Reading the Chunksters discussion
Our Mutual Friend
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Our Mutual Friend - Week 2
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Boffin, Wegg, and the Decline and Fall of the Rooshan Empire. What a pair. The almost illiterate reading to the illiterate, and mostly making it up? I mean it's hilarious. After listening to Wegg read this, I'm thinking he might as well be reading about the Rooshan empire, and if that's the most he reads each night, this will take years. Wegg's found a permanent, good paying job.
Two British subjects living in an empire at its zenith, trying to learn about another empire past its zenith, but too illiterate to do so makes me wonder if Dickens is saying something about the state of the British empire.
And I like how Wegg charges more for reciting poetry, not because poetry is harder to write, but because it's harder on his vocal chords.
Have finished 8 chapters, and I still have no idea who our protagonist is. However, meeting all these people has been a blast.Looks like some of the separate plot lines are beginning to merge. Boffin, inheritor of the Harmon fortune, is accosted on the street by Rokesmith, Reginald Wilfer's new tenant, who volunteers to be Boffin's secretary. What's with that? Sounds suspicious, but you know what? Boffin needs someone who can manage his fortune for him. But is Rokesmith friend of foe?
Also, Boffin, being the wonderful if naive chap he is, is offering a 10,000 pound reward for information about Harmon's demise. He's definitely thinking someone murdered Harmon, and I'm thinking the reward will most assuredly dig up all kinds of truths and falsehoods.
Looks like Hexam is involved in Harmon's death somehow, and if he's involved then Lizzie will be dragged into it. And It looks like Wegg and Venus are up to no good.
I think its time to meet our protagonist.
Mod
Chapters 5-8 The cast of characters continues to grow! Like Xan I have no idea who the protagonist is. I would expect to know that 100 pages in.
I continue to be most invested in Lizzie and thought the scene where she sent her brother off was so sad. I really dislike her father and I think he probably does have something to do with Harmon's death which is just going to make Lizzie's situation worse!
I want to know more about Bella (the woman that was supposed to marry Harmon).
Chapter 7 was just weird and according to the endnotes one of those chapters added in to meet the page quota for the week. Venus is just creepy. I have always found taxidermy to be disturbing and then add in human skeletons ew no thanks!
I'm also interested in Rokesmith - what is his game?
Enjoyed this weeks chapters but I'm ready to get more into the meat of the story.
What's Rokesmith's game indeed, Amanda? He looks like he's stalking Boffin, but for what purpose? At first I thought it was money, but money doesn't seem to be a problem for him. He paid for the ground floor in advance, moved furniture in, and offered to work for Boffin for zero wages. So what's up with him?And I too am interested in learning more about Bella. She came off as a complainer, but perhaps she has reason to complain. Somehow she ended up committed to marrying Harmon, a man she never met. A fortune at her fingertips then evaporates with a drowning. I mean did she even want to marry this guy, or was she doing it for her struggling mom and dad? Also, the narrator made a big deal about her hair, like it was her defining characteristic.
Lots of illustrators drew Dickens' characters. I'm off to find some.
Mod
Opening Scene -- Lizzie and her dad on the Thames.
I think this is Rokesmith and Bella. The caption, not shown here, is "Pa's lodger and Pa's daughter.
Mod
Many illustrators drew Dickens' characters, and it's interesting to compare them. The interpretations of the same character or scene can differ wildly. I looked it up, and Dickens selected Marcus Stone to be the illustrator for Our Mutual Friend, so the Penguin edition is being faithful to the original. He was the son of Frank Stone, illustrator and friend of Dickens. I suspect it would make your career to be selected by Dickens to illustrate one of his books.
That Venus chapter was so odd and creepy! The Boffins are hilarious and I love them trying to work out what is expected of them as rich people. They contrast well to the characters we met at the Veneering's dinner part, everyone playing a role but the Boffins do it with much more earnest!
I'm still terrified for Lizzie. Did anyone else get the impression that Miss Potterson wants to put her to prostitution? I might be overthinking it but it was the way everyone was talking about how pretty she is. Poor girl doesn't have many options does she?
Still reading, still a bit baffled about where the story is going and still getting some needed clarity from the posts on here. However, this is because, even after 100 pages, we are still in the set-up phase. Just have to keep all the characters straight.Interesting that my kindle books both have an opening picture that is very similar in both style and content yet not identical to the one Xan posted of Lizzie and her Dad.
Following along with interest, the writing is very entertaining. I'm reading this as an audiobook and really must keep tuned in or it is easy to miss the clever asides.
