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It’s a good thing Dickens is gone, cause I might give him a knock on the head if he was still alive. Ok, it’s not that bad, but whatever you do, don’t do this!!!
So I’m listening to Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend (spoiler alert). I was liking it a good deal for the first half of the book (no surprise there), but then he made me very upset. Here’s what he did. He had this one character who I really liked, might have been my favorite character in the whole book, and who had come into a fortune. The guy was an incredibly generous old soul with goodwill towards all. He and his wife were both this way and complimented each other splendidly. He also had a very evident simpleness about him which was very endearing and some neat mannerisms. This is how he was for a whole half the book.
Then, Dickens did it. Without any warning whatsoever, he suddenly changed this awesome character into an absolute miser. Proud, distrustful, thinking himself very cunning. The whole point was the alluring affect of money which was well used in the context of the plot, but I was not ok with it for two reasons. First, I just loved the guy. There are a couple characters in this story that really keep you interested and he was one of them. It was his goodness and simplicity that made him so interesting. I simply could not forgive Dickens for doing this to such a character. I felt injured and like a good 20% of the story’s draw had just gone away. The second reason is that it was totally out of the blue. I would have expected better from Dickens. It was totally and obviously without hint. It was jus BAM, now he’s a miser. There was no gentle transition. No screaming and kicking transition. It was terrible.
Don’t let me keep you from this book though. It’s quite masterful. Even despite this terrible catastrophe, I’m totally planing to finish it. Just please, don’t do this in your own story.
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Wow, I would not have expected that topic title from you. I was looking at it on the homepage wondering who it was while it loaded. My guess was Tessa or maaybeee Kate. Then it popped up and I went “Wow. What happened?”
Definite cautionary writing tale, though. Character arcs can’t be sudden, no matter which way they’re going. You’ll lose your readers.
@Daeus… *mysterious smile* You’ll be very glad to hear that your outrage is totally for nothing. Finish the book. Believe me. I know why this happened— but in the end you figure it out. Don’t worry. You don’t need to be mad at Dickens.
Finish the book.
@kate-flournoy. Well good. I guess. I’m still mad at Dickens for doing this to me, but I guess as long as I’m not mad at the end of the book it will be ok.
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@Daeus you won’t be. Things are not always as they seem… and even someone as simple and straightforward as Boffin can have a few tricks up their sleeve. 😉
I can’t say anymore. Finish the book.
@kate-flournoy Tricks. I wondered about that. I like tricks when I do them. But when there done to me … harrumph!
Don’t say any more.
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I can definitely see your point and I know reading that would frustrate me as well. I think Dickens was a great writer, but one thing that usually annoys me about his novels is that in each one I’ve read/heard about, everyone is always connected/related somehow. :\ Everyone’s related to everyone. 😛
Well Hannah, I guess it’s good recycling – use what you have to the best of your ability.
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