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A mysterious read Mar 19, 2009 (23 of 24 found this helpful)
Without any doubt, Mathew Pearl is a capable and interesting author. I have yet to read The Dante Club (2002) (my misfortune) but I thoroughly enjoyed The Poe Shadow in 2006. Now comes The Last Dickens, very similar in style and pacing to The Poe Shadow, and well worth your time to read. That is providing you like intelligent, well written, very well researched, mysteries.
The Last Dickens is set in 1870, the year of Dickens' death. James R. Osgood, an American publisher handling what turns out to be Dickens' last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, must travel the world in trying to solve the central mystery of the story, but must also save his ailing publishing business. Pearl manages to sculpt for us a grand mystery and layers it with the scandals of the time. He incorporates historical figures that were contemporaries of Dickens' and does so without becoming unrealistic or comic. The Last Dickens is very "atmospheric" and treats the reader to a wonderful reading experience. Pearl introduces us into a world that is far different from the one we live in today....and not the romantic vision of the Victorians we all seem to hold. Graft and corruption are everywhere. Copyright laws are nonexistent and authors essentially have no protection. Pearl's time researching for The Last Dickens in evident on virtually every page.
There are a number of current authors other than Mathew Pearl that capture the essence of the 19th century as well as he does. Of note are Dan Simmons and also Michael Cox. Dan Simmon's last book, Drood, also deals with the last years of Charles Dickens and incorporates historical figures in the same manner as Mathew Pearl. Michael Cox is also at home writing about the 19th century and has done so masterfully in The Meaning of Night: A Confession and the sequel The Glass of Time. Pearl's story is every bit as compelling as anything other fiction story taking place in the 19th century.
You won't regret reading The Last Dickens. I highly recommend.
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You can't help but come away with the highly satisfying feeling that you rubbed shoulders with literary giants Mar 25, 2009 (10 of 11 found this helpful)
Charles Dickens was the type of author who "even those who never in their life read any novels, would read his." His stories have endured the test of time since the mid-1800s. As THE LAST DICKENS opens, the latest story from the novelist's pen was eagerly awaited by the public. Published as a serial, THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD kept people hanging until the next installment. But when he died with it unfinished, it left readers in a frenzy to know what he intended. Had Edwin Drood survived in the end, or would his body be found somewhere?
In 1870, the year of Dickens's death, Boston publishers Fields, Osgood & Co. had the only American rights to print the works of Charles Dickens. Often, that legal right meant very little back then, since, whenever a publisher expected a manuscript, literary thieves called bookaneers would hang around the docks or roam the streets, ready to pilfer whatever they could get their hands on. Even at the public readings, these bookaneers, having schooled themselves at shorthand, would steal the words right from Dickens's mouth.
So it was that Daniel Sand, a delivery boy from Fields & Osgood, ended up being chased down by such a thief. Young Daniel was a trusted employee when he died, leaving his sister Rebecca, a bookkeeper at the publishing house, deep in mourning. For James Osgood, Daniel had also been a promising lad, one he held out much hope for, so the stories of drug use playing a part in his death hits Osgood hard. Barely able to believe it, he goes in search of the truth. And along with his search for what really happened to Daniel, he hopes to find more of THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, praying with great fervor that Dickens had left new chapters, or at least some notes. Anything.
Having exhausted his few leads in Boston, Osgood's quest takes him across the seas to England, where he secures a room in the Falstaff Inn across the road from the gates to Gadshall Place, Dickens's estate. He can't help but wonder: Did Charles Dickens glean ideas for his stories here in the English countryside? Could he have written them based on events of the day, things he read about, people he encountered?
The streets of London turn unkind to Osgood. He finds himself facing great peril, realizing too late that he may have underestimated the danger he has gotten into. But he worries less for his personal safety than for Rebecca's, for she has accompanied him on his trip as his assistant. She has also winnowed her way into his heart, whether he wishes to acknowledge it or not. Osgood must keep a clear head and stay focused on his mission, for the shady characters who seem to be following him have little value for lives other than their own. As it becomes apparent that Dickens likely stashed more of Edwin Drood somewhere, the tension ratchets up to a fever pitch and the Americans must run for their lives.
Matthew Pearl, the internationally bestselling author of THE DANTE CLUB and THE POE SHADOW, brings Charles Dickens to life as wholly as Dickens brought Tiny Tim to life. Fans of the famous writer will rejoice in the wealth of life details and trivia along with the incredible period detail. THE LAST DICKENS is truly a history lesson going hand in hand with a juicy mystery, as entertaining as it is educational. You can't help but come away with the highly satisfying feeling that you rubbed shoulders with literary giants.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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Pales in the shadow of Drood. May 12, 2009 (7 of 7 found this helpful)
I began The Last Dickens immediately after finishing Dan Simmon's Drood and it was enlightening to see how different authors treat virtually the same historical material. As I read Pearl's book, I'd encounter a passage and say, "Oh, I remember that from Simmon's book. That adds more detail to what Simmons offered." Unfortunately, that was the most enjoyable part of The Last Dickens.
I read Drood in a few days. At half the length, Pearl's book took me more than twice as long to finish. And it's not because the material wasn't fresh and I was bored.
Both authors harvest the same historical data. But their plots are wildly dissimilar. Simmons concentrates on the last years of Dickens' life and his relationship with Wilkie Collins. Pearl, instead, begins with the death of Dickens and shows how that affects his Boston publisher (who must scramble to find every scrap left of Edwin Drood before publishing pirates devalue their exclusive, albeit expensive, deal with Dickens).
