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calarco 's review for:
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens
I know the title is [b:Bleak House|31242|Bleak House|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1280113147l/31242._SY75_.jpg|2960365], but I did not realize that reading this book would also be an incredibly bleak experience. All I knew going in was that this was Charles Dickens’ longest novel—sadly I would now argue that it’s also one of his weakest.
A product of his time and place, Dickens wrote a great deal about the trials and tribulations of the haves and have-nots in Industrial and Victorian era England, when income inequality was more than a tad pronounced. In Bleak House, much of the novel’s events occur in relation to the convoluted inheritance court case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. While I believe the intention was to shine on a light on judicial injustice, I found this case to be so uninteresting that I could really care less about the outcome by the novel’s end.
The second nail in the coffin for me was the character of Esther Summerson. Most would agree that she is a modest, thoughtful, and “good” person—but her propensity to self-efface grew to be more draining and grating as the novel dragged on. Without getting into spoiler-specific details, there is very little I could say to describe this character’s personality, because I’m still not entirely sure she had one.
The first Dickens book I ever read was [b:Great Expectations|2623|Great Expectations|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327920219l/2623._SY75_.jpg|2612809] during grade school; I remember being so impressed with the meandering story and surprisingly complex characters. I also recall my English teacher telling us that much of Dickens’ work was published as serials, or in installments—the more he wrote, the more he was paid. While I did not mind this influence to his writing style in Great Expectations, it is horrifically obvious (even detrimental) in Bleak House. There are so many unnecessary subplots that have little, to no, bearing on the overall story, and included characters who are ultimately not very memorable (in addition to the unmemorable main character).
Overall, I’m afraid this one did not impress me all that much. I likely would not have picked this one up if it weren’t on the BBC Radio 4’s "The ten books we rarely get around to reading" challenge. While I do not regret reading this book, I don’t think I’ll be recommending it to anyone anytime soon.
A product of his time and place, Dickens wrote a great deal about the trials and tribulations of the haves and have-nots in Industrial and Victorian era England, when income inequality was more than a tad pronounced. In Bleak House, much of the novel’s events occur in relation to the convoluted inheritance court case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. While I believe the intention was to shine on a light on judicial injustice, I found this case to be so uninteresting that I could really care less about the outcome by the novel’s end.
The second nail in the coffin for me was the character of Esther Summerson. Most would agree that she is a modest, thoughtful, and “good” person—but her propensity to self-efface grew to be more draining and grating as the novel dragged on. Without getting into spoiler-specific details, there is very little I could say to describe this character’s personality, because I’m still not entirely sure she had one.
The first Dickens book I ever read was [b:Great Expectations|2623|Great Expectations|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327920219l/2623._SY75_.jpg|2612809] during grade school; I remember being so impressed with the meandering story and surprisingly complex characters. I also recall my English teacher telling us that much of Dickens’ work was published as serials, or in installments—the more he wrote, the more he was paid. While I did not mind this influence to his writing style in Great Expectations, it is horrifically obvious (even detrimental) in Bleak House. There are so many unnecessary subplots that have little, to no, bearing on the overall story, and included characters who are ultimately not very memorable (in addition to the unmemorable main character).
Overall, I’m afraid this one did not impress me all that much. I likely would not have picked this one up if it weren’t on the BBC Radio 4’s "The ten books we rarely get around to reading" challenge. While I do not regret reading this book, I don’t think I’ll be recommending it to anyone anytime soon.