Comment

Mar 08, 2018LibraryUser53 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
A prime example of Dicken's most excellent prose. Mind you, there's some difficult going for the modern reader, especially in the first part of the book. Convolutions of word order is Dickens fame; to boldly split infinitives, his game. Some of his sentences are virtually indecipherable. In one of the first scenes for example, at the Cathedral Close, given his reference to the habits of crows, it becomes a bit of a puzzle to determine how many people are involved in that dialog. Is it two? Three? Four? The naming of characters is another of Dicken's idiosyncrasies. But in a mystery novel, that can provide some clues. Drood for example probably refers to "Druid"; Rosa Budd, pretty obvious; Mr Crisparkle, a pleasant, sparkly-eyed fellow; the Landless twins, they really are quite poor, literally landless; Princess Puffer, another obvious one; Mr Grewgious, a gregarious sort; Mrs. Billickin , a contrary sort; Mr Tartar, seafarer; Mr. Honeythunder, well meaning bully. The list goes on, every character's name seems to be important in some way to the plot. My favorite minor character is Mr. Bazzard. He's seems to be an accident waiting to happen. A hazard, but in a comical sense. He's introduced in chapter 11, and if you decide to give up on the book early on b/c it seems a little too dense, be sure to at least read chapter 11. It's a hoot. And if you get that far you might as well read further on, there's some gems, plus the plot & language is more linear and dialog more spirited in the last half. Dick Datchery's unusual use of language for example: "I'm looking for lodging. Do you have something catherdrally?" ... lol .. If you're able to tolerate some archaic language, very much recommended. Be sure to have a good dictionary on hand.