Drood in Bloggers Unite™

May 08, 2010 Rick-Founder JM CM BOOK CLUB rated it it was amazing

Wonderfully brilliant story- kept me glued to the book! Wilkie Collins as narrator- only a genuis like Mr. Simmons could think of that- and pull it off so amazingly well!!! Perfectly captures the times- a treasure- not to borrow- but to own!!!!!!
Rick Friedman
Creator-The James Mason Community Book Club

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Dec 30, 2008 Alex Telander rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-read-in-2009, books-read-in-2016

DROOD BY DAN SIMMONS: Our Mutual Friend was the last book that Charles Dickens wrote “THE END” to and published. On June 9th, 1865, Dickens was on a train journey with his mistress. A section of track over an upcoming bridge was missing, but the warning to stop the train hadn’t been set far enough away, and at this time for a train to make an emergency stop it was required to pull the emergency break on each car. It was a catastrophic and devastating accident, like that of a horrific plane crash DROOD BY DAN SIMMONS: Our Mutual Friend was the last book that Charles Dickens wrote “THE END” to and published. On June 9th, 1865, Dickens was on a train journey with his mistress. A section of track over an upcoming bridge was missing, but the warning to stop the train hadn’t been set far enough away, and at this time for a train to make an emergency stop it was required to pull the emergency break on each car. It was a catastrophic and devastating accident, like that of a horrific plane crash. Most of the cars were destroyed, almost all the passengers killed or horribly injured. The only first class car to make it in one piece was Dickens’ car. He survived, going back into the train that was hanging off a the edge of the bridge to get his coat which contained his latest chapters for Our Mutual Friend. Almost five years later, to the day, Charles Dickens died. It was after this incident, known as the “Staplehurst disaster” – where Dickens could never travel comfortably again, fearing for his life – that the author began his obsession with death, the mysterious, the macabre, and the paranormal. He began the most strenuous and exhausting series of readings of his life, which almost killed him. He also began work on The Mystery of Edwin Drood, his last book which he never completed, but remains to this day one of the few mysteries which has never been solved.

Wilkie Collins, a fellow writer and good friend to Dickens in the last years of his life, is the unreliable narrator in Drood. On the outside, Collins reveals himself as a caring and dutiful friend to Dickens, but he hides many secrets: his addiction to laudanum, consuming glasses of it each day while others take only drops; as well as to morphine and opium. He suffers from rheumatic gout, which affects most in a specific area, but in Collins’ case he suffers the agony throughout his body and especially in his head, often rendering him helpless with pain. It is through this drug-addled mind that we see Victorian England and the last years of Dickens life. Collins has also been visited throughout his life by another version of himself who he communicates with and when unable to write, hands over his pen to this doppelganger; as well as a tusked creature that he fears. Wilkie Collins is clearly not of sound mind.

Then there is the character Drood, dressed in black hat and black opera cape. First seen by Dickens while searching for survivors at the Staplehurst disaster; yet each person that Drood attends to mysteriously dies. He lives within the deepest bowels of London, in the Undertown. Beneath the stench and horrors of Dickensian London exist nightmares never dreamed of, and it is here that Dickens goes to visit Drood, joined by Collins. Simmons doesn’t hold back with the vivid detail of this world, shocking and disgusting the reader, but forcing them to unstoppably turn the page and keep reading.

The story continues, balancing the literary world as Collins writes and publishes his books, while Dickens performs his exhausting readings; then there is the growing mystery of Drood and his recently acquired acolytes who bare the same haunting, macabre visage which terrifies Collins. And yet to satisfy his opium addiction, Collins must travel each week into the Undertown to receive the necessary drug.

Simmons does another incredible job with his new book, after the success of The Terror, creating a complete and detail-filled world as seen through the eyes and addled mind of this unique character. Weighing in at over 777 pages, it is a heavy tome that could continue on and never end. Drood is a special book that will stay long in the mind and thoughts of the reader, long after the last page has been turned, as he or she contemplates the meaning of Drood and what Dickens was really trying to do with The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter. ...more

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May 07, 2011 J.R. rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

This book was recommended by a cousin whose taste I respect. It took me some time to get around to it, but to a certain extent I was disappointed.

