Well...I felt a bit Dickensian so indulged myself. What an enjoyable read.
Whereas all the writing advice seems to be ‘show don’t tell’ it seems Dickens did very well doing the exact opposite. A short sentence about being offered a box of assorted chocolates in other books is expanded in Dickens so that every chocolate is not only described but is given as a graphic, all senses experience. The taste, the smell, the feel of a strawberry cream wrapped in milk chocolate on the tongue, the gulp as it is swallowed, the sugar rush as the sweetness hits the bloodstream and then the sorrow of the empty place where the strawberry cream had been.... but the rising anticipation of the salted caramel truffle....and so on for every chocolate in the box. Not saying this happens in the book....I say this more as a way of seeing Dickens.
As with all Dickens books it is not just a read but a slow amble through the lives he creates and forever afterwards you realise that his characters walk the world still. No wait at an airport departure lounge can be boring as you watch people come and go and think how Dickens would describe them. Our Mutual Friend is a joy in this regard.
The story was bonkers, the people were bonkers but utterly enjoyable and very funny indeed.

‘...until there shall be written against my life, the two words with which I have closed this book:-THE END’