Bleak House

Written by Charles Dickens

Narrated by Seán Barrett and Teresa Gallagher

The long, drawn-out case of Jarndyce versus Jarndyce provides the background to this novel which takes us into Dickens’ world of impoverished people on the street, lovers fallen on hard times and the grand riches of the upper classes. It is read movingly by Sean Barrett as the main narrator and Teresa Gallagher as the young Esther Summerson.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: Jun 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9789629544867

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and social critic. Regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, Dickens had a prolific collection of works including fifteen novels, five novellas, and hundreds of short stories and articles. The term “cliffhanger endings” was created because of his practice of ending his serial short stories with drama and suspense. Dickens’ political and social beliefs heavily shaped his literary work. He argued against capitalist beliefs, and advocated for children’s rights, education, and other social reforms. Dickens advocacy for such causes is apparent in his empathetic portrayal of lower classes in his famous works, such as The Christmas Carol and Hard Times.

Reviews for Bleak House

[firebird013 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Esther is a character to treasure. The recent BBC adaptation does the book justice - but as always there is more in the book than can appear on the small screen. Dickens view of the courts holds true to some extent right up to the current day - everyone loses except the lawyers.

[maryzickafoose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

fiction, 1800's life, classic, Dickens, London, 19th century literature, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, work house, river pollution, industrial revolution, intrigue

[fleurdiabolique · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Difficult to get into at first due to switching narrators/verb tenses and a slow start to the plot, "Bleak House" ultimately proves rewarding to those who are willing to search out and examine the novel's underlying structure of analogy, comparison, and linkage. This is an extremely complex work, both in technique and in its conceptual underpinnings. For the reader who is willing to put work into deciphering the text, and who loves Dickens' minor characters, this will be a beloved book. The reader looking for a light, superficial read will most likely be frustrated and irritated.

[m.belljackson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The only way I can comprehend the length of this book is that it was serialized...?Not only is the plot way overdrawn, but it is predictable and pointless, unless you care about Chancery.The characters are either way too precious and good or utterly stupidly unbearable.It's hard to believe that the same man wrote A TALE OF TWO CITIES.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I remember basically nothing about this book other than that I read it when I was extremely bored at my Nan's house. I might reread it at some point.

[smith6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I put off reading "Bleak House" because I though it would be "bleak". It is anything but. It is fascinating, humorous, and now my favorite Dickens book.

[emperatrix_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After a couple of failed attempts to get into Dickens, I finally found myself enjoying his writing. Bleak House was a surprise and I'm so glad I gave it a try. I found that it reminded me of Jane Eyre and The Woman in White, two of my favorites. I couldn't put it down!

[bacillicide · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Charles Dickens is a genius with his cast. Another thing I find really enjoyable about his work is he has a way of making you assume things that aren't true, to the point you don't even question them, which makes for good plot twists.I think this is my favorite Charles Dickens novel (though to be fair, this is only my second novel) because I adore Esther and Woodcourt. I spent the majority of the book practically aching for them to be together, which is a feeling I don't get in a lot of "modern" or "contemporary" romances.

[amy_marie26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My first thought upon finishing this book was sweet, sweet relief. I finally finished it! It sat on my shelf and stared at me for over a year but I finally did it! But, really, it was so good! I am suspicious of Dickens, mostly due to my unceasing hatred of Great Expectations and there were parts of Bleak House when I thought this might go the way of Pip. But even though it's a million pages, it was interesting and wonderful and I was flying through because I NEEDED to know what would happen. Also, Esther is amazing - her narrative was hands down the best part of the book and she is probably my favorite Dickens character. Anyway, there is so much going on and there is no way I am going to summarize it, but you should definitely read it especially since you tyrannically forced me to write this review (BRYAN). Finally, if you have the penguin classic (as I did), be forewarned that the notes have major spoilers! I know you can't exactly spoil the classics but it still was very uncool.

[eruditescythian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Superb. Riveting. Definitely one of the master's most underrated masterieces.

[qofd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was my first Dickens ever and I now suspect will not be my last. I thoroughly enjoyed this story although the abundance of interwoven characters led me to have to write them all down so I could keep track of who was who. The many twists and turns in the tale were unexpected and made for compelling reading. Dickens descriptions of people are amusing and priceless: "Mrs Guppy, occupying the parlours and having indeed been visibly in danger of cracking herself like a nut in the front-parlour door by peeping out before she was asked for"

[novawalsh · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good, but very long and sad. Not sure if I would read again

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I can certainly see how this critique of the legal system in existence at the time is worthy of the 'classic' label, unfortunately I found this a very challenging read until the murder- mystery section of the novel (approximately the second half). Glad I kept with this novel and am looking forward to reading further Dickens.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Wow. Does this book EVER end? It's occasionally humorous, but none of it really reached out to me or made me invested in the characters or events.

