Even though I’ve read more than 40 books thus far in 2008 (a number that I’m very happy with, as I usually don’t get through that many titles this quickly), I’ve only tackled a couple of classics along the way. I started feeling guilty about the lack of “quality” works on my list, so I decided to get back into the swing of things by picking up a volume of Dickens. I’ve read a number of his books, and enjoyed most, so I figured he would be the best choice. I settled on Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit — and wasn’t disappointed in the least.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Like most of Dickens’ lengthy works, Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit features several major and minor plots that wend their way through the entire book. The main plot involves young Martin Chuzzlewit, who has recently been disinherited and exiled by his grandfather (also named Martin Chuzzlewit) for the “crime” of falling in love with the elder Martin’s personal attendant, a poor girl named Mary. Young Martin at first bristles against his grandfather’s decision, but soon comes to accept it, whereupon he strikes off for America with a man named Mark Tapley in order to make his fortune there.

The second major plot involves the elder Martin’s nephew Jonas, who, after the death of his father Anthony (under mysterious circumstances), gets tangled up with unsavory characters while operating an insurance company that is little more than a Ponzi scheme. When the scheme is about to collapse and Jonas realizes that one of the other partners has potentially damaging blackmail material about him, Jonas plots to kill the man.

A third plot involves a young man named Tom Pinch who studied architecture with Seth Pecksniff, and ended up working for Pecksniff for years. It seemed that everyone except Tom could immediately tell what a terrible person Pecksniff was. Instead, Tom defended Pecksniff’s honor at every opportunity — until he learned that Pecksniff made inappropriate advances towards young Martin’s girl Mary (whom Tom also secretly loved). After that, Tom has an epiphany and moves away from Pecksniff’s to a much better position, where he can be with his sister and earn a better living thanks to a mysterious benefactor.

Dickens weaves these various narratives together throughout the novel, and by the end, shows readers exactly how they’re all connected and how they all become resolved. As with most of Dickens’ works, everyone ends up getting more or less what they deserve, with the good folks living happily ever after and the bad ones suffering more ignominious fates.

My Reaction: As with most Dickens novels, it took a while for the action in Martin Chuzzlewit to really get going. The beginning was filled with lots of descriptions and character introductions, and since there were so many characters in the book, this naturally took some time. It was a bit boring, really, but once everything was established, the story began to pick up.

For me, the key to Dickens lies in the characters he creates rather than the rather coincidental, unbelievable situations that they inevitably get into (and extricate themselves from). Thus, it’s a good thing that Dickens succeeded in making young Martin and Tom Pinch so likable, as well as making Pecksniff and Jonas just as detestable. A middle ground wouldn’t have sufficed with these characters in a sweeping epic like this one, so I’m glad Dickens didn’t settle for that.

Yes, this is yet another Dickens novel that would greatly benefit from an editor’s judicious cuts. There are several passages that contain the famous Dickensian-length descriptions of ordinary scenes, as well as a number of tangential discourses on politics and America, which serve little to advance the actual plot. If you can get through these, however, there’s a good story waiting to be revealed.

Overall, I thought Martin Chuzzlewit was one of the better Dickens novels I’ve read. It’s not my favorite or anything, but I could very well picture myself reading it again in a decade or so!

After enjoying Harlan Coben’s latest novel Hold Tight, I decided to go back to the beginning (well, almost) of the author’s career and read some of his earlier works. The volume I picked up was Deal Breaker, the first of the Myron Bolitar series and the third Coben book overall.

Having essentially read these books back to back, it was easy for me to see the way the author’s style has changed — and remained the same — from the two different points in his career. And while I ended up liking Hold Tight quite a bit more than Deal Breaker, I still have high hopes for the rest of Coben’s novels.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Myron Bolitar is a 30-something sports agent who doesn’t have a single star athlete in his stable. That’s going to change soon, however, as Myron’s latest client, quarterback Christian Steele, was the No. 1 draft pick in the NFL. That means a multi-million dollar contract with the Titans for Steele, and a hefty payday for Bolitar. If, that is, the mysterious disappearance of Steele’s girlfriend Cassie Culver doesn’t turn into a deal breaker.

Christian and Cassie dated for a few years in college and were the top couple on campus. Then one night two years prior to the main action of the story, Cassie disappeared from school. The only evidence investigators found were a pair of Cassie’s panties — stained with semen that didn’t match Christian’s DNA. As time went by and no one heard from Cassie, it was assumed that she either ran away or was murdered.

But now, Christian, the Titans owners, and the dean of the Christian and Cassie’s alma mater all received copies of a porn magazine showing Cassie’s picture. What did this mean? Could she possibly still be alive? If so, why not contact them directly?

Myron genuinely likes Christian (and of course wants to get his six-figure commission), so he decides to work the case. With the help of friend Windsor Horne Lockwood III (“Win”), Myron starts looking into Cassie’s disappearance in earnest. Working backward from the ad, Myron and Win uncover a tangled web of deceit, lies, adultery, a brutal gang rape, and more en route to solving the mystery.

My Reaction: It seemed that Coben had a chance to turn Myron Bolitar into a really interesting character, but somehow lost his way in the middle of the book. At first, I was looking forward to getting an inside look at the life of a sports agent, since my knowledge of that profession is limited to what I’ve gained after multiple viewings of Jerry Maguire. But there’s very little wheeling and dealing in the book, as most of the plot deals with the Cassie Culver disappearance. In other words, Myron might as well have been a doctor or a lawyer (or even a plumber, for that matter), which was disappointing.

In addition, while I appreciated Myron’s smartass demeanor at the beginning of the book, his constant wisecracking began to feel tiresome and forced by the midway point, and became downright distracting by the end. There’s no way that anyone would toss off one-liners in absolutely every situation, even when he’s looking down the barrel of a gun, so I really disliked Coben’s dogged determination to make Myron crack jokes no matter what the situation. It would have been far more realistic for Myron to be scared — or at least a bit nervous — every once in a while. Plus, it didn’t help that several of the other characters were smartasses as well. I couldn’t distinguish between them after a while, and that’s never a good thing.

Fortunately, the plot itself was well thought out, tightly woven, and interesting all the way through. Coben had me guessing about what happened to Cassie, as well as the identity of the culprit, all the way up to the reveal. When all of the details came to light, everything made sense and was actually believable.

Overall, Deal Breaker was a decent read. I’ve heard that the Myron Bolitar series gets better as it goes along, so I’m looking forward to tackling some of the subsequent titles. Hopefully the character issues get worked out as the series progresses!