkest novels. It deals with themes of opium addiction, sexual obsession and jealousy. I suspect if the novel had been finished it may well have become one of Dickens most celebrated works.
Edwin Drood is contracted to marry Rosa Budd when he comes of age. However his uncle John Jasper choirmaster of the local cathedral has an unhealthy obsession with Rosa. The obsession of perhaps fueled by his dependency on opium. Edwin goes missing and it's suspected that he may have been murdered. Was he? Will he turn up again? I can't give any spoilers away because we don't know. Dickens took the solution to the mystery to the grave with him.
It's a fascinating read but it's bound to leave you with a certain amount of frustration as we can never know the conclusion. But it includes some great writing by Dickens. Some great characters as we can expect from Dickens many larger than life ones. We see the good and the bad and we see people from every sort of background. Dickens was a great observer of the human condition and a great social commentator. Jasper is a duplicitous character, he leads a double life as a respected choirmaster while also visiting opium dens and showing a cruel obsession to Rosa. But there is also the humour that we always find in any Dickens novel no matter how dark it gets.
Events start to happen that we can see Dickens is working towards a pay off in the second half of the book. But how Dickens intended them to work out we can only guess.
This edition includes an introduction and various notes and appendix by David Paroissien that make an interesting addition. The introduction gives his opinion as to what Dickens intended with regard to Edwin's disappearance. Dickens left very few notes about how the story would conclude but he did give some information to his illustrator and there is testimony reported to have come from Dickens son. I have read Edwin Drood before however if you've never read it before and you do read this edition I'd recommend reading the introduction after the actual story as it gives Paroissien's view of how he thinks the story would conclude. Also contained in the Appendix are various articles of varying interest including an interesting article on opium use in the 19th century which helps put Jasper's use of opium in the book into context.
The Mystery Of Edwin Drood is a book that will always fascinate me because of the unintended mystery that we are left with. How would Dickens have finished the book? What actually did happen to Edwin? What role if any did his uncle have in it all? But it's not just the unfinished nature of the book that makes it interesting. It contains some great writing by Dickens showing he hadn't lost his skill as a writer even at the very end..
story.
A few years ago the BBC televised an adaption of the story complete with their own ending. It's a good adaption and It's well worth checking out if you want some sort of conclusion. However the ending of that version differs from how David Paroissien sees the story concluding. It just goes to demonstrate how non of us can really know what Dickens intended. The Mystery Of Edwin Drood is perhaps Dickens most aptly titled book.
This is perhaps one of Dickens darkest novels. It deals with themes of opium addiction, sexual obsession and jealousy. I suspect if the novel had been finished it may well have become one of Dickens most celebrated works.
Edwin Drood is contracted to marry Rosa Budd when he comes of age. However his uncle John Jasper choirmaster of the local cathedral has an unhealthy obsession with Rosa. The obsession of perhaps fueled by his dependency on opium. Edwin goes missing and it's suspected that he may have been murdered. Was he? Will he turn up again? I can't give any spoilers away because we don't know. Dickens took the solution to the mystery to the grave with him.
It's a fascinating read but it's bound to leave you with a certain amount of frustration as we can never know the conclusion. But it includes some great writing by Dickens. Some great characters as we can expect from Dickens many larger than life ones. We see the good and the bad and we see people from every sort of background. Dickens was a great observer of the human condition and a great social commentator. Jasper is a duplicitous character, he leads a double life as a respected choirmaster while also visiting opium dens and showing a cruel obsession to Rosa. But there is also the humour that we always find in any Dickens novel no matter how dark it gets.
Events start to happen that we can see Dickens is working towards a pay off in the second half of the book. But how Dickens intended them to work out we can only guess.
This edition includes an introduction and various notes and appendix by David Paroissien that make an interesting addition. The introduction gives his opinion as to what Dickens intended with regard to Edwin's disappearance. Dickens left very few notes about how the story would conclude but he did give some information to his illustrator and there is testimony reported to have come from Dickens son. I have read Edwin Drood before however if you've never read it before and you do read this edition I'd recommend reading the introduction after the actual story as it gives Paroissien's view of how he thinks the story would conclude. Also contained in the Appendix are various articles of varying interest including an interesting article on opium use in the 19th century which helps put Jasper's use of opium in the book into context.
The Mystery Of Edwin Drood is a book that will always fascinate me because of the unintended mystery that we are left with. How would Dickens have finished the book? What actually did happen to Edwin? What role if any did his uncle have in it all? But it's not just the unfinished nature of the book that makes it interesting. It contains some great writing by Dickens showing he hadn't lost his skill as a writer even at the very end..
story.
A few years ago the BBC televised an adaption of the story complete with their own ending. It's a good adaption and It's well worth checking out if you want some sort of conclusion. However the ending of that version differs from how David Paroissien sees the story concluding. It just goes to demonstrate how non of us can really know what Dickens intended. The Mystery Of Edwin Drood is perhaps Dickens most aptly titled book.