At times confusing, even confounding, yet gripping. And very human.
As one close to me wrote (far better than I could), "I had never heard of Dickens's Our Mutual Friend. It has crazy plot twists, people driven mad by emotions, sobbing, bleeding, and acting up a storm, social commentary, and endless waterlogged bodies in the river. We really enjoyed it. Not yer genteel Austen period drama!"