The Mutual Friend

by Frederick Busch

The subject of Frederick Busch’s extraordinary fiction,  The Mutual Friend , is Charles Dickens. First published in 1978, Busch’s portrait of the Chief (or the Inimitable, as Dickens calls himself) was immediately hailed as a lively, accurate, and brilliantly imagined novel of the great Victorian and his age. Busch’s guide to Dickens’ world is George Dolby, the Chief’s factotum in his last years. The reminiscence begins with the Great American Tour of 1867-68, Dickens is ill and crotchety but ever eager to dazzle the New World with his dramatic readings. Through Dolby we come to a circle of characters around Dickens, among them his long-suffering wife Kate and the actress Ellen Ternan, mistress to the Inimitable. Of Busch’s compelling mastery over his larger-than-life subject, the English critic Angus Wilson writes, “Mr. Busch gives us Dickens in all his genius and makes us understand how that genius worked.”

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 1978

About the author

Frederick Busch (1941–2006) was the recipient of many honors, including an American Academy of Arts and Letters Fiction Award, a National Jewish Book Award, and the PEN/Malamud Award. The prolific author of sixteen novels and six collections of short stories, Busch is renowned for his writing’s emotional nuance and minimal, plainspoken style. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he lived most of his life in upstate New York, where he worked for forty years as a professor at Colgate University.

Reviews

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is rather like the curate's egg, good in parts - and not so good in other parts - as it portrays the last years of Charles Dickens' life through a variety of voices. And at times it is not too clear whose voice it is that we are listening to; indeed there is a short piece preceding each chapter in a voice that I still am unsure whose it is and as to how it fits into the overall tale, I am unsure about that, too.

I was really looking forward to the read but soon got that disappointed feeling although, as I have said, parts of it are, indeed, very good but others drift off into the mediocre to put it mildly. In these later years Dickens was obviously a tormented man and also an unwell man. The strains of the reading tours and his dramatic performances took a great toll on his body and this is explored in great detail. And, in addition, his interaction with his manager George Dolby on the second American reading tour is extremely well set out.

His anguish over his friendship, to put it platonically, with the young actress Ellen Ternan comes across strongly, his fear of train travel once the Staplehurst disaster had occurred is also highlighted as is the breakdown of his marriage to Catherine Hogarth. And in the background, the memory of young Mary Hogarth and the administrations of Georgina Hogarth in running his household are always to the fore.

The final chapter tailed off rather lamely and it left me with an unhappy feeling that I would have liked more in the style of the American readings chapter that really brought Dickens and his relationships to life.

I am not often disappointed at any Dickens' offerings but this one left me that way although it did have his high spots that just managed to raise it to a three-star read.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't character studies normally stink? Probably because they don't do things like kick the shit out of Charles Dickens and turn him into an evil Victorian monster and then try to humanize their own evil Charles Dickens monster so as to provide a well rounded view of both the man and the society he lived in

[Patrick Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

His tour manager and mutual friend mainly describes the last years of Charles Dickens and his final American tour. The book is great at assuming the voice of Dickens through his speeches and occasional narration. The large audience he speaks before contrasts with his lonely life for many of those close to him have left or been shooed away. I really enjoyed this book. It gives insight to the world Dickens created and, ultimately, seemed to get lost in.

[Alaina Jaster · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many banger lines, very much enjoyed the new perspective on Dickens life. Was confused when perspective changed on pg 175 but we figured it out. The ending got me fucked up tho.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second novel from Frederick Busch that I read with a pillar of literature as a character. While M (Melville) is not as central to "The Night Inspector" as Dickens to "The Mutual Friend", I think that both novels are successful in portraying these pillars as humans, with foibles.

Busch succeeds in showing Charles Dickens as slightly paranoid and somewhat megalomaniacal. This is by no means a crucifixion, not even an indictment. Instead, through the lens of various witnesses, the Chief is portrayed as a flawed human being, as we all are. Of course, there is always a voyeuristic attraction to this type of fiction, and fiction it is.

It seems Frederick Busch has led me into a vein of liteerature that I had little read before. These works in which greats of literature are portrayed as ficitonal characters. Soon I will be reading accounts of Henry James and Henry David Thoreau. I find it interesting to turn the tables on these great writers. It would be even more interesting to witness their reactions, but alas...

I found the final chapter to be a bit confusing, but still a good wrap-up. I particularly enjoyed the chapters dealing with Barbra, the prostitute and Kate, Diskens' estranged wife. I found the technique of writing to a dead child particularly heart-wrenching.

[Stacy]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/3588617

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars