Charles Dickens: Bleak House (Collected Works of Charles Dickens) (2000, Classic Books)
Library Binding
Published May 4, 2000 by Classic Books.
As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. A savage, but often comic, indictment of a society that is rotten to the core, Bleak House is one of Dickens's most ambitious novels, with a range that extends from the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to the poorest of London slums.
This is a Dickens 4/5 which is any other authors 6/5.
Big, bold, intentionally meandering, I personally prefer Dickens when the lens is more focussed on one individual but I can still appreciate what he's done here in terms of stretching his craft plus taking on societies ills directly.
Can't believe how little the legal system has changed in 180 years.
Cathartic and grandiose, though I spent the first 75% bored, struggling to make it to the end. And then I spent the last 25% rereading the first 75% to see how cleverly the plots had been engineered for me. It felt great to finish, though I'm not sure how much of that was due to the merits of the book. I'd recommend reading it more as a study on story-weaving than as a novel in its own right. Would probably have made a KILLER weekly serial.
I wished I'd liked this more than I did. It is well written, and has a few good characters, but it did not generate enthusiasm in me for it as much I could wish.
