Bleak House: Issue 10

Charles Dickens

Jan 1853 · Bradbury and Evans

About this eBook

The law courts prevailing over the case of Jarndyce & Jarndyce are overwhelming in their pedantic, futile red-tape bureaucratic adherence to old principles and are partly based on Dickens' time as a young law clerk. With a massive cast of characters--many with ingeniously comic names--and his most complex plot, Bleak House is believed by many to be Dickens' greatest work.

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Ratings and reviews

The last time I read this book about twenty years ago it really enlightened me. The characters he constructs are so alive and sympathetic, like Mr.Jarndyce(I think of Fraser from the tvshow, makes me smile), Esther(the 17 yearold girl main protagonist), the mad old lady at chancellery, Mr Skimpole(the manchild) yet the only drawback about Dickens is the mass of characters he tries to cram into a book expecting a reader to remember and understand each and everyone, although they are many times only in the story for a chapter or two. Dickens was known for throwing in 20+ characters in each of his novels, but when a new character jumps in it really does stall a reader. Other than that this book like many he wrote is just pure genius, and he is one of the greatest English authors I think who has ever lived in history.

I like the fact that he writes this from the point of a female (the narrator, Esther Summerson) which, to me, gives it a totally different feel from a book like David Copperfield. As with all his books, I find the characters a little exagerated, but this is what I find enjoyable. Surely everyone has known people like Harold Skimpole - someone who takes absolutely no responsibility for himself, or his family for that matter, and relies on the charity of others. Or Mr. Chadband who thinks that he is the only moral person alive and is forever dishing out his opinions on how people should live. Well worth the effort.

This book seems at times overwhelming in its complexity. With such a huge cast of characters to remember I found myself having to go back to prior pages (chapters) to find how they fit into the plot once in awhile. Mid book I almost gave up but I am so glad that I continued on to the end. Well worth the time it takes to read in entirety.