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Our Mutual Friend (Modern Library Classics)
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN: 9780375761140
ISBN: 0375761144
Label: Modern Library
Manufacturer: Modern Library
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 880
Publication Date: September 10, 2002
Publisher: Modern Library
Release Date: September 10, 2002
Studio: Modern Library
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Editorial Review:
Our Mutual Friend was the last novel Charles Dickens completed and is, arguably, his darkest and most complex. The basic plot is vintage Dickens: an inheritance up for grabs, a murder, a rocky romance or two, plenty of skullduggery, and a host of unforgettable secondary characters. But in this final outing the author's heroes are more flawed, his villains more sympathetic, and the story as a whole more harrowing and less sentimental. The mood is set in the opening scene in which a riverman, Gaffer Hexam, and his daughter Lizzie troll the Thames searching for drowned men whose pockets Gaffer will rifle before turning the body over to the authorities. On this particular night Gaffer finds a corpse that is later identified as that of John Harmon, who was returning from abroad to claim a large fortune when he was apparently murdered and thrown into the river.
Harmon's death is the catalyst for everything else that happens in the novel. It seems the fortune was left to the young man on the condition that he marry a girl he'd never met, Bella Wilfer. His death, however, brings a new heir onto the scene, Nicodemus Boffin, the kind-hearted but low-born assistant to Harmon's father. Boffin and his wife adopt young Bella, who is determined to marry money, and also hire a mysterious young secretary, John Rokesmith, who takes an uncommon interest in their ward. Not content with just one plot, Dickens throws in a secondary love story featuring the riverman's daughter, Lizzie Hexam; a dissolute young upper-class lawyer, Eugene Wrayburn; and his rival, the headmaster Bradley Headstone. Dark as the novel is, Dickens is careful to leaven it with secondary characters who are as funny as they are menacing--blackmailing Silas Wegg and his accomplice Mr. Venus, the avaricious Lammles, and self-centered Charlie Hexam. Our Mutual Friend is one of Dickens's most satisfying novels, and a fitting denouement to his prolific career. --Alix Wilber
A satiric masterpiece about the allure and peril of money, Our Mutual Friend revolves around the inheritance of a dust-heap where the rich throw their trash. When the body of John Harmon, the dust-heap’s expected heir, is found in the Thames, fortunes change hands surprisingly, raising to new heights “Noddy” Boffin, a low-born but kindly clerk who becomes “the Golden Dustman.” Charles Dickens’s last complete novel, Our Mutual Friend encompasses the great themes of his earlier works: the pretensions of the nouveaux riches, the ingenuousness of the aspiring poor, and the unfailing power of wealth to corrupt all who crave it. With its flavorful cast of characters and numerous subplots, Our Mutual Friend is one of Dickens’s most complex—and satisfying—novels.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Filth and the Filthy Rich
The filth upon which wealth and pomp can be constructed is a central image in this, Dickens's deepest and darkest novel. The tale revolves around an inheritance based on London's trash. The River Thames - a central personage in the novel - is a moody muddy cloaca of murders and misanthropy. Yes, there are love interests, tra la, and love does triumph, though the victory seems shadowed by the deception it involves. And there's the murder mystery, as murky as any detective fiction lover could wish. ... Read More
Rating: - Down by the river, up from the river
The last completed novel by Dickens is also one of the darkest and, in my opinion, one of the best. The plot, as usual, is too dense and complex to be treatd here in detail. The story centers around one John Harmon, back from abroad to claim the inheritance from his deceased, horrible, and miser of a father. For reasons that are never explained (one of the several loose ends of the book), Old Harmon had set the condition that, in order for his son to receive the inheritance, he must marry a young, ... Read More
Rating: - Great Book Club Read!
Great book club pick! Many plots to follow and tons of discussion. For people who typically read Oprah books, this is not an easy read. If you enjoy classics and can get through the period type of writing, this is a great book. I would read reviews first so you can get the general feel. Also good to note: Gets much easier after the first 250 pages. Hang in there and it is soooo worth it.
This should be a book taught in high school. Lots of issues of that time to discuss and learn from.
Rating: - Dickens at his best
This is by far my favorite novel by Dickens. I couldn't put it down. Dickens draws you in to his world like nobody else is able to do. I am still trying to find that feeling of satisfaction that Our Mutual friend gave me after I completed it. Amazing novel.
Rating:  - Not worth every effort to read unless you've read rest of Dickens first
Difficult to get your head round and finish unless you really love Dickens - which I do. This is not one of his best and so by Dickens' standards a failure. It was the last novel he finished and it lacks the optimism and wit of many of his other works. If you have to read this for study purposes, good luck to you. If for leisure, I personally would read another Dickens, say David Copperfield, Hard Times, Great Expectations, Pickwick Papers, Bleak House or Little Dorrit.
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