Ahira's Hangar

Interesting...I have a bit of a reading gap when it comes to dickens, Great Expectations is the only one I've read. I'll have to read at least one more before diving into this one, I think.

From what I hear it is historical fiction with a bit of horror mixed in. Hopefully people can pick up on what is going on without being big Dickens fans.

Hi everyone. My first post here. Danlo pointed this direction from Kevin's Watch and I came running. I'm a big Simmons fan.

Just finished Drood. Like The Terror, well worth the read despite the shoulder ache you will develop carrying the page heavy book around <grin>.

I don't know much Dickens and still enjoyed this. Simmons will teach you a lot of Dickens. There were as always, some very good intense scenes. There was also a lot that I didn't care for and got a little tired of, but that's to be expected in a book that long. YMMV on those parts.

Once I see more have finished and want to have a spoiler type discussion will post more.

It is near the top of my TBR pile. It might take a bit to get to it, though, as there is another cinder block (Neil Stephenson's Anathem) ahead of it in the pile.

I am hoping that like Simmons' last huge sized novel, The Terror, Drood will move very quickly despite its large size. The Terror was almost impossible to put down.

I read Anathem a couple books before Drood. Liked it very much.

Now I have heard that Drood, while about Charles Dickens, is actually told from the point of view of a different British Victorian Age novelist named Wilkie Collins. I had never heard of Collins before this book came out (though I have since checked out his stuff on Amazon, and a book of his called The Moonstone looks like it might be pretty good, and I will get a copy if I ever run into a used one). While I have read a couple of books by Dickens, I am hoping that a reader does not need an extensive knowledge of either of these authors to "get" Drood. Because if you do, I will be in serious trouble.

I had a very limited knowledge of Dickens and no knowledge of Wilkie Collins. And yes the entire story is told thru Wilkie Collins eyes.

Not for me. I think Simmons assumes that most people will not know Collins work and goes to great lengths to describe his work in the novel. Knowing some of the characters in Dicken's novel, especially in Bleak House, might have enriched the story but didn't keep me from following the story at all.

I'm not sure I've ever read any Dickens. I've had sections of Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities read to me by teachers in class. But can't remember ever reading thru one of his novels myself. I've been interested in Bleak House ever since reading that Dickens was that generations Stephen King and that people in the US would crowd the docks to get the next installment and yell to the sailors, asking them "Does Nell Die?"

on my own I have read A Tale of Two Cities and Christmas Carol, and have seen movie and stage versions of the latter. Enjoyed them all.

in middle school I was forced to read Great Expectations, and hated it - though that might have been that I simply did not know enough about British society to actually enjoy the story at that time of my life - who knows? Maybe I would actually enjoy it if I were to ever try it again as an adult?

I have picked up Pickwick Papers to try to read it numerous times, and I can never get through the first chapter.

I've started Drood and so far it is quite good. it is drawing me in and keeping my interest despite neither Dickens nor Collins being particularly sympathetic characters. It is written in an odd chatty style, and there have been references to the historical events behind Simmons' last big historical horror, The Terror.

I'm just finishing up listening to Matthew Pearl's, The Last Dickens which covers much of the same material as Drood but without the supernatural elements. I liked Simmons much better.