Drood

I thought the book was ok, but I didn’t read it in the original (and my native) English, and I think that coloured my view of it a fair bit. It’s a doorstop and slogging through it all in German didn’t make it go any easier.

Despite all that however, I did enjoy it. I would recommend to look at it as one of the other reviewers here recommended: don’t view it as horror (which I unfortunately did); I spent a large portion of the book expecting to get to the meat of the horror and thereby didn’t spend much time „enjoying“ Wilkie‘s downward spiral.

This was far and away the creepiest book I've read (listened to) EVER. There were times when I was overjoyed to get out of the car so I could stop listening to this for a while. And yes, I consider that a good thing. The alternative history part of it was especially fun, as this book turns both Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens into less than admirable human beings. Just fantastic. The reader, John Lee, was also the finest audiobook reader I've heard in a long time, too (other than the woman who reads the Flavia de Luce books, of course). So...stinking...freaky! The only complaint is that I think it dragged on a little TOO long. But I'm still giving it 5 stars.

Dan Simmons a bâti sur un solide terrain documenté une intrigue machiavélique, un thriller nourri à la sauce victorienne, dans un style plus authentique que nature, qui pousserait le lecteur à croire qu’il s’agit effectivement d’un témoignage de Wilkie Collins. L’idée de départ est pour le moins osée, et l’auteur a dû se payer une bonne tranche de recherches et de documentation pour aboutir à un résultat si envoûtant, qui frise la biographie sans jamais tomber dans l’ennui ou la facilité. La fiction imaginée par Simmons s’imbrique parfaitement dans la vie des deux écrivains, qui étaient à la fois amis, rivaux, collaborateurs, et presque « frères ». Les deux hommes sont dépeints sous un jour inédit, et si Dickens sous apparaît avec certains défauts, son ami Wilkie ne brille pas non plus de tous ses feux.

On sent nettement le souci d’authenticité et de réalisme dans le récit, on plonge dans l’esprit de Collins durant plus de 800 pages. Son point de vue est celui d’un homme connu et reconnu, un auteur à succès, mais qui se débat dans l’ombre de « l’Inimitable ». Il nous livre ses mémoires sans cacher ses sentiments vis à vis de Dickens, parmi lesquels se mêlent de l’affection, du ressentiment, de l’amour, de la jalousie, de l’admiration. L’atmosphère de l’ère victorienne est à mon sens remarquablement bien évoquée, et le langage raffiné mais clair contribue à nous immerger totalement dans l’époque. L’intrigue elle-même est très alambiquée, les événements se déroulent sur les cinq dernières années de la vie de Dickens, et ce rythme inhabituel qui pourra en dérouter plus d’un entretient un suspens efficace et un mystère de plus en plus épais. Les personnages sont également très approfondis, leurs agissements ne sont jamais tout à fait clairs, leurs motivations non plus, et il devient difficile de faire la part des choses entre le réel et les fantasmes des protagonistes, la frontière entre les deux est loin d’être évidente et une telle histoire demande une lecture particulièrement attentive, car tout tient à des détails et des subtilités.

L’auteur mélange avec une habilité confondante la réalité, la fiction, et l’œuvre littéraire de deux immenses auteurs. Une prouesse qui ravira les amateurs de Dickens et Collins, ou qui donnera envie de les découvrir à qui ne les connaît pas encore.

I love Dan Simmons... and the era... and the subject matter. But for some reason this book just never worked for me. I kept waiting for something great to happen, and it never did.

I truly enjoyed this gripping, chilling read. A smart blend of interesting historical fact and a well constructed mystery make Drood - not novels like The Da Vinci Code - a prime example of outstanding historical fiction.

Rather than spend pages talking about what I liked (which were numerous), allow me to be the critic and share the three points that kept me from giving this gem a full 5 stars.

1. At various points throughout the novel, Simmons goes a bit too far in his weaving of history into the plot. This practice normally serves a great purpose; however, when carried too long, it seems as though he is filling pages with long paragraphs of who-wrote-to-whom-in-which year.

2. Each time a puzzling moment came up in the book, Simmons did a great job in having Wilkie confirm my suspicion with some of his own. However, all too frequently, resolutions to those puzzles were never given, almost as if Simmons had forgotten to re-approach them.

3. The grandiose emotion of the book's plot, the sinister, ethereal, and extremely mysterious nature of its villain, and the ever-present sense of doom carry this book to an extreme height. However, this is often a tricky spot to land in, as only the most talented of authors can deliver a climax that stays that high. Drood's ending, while certainly brain-bending and interesting, doesn't carry the same level of excitement that it's plot does.

Overall, this is a book - and an author - not to be missed. Check it out as soon as you can.

This book is well written, although not without its flaws. Dan Simmons occasionally has a tendency to be a little too pleased with himself when it comes to historical research, which results in a some additional unnecessary exposition that feels like it is there just to prove that Simmons knows the information that is being shared.

In the opening of the book, the narrator (a fictionalized Wilkie Collins) asks a question that reads like the most ridiculous example of some sort of sensationalist thesis paper. Honestly, I almost set the book down then, and probably would have if I hadn't had so many previous good experiences with Simmons' books. Also, the end was quite a disappointment. It isn't that it comes out of nowhere, as the premise is set up clearly in the preceding narrative, just that it feels cheap. It's as if Simmons had developed this fantastic story, but couldn't think of any other way of making it gel with recorded history. Others may disagree with me, but I found it to be quite a let down.

The shame of all this is that the story is fantastic. I was deeply engrossed throughout the course of the novel, and the characters were well drawn and fascinating. This is a great tale that begins and ends badly, and as such, cripples the piece as a whole. I want to love this book: the characters, atmosphere and attention to detail are compelling. However, I have a hard time recommending it to my friends for the flaws above.

If you are looking to try out a piece of historical fiction from Dan Simmons, try The Crook Factory, which I whole-heartedly loved.