Both books focus on the effects of opium but Simmons uses it to detail one man's descent into paranoia and madness whereas Pearl treats it stereotypically as a trait of his villains. Simmons populates his book with characters who appear to have been lifted from the pages of Dickens' novels (or at least who were models for Dickens' characters). Pearl, on the other hand, doesn't have as many "Dickensian" characters, although he does provide some humor in describing how the English view Americans.
I enjoyed Pearl's depiction of American publishing and the book pirates. His recreation of Dickens American tour was also highly entertaining. But, sadly, his major plot drags and was a chore to read. I hate to keep coming back to Simmon's Drood, but Pearl is unfortunate in having a superior book published at the same time as his own. Not once during my reading of The Last Dickens did I put the book down and say, "Wow!" I had several "Wow!" moments with Simmon's Drood and, in fact, re-read Chapter 47 because it was unbelievably powerful.
If you haven't read either book, I recommend that you read Drood first. I don't think you should dismiss The Last Dickens, though, because it does show how another author treats the same material and many of the scenes in Pearl flesh out the material that Simmon's presents in Drood. Think of it as an addendum to Drood.
Make no mistake: this is not a horrible book. It is just very pale in the shadow of the towering masterpiece that is Dan Simmon's Drood.
KINDLE SPECIFIC
There are a few (not many) instances where Osgood appears as Os-good. This was probably due to the source file having fixed rather than dynamic hyphenation and was obviously missed during the book's conversion to Kindle format. It's annoying, but don't let that stop you from buying the Kindle version.
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Solid Literary Fiction & Dickens Too Jun 6, 2009 (2 of 2 found this helpful)
After a solid first novel with The Dante Club and a rather blah follow-up with The Poe Shadow, Matthew Pearl is back to form with The Last Dickens. Obviously always an expert in mid-nineteenth century American literary culture, Pearl spreads his wings a bit here and explores the mystery surrounding Charles Dickens' last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. What was its inspiration? What were his intentions for the novel?
Of course, he doesn't go too far afield. Only part of the novel is set in England. Much of it is set in America, during the course of Dickens' last great reading tour a few years before his death. The primary character is James Osgood of Fields & Osgood, his American publisher, supported by Rebecca Sand, one of the company bookkeepers. They take it upon themselves to investigate Dickens and Drood when Rebecca's brother, Daniel, ends up dead after trying to obtain the most recent galleys of the novel for Osgood.
Pearl has a good time creating a myriad of interesting characters here. His recreation of the cutthroat business of American publishing in the days before settled copyright law makes for fun and fascinating reading. His recreation of the strange events of Dickens on tour is wonderful. And the encounters of personages in England, from the weirdness of the opium den to the friends and family of Dickens is well-done. Particularly memorable are the arrogant Forster and the fictional Tom Branagan.
And, unlike The Poe Shadow, here the plot doesn't get subsumed by historical detail but, rather, adds color to a well-made story. Needless to say, I won't give away the many twists and turns that Pearl has in store, nor will I say anything about the satisfying conclusion of the story which fulfils literary fantasies while ending up true to the history. I will just say that Pearl has created a fine literary thriller in The Last Dickens. Any fan of Dickens or literary thrillers will not want to miss this one.
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"Go to the devil! Villain!" Apr 28, 2009 (1 of 1 found this helpful)
Both England and America are thrust into a veritable maelstrom of grief and anxiety when famed author Charles Dickens suddenly expires of a stroke, just months before completing his last novel "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." With only six installments written, both sides of the Atlantic are anxious for an outcome, the story equally sort after in well-appointed and salubrious drawing rooms of the aristocracy as well as in the popular theatrical houses, the fish markets, and crime-packed alleyways and courts of both London and Boston.
Essentially based in a literary conceit, Pearl opens his historical tour-de-force just as rival publishing houses are racing against time to discover whether Dickens did in fact leave any clues as the conclusion of the novel. Certainly the question consumes the young publisher James T Osgood more than anyone could know: "How will it all end with Dickens dead." When Daniel Sand a junior clerk is run down by an omnibus in Dock Square, receiving important papers at the harbor, the advance sheets of the next installments of Edwin Drood sent from London, Osgood is commissioned by Fields, Osgood & Co's senior partner J.T fields to travel to the shores of England and to the estate of Dickens Eventually she fetches up on the shores of England with Daniel's sister, Rebecca in tow.
The aim of the trip is to unlock the mystery surrounding Dickens's last days, but both James and Rebecca - possessed of a sort of a strong hearted fortitude of character - are blindsided by the evil machinations of a variety of stakeholders all desperate to get their hands on the missing part of the novel. Eventually battling a dark eyed stranger with this grotesque head with crooked sharp razor fangs, James and Rebecca's search links them to Opium fiends and then into the deepest darkest reaches of the narcotic where debauchery and vice go hand in hand with the hallowed halls of educated class and of Dickens's own relatives.
Even back in Boston, the shrewdly evangelical Hurd & Houghton and Harper &Brothers, Osgood and Field's chief rival in New York, will claim no trade courtesy for anything unfinished as they try to rush out and publish Drood without hindrance or disguise. Bursting with action and steeped in historical and literary allusions, all of the characters are beset with choices that are dangerous and frightening. Alternating between Dickens literary tour of America and the accompanying fallout, and James's adventures as he finds himself descending into underbelly of London, this sometimes unwieldy story is essentially a duel of wits that eventually reaches all the way to Bengal, India. Meanwhile, the various stakeholders are determined to best each other in a contest of manners and missions and perverted smugness in a world where the absence international copyright laws are failing to protect the work of the world's most famous writer. Mike Leonard April 09.