Our Mutual Friend

De: Charles Dickens

Narrado por: David Case

A satiric masterpiece about the allure and peril of money, Our Mutual Friend revolves around the inheritance of a dust-heap where the rich throw their trash. When the body of John Harmon, the dust-heap’s expected heir, is found in the Thames, fortunes change hands surprisingly, raising to new heights “Noddy” Boffin, a low-born but kindly clerk who becomes “the Golden Dustman.” Charles Dickens’s last complete novel, Our Mutual Friend encompasses the great themes of his earlier works: the pretensions of the nouveaux riches, the ingenuousness of the aspiring poor, and the unfailing power of wealth to corrupt all who crave it. With its flavorful cast of characters and numerous subplots, Our Mutual Friend is one of Dickens’s most complex—and satisfying—novels.(P) JimCin Recordings

Reseñas de la Crítica

“The fact that Dickens is always thought of as a caricaturist, although he was constantly trying to be something else, is perhaps the surest mark of his genius.” —George Orwell

Great book almost spoiled

Our Mutual Friend is Dickens's last completed novel. It is a good story but unfortunately the narrator does not do a good job reading. His tone is not pleasing to listen to, his pace is too slow and his characterizations are not effective. The story is worthy of a better reading. I don't recommend you avoid this because of the bad narration. The story is worth hearing.

If you have the option, I recommend listening to this at a speed faster than normal. I found that technique softens the narrator's presentation.

Too much of a good thing is wonderful!

If you are a Dickens fan or if you just think humans are interesting and sometimes strange, hear this book. The vocal presentation is nearly perfect, but it is the STORY and the characters that will hook the reader hopelessly. Mystery and manipulation are here, idiosyncracity and quirky folks are here, the human circus of performers and watchers are here. In this last completed Dickens novel, there is true enjoyment to be found in every chapter, on every page. While listening in the car, this reviewer is mesmerized, totally attentive despite the occasional pedestrian who has to jump aside. My only regret is that the book, a brief 800 pages, and the audio are not longer.

Well worth your time

After reading all the preceding reviews, I was nearly deterred from trying this title, but I'm truly glad I decided to find out for myself. I agree that the narration isn't as good as it could be, but the book is so entertaining that you forget about the narrator's flaws after a while. It really is worthwhile to give it a listen.

The usual Dickens - wonderful!

I listened to this book ( same reader ) on cassetes before I discovered Audible. Trying to juggle more than twenty cassettes on the car seat was quite an experience. But the book made it all worth it. In the future, though, I'm glad to say my tiny little Otis will take the place of all those cassetes. Anyway - No one can create charactors like Dickens - not then and not now. A wonderful book and a very good reading.

Worth the time

I found this book hard going at first, what with all of the characters and plots to follow. I almost gave up during the first hour. However, since I'd already paid for it I decided to stick with it a while longer. My patience was rewarded. Once I got involved, I could scarcely put it down. The narrator has been criticized in other reviews. I agree he was far from optimal, but I didn't think he was so terrible. It was a little odd to have an American reading so English a novel and he did mispronounce English place names, but it couldn't ruin the book for me. After my happy experience with this novel, I've decided to dig into some of Dickens other work.

A Tale of Two Opinions...

My first audio book ever, I finished Bleak House recently, read by Robert Whitfield, and was enthralled by his delivery. What a disappointment to find one of Dickens' finer works presented in such a flat, colorless style. The droning monotone here would be far better suited to a recitation of the US tax codes than the bright, heady prose of Dickens.

The story is delightful and packed with the usual array of fascinating characters. The story is very involved, but, in the end, a joy to work through.

Check out Bleak House for a fine reading of one of Dickens' less well-known books.

Preview the narrator before purchase

You either like Charles Dickens' involved plots or you don't. This is a good story ruined by a flat, almost monotone delivery. Would have been such fun narrated by Nigel Planer or Stephen Briggs.

Will this book be our mutual friend?

OUR MUTUAL FRIEND is one of Dickens' best novels. You will follow the heart-trials of the hero, John, with pity and interest. (Will Bella conquer her mercenary tendencies, and marry the man who loves her?) The second love story, closely related to the first, is that of Eugene Wraburn and Lizzy Hexam. In this case it is the man who is wanting in enough love to supress the worse feelings and marry Lizzy honorably. There are numerous other characters that the avid book worm will relish.

This book is lengthy, and anyone who does not have good faith in their own attention span might want to purchase the abridged version instead... I have not heard it-- I don't know how good it is. I love this book, untouched. But I know others who would rather shorten the huge volume by at least half!

One last note, The reader is excellent... but why does he give the 23 year old hero (the HERO!) a voice like a man of 50? Oh well, it doesn't spoil the book in the end...

I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did! :-)

Complete but not well read

I've read all but 2 of Dickens' novels. All have moments of humor, excitement, intrigue and grace; all have, also, moments that make me wince with scenes that are far too melodramatic, or prose that is far too precious or dripping with syrupy sentiment. These bad moments probably went over well with Dickens' original reading public, but they make me wince.

Our Mutual Friend seems to have more such moments than any of the other Dickens novels I've read. It's little wonder that when people talk of the great Dickens novels, this one is seldom mentioned.

On this particular audio book, the material is complete, but seems to have been taken from some well used and occasionally damged cassette tapes. Does Audible check these out of a library and then digitize them? The narrator has a monotonous voice that drones on for (this being an unabridged Dickens) the better part of 40 hours.

If you like Dickens (I do) and you want to take in all of his novels (as I do) this one is complete and you may find it worthwhile to stick it out to the end (as I did) despite the problems.

Our mutual friend became our mutual pleasure

Although I have been a Dickens fan for years, Our Mutual Friend was my husband's first Dickens experience. We listened to it almost every night from November through January. To say that it made for amusing and delightful evenings is a vast understatement. When the book was over I was crushed. Our Mutual Friend had become something I looked forward to every evening as well as looking forward to the discussion about the book during the day. The book is very funny and the characters are precisely drawn. The narrator's voice is problematic but the quality of the book allowed us to stay awake even with his droning reading.