Throwback Thursday: 5 August 2021

Published on by Margaret

This month I’m looking back at my review of The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens which I first posted on 20 September 2010.

Here’s the first paragraph:

It’s been a few weeks now since I finished reading The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, his last and unfinished book. I was surprised that it took so long before the mystery actually began to emerge and that it’s more the story of Edwin Drood’s uncle, John Jasper, than it is of Drood himself.   I was also surprised that much of it is written in the present tense, a style that I’m not too keen on. I haven’t read a Dickens novel for a few years and found the difference in style between this and modern mystery novels interesting. The build up to the mystery is so much more leisurely and descriptive than in modern novels, and I had to tone down my impatience for something mysterious to happen. Once I’d passed these hurdles I enjoyed the book immensely, even though I knew that the mystery is left open.

Click here to read my full review

The next Throwback Thursday post is scheduled for 2 September 2021.

13 thoughts on “Throwback Thursday: 5 August 2021”

  1. I really do like the idea of looking back over old reviews, Margaret. It gives such a great perspective. And this is a great choice. You can’t go far wrong with Dickens, in my opinion…

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Well, no, actually my copy has just 239 pages including Appendices, Dickens’s working plans for the novel and Explanatory Notes. Granted it’s in a small font, it’s still short for a Dickens’ novel – and, of course he didn’t finish it, so I imagine that yes, it would have been one of his very long books!

      Like

  4. Thanks for joining in! I know of this book, but I’ve never read it. (I’m a bad girl, I have had Pickwick Papers on my shelf for years and years, and the spine hasn’t even been broken!)

    Liked by 1 person

        1. Mine is an old secondhand book published in 1911 also in a very small print, on very thin paper – but it is only 804 pages! It doesn’t have the illustrations and it doesn’t look very enticing – an ebook version might be easier to read …

          Liked by 1 person

  5. Anything by Charles Dickens is always worth the read!

    I am a whole week late with my link-up, but at least I did manage to do a Throwback Thursday post this month!

    Hope you had a good week Margaret!

    Elza Reads

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.