Our Mutual Friend (1865) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 5 stars

“This is my favourite Dickens book. I love his books because they're unpredictable. You have to actually read it to find out where he is taking you. I can't think of any point in it where I figured out how it was going to end. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“Any priggish teacher could have told Dickens that there is no such phrase as 'our mutual friend,' Chesterton observes. Dickens belonged to the type of people who talk about a 'mutual friend.' Of that class two things may be said: they understand the meaning of the word 'friend' and of the word 'mutual.' Dicken's last novel will prove the 'mutual friend' of those who share Chesterton's displeasure at seeing its author 'gradually absorbed by modern culture.'”

• Rated 5 stars

“The best of Dickens, and my very favorite novel. Gone is the inevitable "young man down on his luck" protagonist. In his place is a staggering cast of scoundrels, saints, and those struggling somewhere in the middle. The sheer amount of different plot lines can be somewhat confusing to follow, but everything wraps ups beautifully in the end. Dickens' social satire has always made me laugh, but it's at its best in Our Mutual Friend.”