Finally finished the novel Drood by Dan Simmons. It is a historical fiction of the relationship between Victorian novelists Wilkie Collins (the narrator) and Charles Dickens, who was in a train wreck and according to the story meets this mysterious being named Drood who is attending victims of the train wreck. Dickens then seems to be living in an alternative reality where Drood is an Egyptian priest who follows an ancient religion and is talented in mesmerizing others. By the end of the novel, the reader is unsure about the authenticity of Dickens's or Collins's accounts about this mysterious character or life in general.
There were many parts of the novel that encouraged me to seek out additional information:
* The Great Stink of London. There was summer in the mid-1800s where the smell emanating from the sewage and graveyards of London was so horrendous that finally a bill was passed in Parliament to invest in an improved public sanitation system. See the article London's 'Great Stink' and Victorian Urban Planning by Professor Martin Daunton.
* Wilkie Collins. Although the narrator of the novel, Wilkie Collins doesn't merit a whole lot of respect from the reader. He is painted as an inferior author compared to his friend Charles Dickens (although he certainly had a handful of popular works in his time); a major opium addict, which in the end shades his sense of reality (he begins seeing a doppelganger: "The Other Wilkie, which he claims he has seen his entire life but really probably only started hallucinating when his opium addiction spiraled out of control); and a murderer (although this isn't historically correct; in fact in the end, I'm not sure he really murdered his servants' daughter).
* Charles Dickens. The only Dickens I have been able to finish is A Christmas Carol, which I didn't think was wonderful. Maybe I should try something else, like the Pickwick Papers which his readers seemed to love. Dickens also was a lout (what man at that time wasn't?). He left his wife (who lost her attractiveness after bearing him 10 children) for a younger actress. Actually, he forced his wife out and forbade his children from seeing her, although according to an A&E Biography featuring Dickens, the children resumed their relationship with their mother after his death. Still, Dickens is shown to be a genius writer so I feel a need to explore his works and compare him to who I consider to be the all time genius writer, William Shakespeare.
* Opium. The Romantic and Victorians writers seemed to all be hooked on opium. Mostly I wanted to know what an opium dream was like without having to experience it firsthand. Historical information about opium usage can found at the Opium Museum. Not sure how accurate the following article is but the experience of the columnist appears to be like the experience of Collins in Drood: Confessions of an eBay opium addict by Peter Thompson.
Drood was very well-written (but it is very long mind you). Plus, any book that encourages its readers to research further information merits a starred review in my mind.
There were many parts of the novel that encouraged me to seek out additional information:
* The Great Stink of London. There was summer in the mid-1800s where the smell emanating from the sewage and graveyards of London was so horrendous that finally a bill was passed in Parliament to invest in an improved public sanitation system. See the article London's 'Great Stink' and Victorian Urban Planning by Professor Martin Daunton.
* Wilkie Collins. Although the narrator of the novel, Wilkie Collins doesn't merit a whole lot of respect from the reader. He is painted as an inferior author compared to his friend Charles Dickens (although he certainly had a handful of popular works in his time); a major opium addict, which in the end shades his sense of reality (he begins seeing a doppelganger: "The Other Wilkie, which he claims he has seen his entire life but really probably only started hallucinating when his opium addiction spiraled out of control); and a murderer (although this isn't historically correct; in fact in the end, I'm not sure he really murdered his servants' daughter).
* Charles Dickens. The only Dickens I have been able to finish is A Christmas Carol, which I didn't think was wonderful. Maybe I should try something else, like the Pickwick Papers which his readers seemed to love. Dickens also was a lout (what man at that time wasn't?). He left his wife (who lost her attractiveness after bearing him 10 children) for a younger actress. Actually, he forced his wife out and forbade his children from seeing her, although according to an A&E Biography featuring Dickens, the children resumed their relationship with their mother after his death. Still, Dickens is shown to be a genius writer so I feel a need to explore his works and compare him to who I consider to be the all time genius writer, William Shakespeare.
* Opium. The Romantic and Victorians writers seemed to all be hooked on opium. Mostly I wanted to know what an opium dream was like without having to experience it firsthand. Historical information about opium usage can found at the Opium Museum. Not sure how accurate the following article is but the experience of the columnist appears to be like the experience of Collins in Drood: Confessions of an eBay opium addict by Peter Thompson.
Drood was very well-written (but it is very long mind you). Plus, any book that encourages its readers to research further information merits a starred review in my mind.
1 comments:
Amy said...
I was coerced to read A Tale of Two Cities last year. I would highly recommend. I will warn you ... the first two books can be painful ... but the third makes it all worthwhile. Sigh.