I made note of a few lines that gave me to smile:
Chapter 5 Boffins Bar
The wooden wegg
Chapter 6 Cast Adrift
Red utensils matching the noses of the customers
Chapter 7 Mr Weg looks after himself
Stumping with fresh vigour
Mr. Wegg was an observant person, or, as he himself said, "took a powerful sight of notice."Lol. I'm going to adopt that phrase. :)
I really enjoyed these chapters much more than the first four. I loved the descriptions of Mr Wegg's business set up out on the dusty street corner, the pub overhanging the waterfront that contained no straight lines, the Boffins' set up before the fire, and the super creepy store that Venus keeps. In chapter one, I initially thought that Hexam was just a father trying to get by doing what he had to do to earn a living. But after these last chapters I'm having second thoughts. Who doesn't want a better life for his son if he can get schooling? And who knows, maybe he IS "helping" to create business for himself in finding bodies to retrieve. We shall see.
OK, Venus's shop is creepy, but if I'm not mistaken, Venus purchased a "variety of parts" from somewhere, and it is assumed that Wegg's leg is in there and now he's trying to buy it back? Because he can't fathom the thought of parts of him being out in the world and not all together. That scene was both horrific and humorous. I'm super curious where that story line is headed, and I hope it doesn't get forgotten.
I'm also curious about this Rokesmith character. It was definitely suspicious that he volunteers to work for Boffin for two years without pay. There's something he's got to be looking for in the long-term.
Jess wrote: "I'm still terrified for Lizzie. Did anyone else get the impression that Miss Potterson wants to put her to prostitution? I might be overthinking it but it was the way everyone was talking about how pretty she is."Hmm...I didn't get the impression that Miss Potterson wanted Lizzie for prostitution. I could be totally wrong, though! I actually liked Miss Potterson and her way to escorting her customers out at proper times so they would be home on time, and not wanting Hexam or Riderhood allowed in the pub any longer so they wouldn't tarnish the reputation of the pub. Seems to me she is just running a tight ship.
Also, I thought her comment on helping Lizzie because she's pretty was a commentary on how society seems to favor good looking people, for whatever reason. Lizzie seems like a good person from first impressions, so I hope she doesn't get into any trouble, but I suspect she's going to be a central character in the book. I just thought that Miss Potterson didn't want to see her pulled down lower because of her father's dealings.
Lisa Bianca wrote: "The wooden wegg"Lol. I liked that phrase too! :)
I liked these two bits, both from chapter 8:Boffin speaking to Mortimer:
"I come down here in search of a lawyer to advice, and I see your young man up at his present elevation, chopping at the flies on the window-sill with his penknife..."
Lol. I just love that image of a young boy so bored and looking for something to occupy his time that he's resorted to hunting flies.
Wrayburn in response to Boffin referring to him as a bee or any other animal:
"I fully admit that the camel, for instance, is an excessively temperate person; but he has several stomachs to entertain himself with, and I have only one. Besides, I am not fitted up with a convenient cool cellar to keep my drink in."
Wrayburn was really specific here in his comparison to a camel. Ha ha.
My chapter summaries:
(view spoiler)[
5. We meet Silas Wegg, a fruit and ballad seller and errand man, who has one leg. He is approached by Boffin, who introduces himself as the servant who has inherited Harmon’s fortune and offers him a job reading Decline and Fall of the “Rooshan” Empire (Gibbons!), they go to Boffin’s house “Boffin’s Bower” which is better known locally as “Harmon’s Jail”, Wegg makes himself at home.
6. At the Six Jolly Fellowship Porters, a pub, we meet the landlady Miss Abbey Potterson. Riderhood talks to her, accusing Hexam of murdering young Mr Harmon. Miss Potterson summons Lizzie for a chat, Lizzie declines her offer to help her escape her father. Miss Potterson decides to ban both Hexam and Riderhood. Lizzie goes home, and after a sleepless night gives Charley her savings and tells him to leave them for his own good. Gaffer returns, vowing that Charley is no longer his son and that Lizzie shouldn’t see him either.
7. An odd interlude in which Wegg visits Mr Venus’s shop of horrors (a mixture of stuffed animals and human specimens – he also rebuilds skeletons. Mr Venus talks about old Harmon’s dust fortune
8. Boffin goes to see Lightwood, where he is detained by Lightwood’s junior Blight. Lightwood confirms that he has now inherited the fortune of over £100000. Boffin tells him to offer a reward of £10000 for information about the Harmon murder. On his way out, Boffin is accosted by Rokesmith, who offers his services as a Secretary.
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