I generally like Dickens, but just couldn't get into this one. I`ll stick with DC and GE as my favs. ( )

I generally like Dickens, but just couldn't get into this one. I`ll stick with DC and GE as my favs. ( )

tried two different versions - just cant sit through it. I find no story - I cannot get a reationship with anyone - very surprising after having had such a pleasure reading so many of Dicken's other books. ( )

“There were two classes of charitable people: one, the people who did a little and made a great deal of noise; the other, the people who did a great deal and made no noise at all.”

An obscure piece of Victorian law seems to be an unlikely subject matter for a novel but this is what Dickens provided us with here. The story starts in the courts with the long running Jarndyce and Jarndyce, a complicated case involving wills and inheritances. Through 900+ pages Dickens soon takes the reader on a journey through the banal obfuscation of the court, the posturing of the greedy attorneys and the general inadequacies of the system, along the way touching upon the differing meanings of charity.

Esther Summerson, is a poor orphan, taken in by Mr. John Jarndyce, who himself refuses to have anything to do with the case. Esther becomes housekeeper and companion for the two young wards of John Jarndyce whom he has taken in: Richard and Ada. Together, the three grow up affected by the case in different ways. Mr. Jarndyce is a beacon of kindness and wisdom, shunning the case and living a life of generosity to all whom he encounters. However, he isn't able to keep his wards from becoming tempted by the promised wealth of the case.

Meanwhile, a plethora of minor characters appear, their connections to the case not always immediately apparent. There are wayward family members, a man who spontaneously combusts, an inspector of detectives lurking at the fringes, a young street urchin who sees something he shouldn’t, a great lady with her own damaging secret, a vengeful maid, a couple of old soldiers, a kind doctor who becomes a shipwreck as a hero, and many, many more. It’s a colourful cast.

One of the features of Bleak House is that Dickens mimics the slow feel of the court, the endless recycling of the same old arguments that keeps everything from progressing, the lawyers growing richer, the clients more disillusioned, making Dickens social commentaries harder to follow than they usually are.

There are a lot of side conversations making it slow and complicated but these are interspersed with some occasional interludes of excitement and flashes of dry wit. It’s a beautiful piece of writing that I believe achieved a lot of good after it's publication but it’s just not Dickens’ strongest, and these are not his best characters. Fans of Dickens shouldn't miss Bleak House, but it also shouldn’t be your first try at his writings. This is my sixth. ( )

Definitely a top 10 book for me. For a big book this seems to fly by!

Favourite characters - Esther Summerson, Inspector Bucket, Mr Guppy
Least Favourite character - Harold Skimpole
Favourite character's name - Prince Turveydrop ( )