I should out firstly I’m an admirer of Wilkie Collins and the body of his work. I’m less a fan of the popular paranormal genre and Drood leans more in that way than I anticipated.

My failing in this latter respect was partly unfamiliarity with the writing of Dan Simmons. Oh, I know he’s highly regarded as a writer of science fiction and horror and has a ...more

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Mar 07, 2009 Carey rated it it was amazing

The narrator of this spooky tale is Wilkie Collins, Victorian novelist and great friend of Charles Dickens. He has quite a story to tell. In the aftermath of a terrible train accident that he was lucky to escape, Dickens claims to have met an eerie, ugly figure by the name of Drood:

"Perhaps the unimaginable began when he was clambering down the steep embankment. Suddenly appearing next to him was a tall, thin man wearing a heavy black cape far more appropriate for a night at the opera than an af The narrator of this spooky tale is Wilkie Collins, Victorian novelist and great friend of Charles Dickens. He has quite a story to tell. In the aftermath of a terrible train accident that he was lucky to escape, Dickens claims to have met an eerie, ugly figure by the name of Drood:

"Perhaps the unimaginable began when he was clambering down the steep embankment. Suddenly appearing next to him was a tall, thin man wearing a heavy black cape far more appropriate for a night at the opera than an afternoon's voyage to London on the tidal train. Both men were carrying their top hats in one hand while grabbing at the embankment for balance with their free hands. This figure, as Dickens later described to me in a throaty whisper during the days after the accident when his voice 'was no longer my own,' was cadaverously thin, almost shockingly pale, and stared at the writer from dark-shadowed eyes set deep under a pale, high brow that melded into a pale, bald scalp. A few strands of greying hair leapt out from the sides of this skull-like visage. Dickens's impression of a skull was reinforced, he said later, by the man's foreshortened nose - 'mere black slits opening into the grub-white face than a proper proboscis' was how Dickens described it - and by small, sharp, irregular teeth, spaced too far apart, set into gums so pale that they were whiter than the teeth themselves."

This meeting marks a great change in Dickens' life. His health begins to decline and he embarks on a series of nighttime tours through the darkest areas of underground London, called Undertown, in search of the elusive Drood. His friends and family notice his peculiar behavior and his increasing interest in the macabre.

Wilkie, who is plagued by constant pain which he attributes to rheumatic gout, has his own issues. He is addicted to opium, in the form of laudanum, to dull the pain and allow him the freedom to live his life. Charles often insists on Wilkie's presence on his midnight jaunts, which allows Wilkie to discover hidden opium dens. As a result, his addiction becomes much more severe.

Charles Dickens' obsession with Drood is contagious, Wilkie is drawn in and is soon deeply involved in the sinister occurrences that surround Drood and his minions. He tells himself that he is doing it for Charles, out of concern for his friend's mental health, but when he starts to believe in Drood himself the story takes on an entirely different aspect.

Dan Simmons has given us a dark, deliciously creepy narrative that any Victorian ghost story aficionado will savor. Indeed, I think Victorians themselves would be right at home reading this novel. The eerie atmosphere and gothic suspense strongly reminded me of that classic American writer, Edgar Allan Poe. ...more

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Nov 03, 2008 Bobbie Crawford rated it it was amazing

Shelves: all-reviews, books-that-i-own, fiction-reviews

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 09, 2009 bookish rated it liked it

Final estimation? THE TERROR was better. The writing in DROOD was very well done; the characters, in particular Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens were well-drawn, and the mystery at the heart of this novel is enough to carry this novel from page 1 to 700, which it does. However, this novel was, in my opinion, in need of a ruthless editor. I do believe that it could easily have been about 200 pages shorter without much being lost of the over-arching story.

It would also be nice if the book came ...more

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Dec 04, 2008 Teddy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009

The story of Drood is based on an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens, "The Last Dickens." It is narrated by Wilkie Collins, author and friend of Charles Dickens.

The story opened on June 9, 1865 with a train accident at Staplehurst. Charles Dickens and his mistress were on the train. Dickens helped some of the other passengers and saw some die. It is also where he first set eyes on a creepy man, Drood.

Dickens becomes obsessed with Drood and with the help of laudanum addict, Wilkie Collins, they ...more

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