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Our Mutual Friend cover art

Our Mutual Friend

By: Charles Dickens
Narrated by: Jim Killavey
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Summary

John Harmon returns from exile expecting to receive an inheritance, but knows that he must marry a stranger, Bella Wilfer, in order to collect. He fakes his own death and takes on a new identity in order to observe her first.

Some of the memorable characters in this, the last completed Dickens novel, include Bella who, unlike other Dickens heroines, cannot be accused of unnatural virtue; the insolent barrister Eugene Wrayburn; the amiable Boffin; and the rascal Silas Wegg.

Not a little Dickens: peruse our full list of Charles Dickens titles.
Click here to see all the titles in our Charles Dickens collection.
©1988 JimCin Recordings (P)1988 JimCin Recordings

Critic reviews

"With a cast of characters that covers the whole spectrum of London life, Dickens weaves a tapestry of tales that are by turn funny, moving and tragic." (School Library Journal)

What listeners say about Our Mutual Friend

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing presentation

This ebook has turned out to be a very disappointing experience. The voice of Jim Killavey comes across as electronic as if being read by a computer - possibly because it was originally produced 20 years ago.

In addition Jim Killavey does not have the breadth of characterisation that one gets from, say, Martin Jarvis or Gerald Dickens. This is further complicated by the fact that it is read in American english and therefore the London accents, or for that matter pronunciations, do not come across. In some sections it gives the impression of taking place in the wild west.

Having said that the diction is clear and after a while I stopped trying to translate back into cockney.

With the benefit of hindsight I would have been better off with one of the other ebook presentations of Our Mutual Friend.

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Very disappointed

Couldn't agree more with everything that Keith says. Well, it's taught me to listen every time to the samples. I just can't listen to this- so am going to pay again for another version.

4 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Avoid at all costs

Would you try another book written by Charles Dickens or narrated by Jim Killavey?

This is the fourth Dickens audio-book I have started and the only one I have abandoned. I had thoroughly enjoyed all the others and through complacency I failed to listen to the sample before buying this - such a bad mistake. The narration is so bad I gave up listening 20 minutes in. I was driving and carried on in silence for another hour rather than have this astonishingly bad rendition distract and annoy me.I'm sure Jim Killavey is a super person - but this sounded like a cross between Kryten and Stephen Hawking. It destroyed the image of Dickensian London and replaced it, as others have said, with the Wild West.I have bought another version - its that bad.This is the only review I have written to date as I would like to help others avoid making the same mistake.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

In ways I would not have been able to imagine. This isn't just about an American accent - it sounds like it has been run through a computer programme making much of it incomprehensible and the rest unpalatable.

Did Our Mutual Friend inspire you to do anything?

Buy a better copy and start again.

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing version

The story is ruined by the narrator. Totally wrong for Dickens. I had to give up listening.

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent

The characterisations are excellent and gripping. T

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Horribly disappointing

The robotic nature of this narration does a huge disservice to this novel. It sounds like a synthetic, computerised voice. I listened for five minutes, then tried a couple of later chapters but it is just the same. Unlistenable and a total waste of £2.99
Very upsetting because I have not experienced this problem with your add on narration before.

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  • Glenn
  • 20-12-07

Great book

Great chacters as is always the case with Dickens and well read.

18 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Louise M
  • 13-02-08

The Usual Dickens

The usual Dickens, which is to say, wonderful.
Some people may object to the fact that the reader is not British but I liked that. I find British accents, although creating a certain authenticity, draw too much attention to themselves and distract me from the meaning. I know many feel the opposite about this but, to each his own. If in doubt, listen to the sample first.

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jas
  • 22-09-07

Great Book

This is one of the few Dickens books I had not read and it turned out to be the usual Dickens i.e. Wonderful. Well read, also.

