Our Mutual Friend, Part 2

This ish is getting good yall!  I'm currently on page 421 of 895, and Chuck has really kicked it up a notch in the last 100 pages.  This guy who supposedly was murdered at the beginning of the book is actually alive, but now he can't reveal his true identity because he will lose the woman he loves.  There's a couple that just got married because they both thought the other was rich, but actually they are both poor -- kind of twisted gift of the magi -- so now they're plotting revenge against the guy who set them up.  Another couple got rich because they inherited a fortune from the supposedly murdered guy's father, and they have just adopted a hilarious teenage orphan named Sloppy.  I mean, who besides Dickens or maybe a writer for Days of Our Lives could come up with that stuff?  I think that some people find Dickens to be kind of formulaic -- all of his books are just protagonist with some problem/obstacle, protagonist meets a bunch of funny, crazy people, some more stuff happens to highlight the plight of the working class, someone falls in love, protagonist inherits a bunch of money and everything turns out pretty much ok in the end -- but I love it, and even if there are certain similarities, who cares, it's still wonderful.  Sorry this is a short post and posting in general has been kind of sporadic lately... Too much Corporate Tax homework and other fun things going on and not enough time to read.  Bear with me!