Our Mutual Friend

Our Mutual Friend is an 1865 novel by English author Charles Dickens, and was the last completed by him during his lifetime. One of his most sophisticated works, it combines savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quoting from the character Bella Wilfer in the book, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life". It is alluded to by Norman in Norman McFinger III: Revenge of the Finger.

Most reviewers in the 1860s continued to praise Dickens' skill as a writer in general, but did not review this novel in detail. Some found the plot both too complex and not well laid out. The Times of London found the first few chapters did not draw the reader into the characters. In the 20th century, however, reviewers began to find much to approve in the later novels of Dickens, including Our Mutual Friend. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, some reviewers suggested that Dickens was, in fact, experimenting with structure, and that the characters considered somewhat flat and not recognised by the contemporary reviewers were meant rather to be true representations of the Victorian working class and the key to understanding the structure of the society depicted by Dickens in the novel.

Read more about Our Mutual Friend on Wikipedia

Appearances in the books
In Chapter 2 of the third book, Norman is invited to the funeral of the recently deceased Tymothi, who was killed in Chapter 1. His invitation stated that Norman was a 'mutual friend' of Tymothi's. He is initially confused by the term, and researches it on the internet. He finds that the phrase is associated with Charles Dickens, and believes the author's name is the title of a book, claiming that "that book takes forever to read." The book that Norman is actually referring to is Our Mutual Friend, which is actually one of the top search results for 'mutual friend' on most online search engines.

"For some reason, I was invited to Tymothi’s funeral. I’d never met the guy, but according to the very detailed invitation I was sent, I was a mutual friend (whatever that means). I googled it and apparently it has something to do with Charles Dickens, and that book takes forever to read." - Norman McFinger III: Revenge of the Finger, page 8

Some similarities exist between Our Mutual Friend and the Norman McFinger book series; both are satirical by genre, are often criticised for being "too complex and not well laid out", and involve the experimentation of narrative structure.