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Sarah C
  • 29-05-08

High comedy

I have been enjoying many of Audible's offerings of the novels of Charles Dickens, but Our Mutual Friend is my favorite to date. The variety of human life and striving depicted in this novel is fascinating, and the unspoken moral commentary on class, wealth, and the treatment of the poor is relevant even today. This is Dickens at his finest, and teeming, crowded, hypocritical Victorian London at its most vivid. The narrator annoyed me at first, sounding somewhat robotic, but either he grows on the listener or he improved as he went along, because by Part 2 he is doing wonderful character voices and making me laugh out loud at some of the intonations and expressions of Londoners like Miss Jenny Wren, the dolls' dressmaker; Mr. Eugene Wrayburn, bored barrister; Noddy Boffin, "rhinocerous-skinned" old dustman; Mr. Venus, the mournful taxidermist who has been gravely disappointed in love; and Silas Wegg, a scheming "literary man with a wooden leg." There are so many quotable lines and memorable descriptions in this novel, which is rich in irony and humor. I hope I can remember a few to intersperse into my own conversation. The characters' quests for money, and the Boffins' attempts to "atone" for their inheritance of money, are convoluted and make for wonderful listening. I thought, based on the other readings of Dickens that I have heard on Audible, that I preferred the British accents of other narrators, which seemed to make Dickens' absurd characters, witty observations, and complicated plot developments even funnier, but after my initial irritation with this American narrator (who demonstrates perhaps a hint of a Boston accent now and then), I grew to appreciate and admire his interpretation of the fascinating and curious characters of Our Mutual Friend. If you like classic novels, or Dickens in particular, you will enjoy this reading.

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Empowerment
  • 29-07-08

Wonderful characters

I remember reading Great Expectations and David Copperfield when I was in school many years ago and being totally caught up in the Dickens world but...just got too busy to read more terrific but very long Dickens novels. Thank you Audible!!
Not only have I discovered more of Dickens wonderful characters but, for a few weeks at least, I actually looked forward to my long daily commute. Wonderful book and very well read.

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Jennifer
  • 20-03-08

Disappointing Female

My title doesn't suggest such a high rating, but the fact is, the book is wonderful. There are some great plots and sub-plots, and I love how they all interact - classic Dickens. And I think John is a good man, all in all. However, one of my favorite Dickens characters, Bella, does one thing slightly wrong - she really did need to at least punch John or scratch his eyes out a little or something when the "truth" is revealed to her. Seriously, like you want to hug and shake your kid when you find them after having lost them for awhile - I find this a very unrealistic reaction, not only for people in general, but for the character of Bella. But still, a great read, a wonderfully entertaining book!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Aj
  • 26-06-08

Great book, poor choice of narrator

This is a very unfortunate recording. The narrator's american accent is almost comically unsuited for Dickens, and makes it nearly impossible to enjoy an otherwise classic novel. I'm going to try to exchange this for the same title with a different narrator. Do yourself a favor, and do the same.

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Vaughn
  • 11-01-08

Disappointed

After downloading and listening for a while, I searched to see what else the narrator had done. It turns out this was read years ago, I guess before narrators really became accomplished actors.

I'm afraid to say I did not even finish the first volume. Maybe I'll give Dickens another chance with a more modern reader.

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Kate
  • 26-09-09

Poor narration

I love Charles Dickens, but the narration was so bad in this reading that I could not get through it. I'm really disappointed, but I just couldn't listen any more. My advice: before you buy, listen to a bit of the narration first to see if you can stand it.

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Luvs2Read
  • 01-09-16

Loved the book, hated the narration

Any additional comments?

Like many others, I would prefer Dickens read with a British accent, but that wasn't a huge deal to me. However, I did think the narration detracted from the story for several reasons. First, it was SLOW. I sped it up to 1.25 and that helped a lot; even so there were times when I was tempted to speed it up a bit more. Second, at times the characters sounded very robotic. Third, the voices were very inconsistent. I know it's hard to keep track of how you dramatized each voice, but come on. For example, Charley Wexam, referred to as "the boy" had at one point a deep, rumbling voice that was very distracting. Then, a chapter later his voice sounded young and more like a boy. This happened over and over with characters throughout the book. It got a little more consistent toward the end, but...

Loved the story, but then I love all things Dickens. I'm tempted however to invest in a better narration for the next time I decide to listen to this book.

1 person found this helpful