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Matthew Pearl's The Last Dickens is a tour-de-force. India in the time of the Raj, the opium dens of London, literary piracy in 1860s Boston, and Charles Dickens himself - all come alive in this ingenious, engrossing mystery, which grips the reader from harrowing start to tantalizing finish --JED RUBENFELD, author of The Interpretation of Murder
Review
'Pearl's research is often impressive.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I'd enjoyed the Dante Club so thought this could be worthwhile. Big mistake. This book is poor: the plot is ludicrous unless it's actually meant to be a parody of the "penny dreadfuls" of the period itself, the characterisations are weak and shallow, and often stereotypes, there's a pointless parallel subplot in India... I've wasted enough time on this book already so won't continue, just want to warn you please don't make the same mistake.
Format:Hardcover
Set shortly after Dickens's death in 1870, and told partly in flashback, this novel follows (real-life) Boston publisher James Osgood as he tries to find any clues as to what Dickens had in mind for the ending of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, his famously unfinished last book. This journey takes him from New England to England, to Rochester, Dickens's former residence Gadshill Place, and London.
I've never read anything by Matthew Pearl before, and, if this book is representative of his writing, probably won't be seeking out his other books, namely The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow. That's a shame because it started promisingly enough. The Last Dickens appears well researched, and I got a sense of Charles Dickens the man, and not just the author. Unfortunately his characterisations remain shallow and two-dimensional throughout, apart from Dickens himself, who comes across as a complex character. The prose remains flat, and never allows for a tense atmosphere to build up; the only exception is the scene at the London opium den, where I could see the opium smoke pervade the dingy room, and smell its intoxicating vapours. In terms of plot, it sometimes appeared as if I was reading a Victorian melodrama, Osgood's enemies almost becoming caricatures of themselves in their inherent villainy. If this was supposed to be the author's intention, then he doesn't pull it off as it appears as a parody of itself. Matthew Pearl tells us that with his character of Rebecca, Osgood's bookkeeper and love interest, he tried to reflect 'the real achievements and challenges in a new class of single working women ... as well as that of divorced women.' So, while probably historically accurate, I felt that Rebecca was often reduced to a mere accessory and wasn't given nearly enough to do for a modern reader. The central mystery was intriguing, especially when presented with all the historical facts that the author integrated into this novel, but the Indian subplot involving one of Dickens's sons bore only the slightest of connections to the rest of the narration and was extremely distracting as I was expecting it to make some sense in the wider context until right up to the end when it's clear that it doesn't.
A book for lovers of Dickens and literary murder mysteries, but unfortunately not for me.
I've never read anything by Matthew Pearl before, and, if this book is representative of his writing, probably won't be seeking out his other books, namely The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow. That's a shame because it started promisingly enough. The Last Dickens appears well researched, and I got a sense of Charles Dickens the man, and not just the author. Unfortunately his characterisations remain shallow and two-dimensional throughout, apart from Dickens himself, who comes across as a complex character. The prose remains flat, and never allows for a tense atmosphere to build up; the only exception is the scene at the London opium den, where I could see the opium smoke pervade the dingy room, and smell its intoxicating vapours. In terms of plot, it sometimes appeared as if I was reading a Victorian melodrama, Osgood's enemies almost becoming caricatures of themselves in their inherent villainy. If this was supposed to be the author's intention, then he doesn't pull it off as it appears as a parody of itself. Matthew Pearl tells us that with his character of Rebecca, Osgood's bookkeeper and love interest, he tried to reflect 'the real achievements and challenges in a new class of single working women ... as well as that of divorced women.' So, while probably historically accurate, I felt that Rebecca was often reduced to a mere accessory and wasn't given nearly enough to do for a modern reader. The central mystery was intriguing, especially when presented with all the historical facts that the author integrated into this novel, but the Indian subplot involving one of Dickens's sons bore only the slightest of connections to the rest of the narration and was extremely distracting as I was expecting it to make some sense in the wider context until right up to the end when it's clear that it doesn't.
A book for lovers of Dickens and literary murder mysteries, but unfortunately not for me.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I enjoyed The Dante Game and The Poe Shadow - perhaps I was too trusting that they represented 19th Century America fairly accurately. This mess of nonsense misrepresents Dickens and his works and almost everything we know about him. I couldn't struggle through it. Utter tosh.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fast paced thriller from the world of Dickens
By chance I found this book at Oslo airport of all places whilst waiting for a much delayed flight home. Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2009 by Kristopher Gray
even the cover is beautiful!!
why not? when i read a book i think that even the "packaging" is important, and i like the last dickens allure. Read more
Published on 17 April 2009 by Santina Mercuri
Old World Story
Sorry but not the best book i've read. It kind of drags on telling a very simple story.
Published on 29 Mar 2009 by Lindsay Swan
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