Drood

by Dan Simmons

Drood left me conflicted. I debated giving the book three stars as I found it dragged in parts, but at the same time, not enough that I stopped reading and was caught up in the narrator's voice. Seeing as the book is 800 pages long and I kept with it, a four-star rating seemed appropriate.

Drood is narrated by William "Wilkie" Collins, an author, friend and contemporary of author Charles Dickens. The book in essence follows their relationship for the last five years of Dickens life, starting with the June 9, 1865 Staplehurst train accident in which many were killed; Dickens and his young mistress were travelling on the train and survived. In Drood, Dickens relates his experience in this train wreck to Wilkie, adding the fact that he met a intriguing and mysterious character named Drood at the crash site. Seemingly obsessed with Drood, Dickens leads Wilkie into London's underground, where they both discover this human - or non-human - has a nefarious past, and a hold on both of them - but to what purpose?

Dan Simmons, the author, has obviously done his research in presenting this tale, probably inspired by Dicken's last, unfinished book, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dickens died on June 9, 1870 on the fifth anniversary of the Staplehurst rail accident, and after having spent an afternoon working on that manuscript. Simmons fictional tale, using autobiographical details from Dickens and Wilkie's real lives, accounts for his take on why Dickens was inspired to write The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Drood does contain mystery, which in itself is interesting, but the book is really a character study of two men, narrated by the one who is most jealous of his once mentor, now colleague's status. Simmons depiction of Dickens and Wilkie is nuanced and real; at times when reading Wilkie's narrative you like the man, hate the man, feel sorry for the man and see him as pathetic; the same could be said for Dicken's portrayal. That to me was the heart of the book, more so than the mystery.

The reason for a possible three stars was the fact that at 800 pages, it really dragged in parts; the pacing suffered and there were aspects of Wilkie's narrative that just bored the hell out of me, but obviously not enough to stop reading. In the long run, I'm glad I stuck with it, and as I'm a slow reader, am going to miss Wilkie's narrative in my mind's eye. Definitely enjoyable.