[isotropicjoseph · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An F***ing great book!

This particular edition is okay. The endnotes were decent, blah, blah, blah. But my partner found a much better one with footnotes that were much more extensive and interesting.

[anju04_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The dicken's Bleak house though seemed voluminous in the mid way through, didn't appeared so towards it's end. The wide array of characters, their coincidence and links makes it more interesting. The story is told alternately by Esther Summerson, the leading protagonist, and an omniscient narrator.The confrontation between Lady dedlock and Mr.Tulkinghorn is so vividly depicted by the author and it's becoming a real deadlock situation to the Lady dedlock (as her name suggests) quite amuses the reader.The same is true of the characters who cling to the protracted law suit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce forlornly. The story grips you with mystery deaths,amusing parallel stories and gets your imagination going.

[j6leigh6muller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite Charles Dickens novels - I have a deep love for Dickens and I like almost all of his novels, but Bleak House ranks in the top three (along with A Tale of Two Cities and Our Mutual Friend). Dickens is the ultimate master of plot (since he wrote in serial format, each chapter has its own climax and denouement - he had to keep readers hooked!). His main characters are deep, complex and interesting; his side characters are funny, memorable, and marvelous. Villains are not wholly villainous, but have a spark of hope; likewise, the good characters are challenged to confront the darker elements of their personalities - desires, greed, illicit loves. However, the very best thing about reading Dickens - you know that you will leave him behind with a renewed hope in humanity, because the better parts of mankind will triumph in the end.

[cdeuker · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dickens is terrible with most of his female characters, but the passion of his social commentary and the glorious physical descriptions (the fog to begin the book is marvelous) are not found in many other writers. Bleak House is often frustratingly bad (Skimpole is horrible, and takes up pages and pages) but when it's good, it's great.

[freddlerabbit · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Many Dickens are quite similar - the moral poor, the idle and dissapate rich who go unpunished, and the conscientious rich, who don't. You'd think, after reading enough, the details wouldn't matter much.But they do, to me. Bleak House follows a similar pattern - the overall story arc is about the toll exacted by probating a will through Chancery - the dashed hopes, the destroyed lives, the reprehensible money-grubbing of lawyers, the tolls of poverty. But it is also a story about goodness of heart, and a surprisingly touching and true love story. Our protagonist, Esther Summerson, is too good to be true, really - so self-effacing and noble, a modern mind finds her repressed and unbelievable. And yet, the actions of others in response to her are touching (whatever the feminist critiques of this set up might be).I found Bleak House charming, and only occasionally tedious.

[nyota24 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I smiled when I saw that one reviewer was assigned this book in law school. I wish we had been assigned it in Jurisprudence. As it is, however, I was assigned Bleak House as an English major and only finished it in the BookCrossing readalong just recently. It does start slowly, but I was easily pulled along by Dickens's vivid settings and his wonderful cast of characters. The nasty little Mr. Smallweed and the appearance of Mr. Bucket (Columbo's literary ancestor) were special highlights for me.

[msjudithann_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another classic Dickens - great characterization and brings to light a great inequity.

[pussreboots · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's a heavy volume of 1034 pages (that includes the intro and many appendices). What is the Bleak House? It is an old mansion, home of John Jarndyce and his three wards: Ester, Ada and Richard. It is also the squalid conditions of Tom's-All-Alone. It is the bleak out come of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce. It is the Victorian shame of an illegimate child. There are many bleak houses in this book. Bleak House carries a warning against the excesses of nuisance suits and the danger of a laissez-faire government which it wraps up in a delightful albeit complex and dense comedic romance of a young woman supposedly orphaned and sent to live with her guardian who is stuck in a generations long lawsuit over an estate. Interestingly, I recently read an American story that obviously borrowed heavily from Bleak House. To anyone who enjoys Bleak House, I recommend The Big Mogul by Joseph C. Lincoln.

[stacy_chambers-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Probably my favorite Dickens novel I've read to date. A friend of mine was surprised because there's "a WHOLE CHAPTER ON MUD." But I think Dickens makes some astute and far-reaching social commentary in this, something he was really starting to hone with Hard Times.

[byronemerson-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Massive. Wordy. Complex. Intense. Worth it.

I immersed myself in this work for the month of March. Not a day slipped by that I wasn't involved with one of the one hundred plus characters met along the way. Now that my reading experience has been completed, I already find that I will miss the twists, turns, and even the predictable events that befell these intertwined creations.

[nmhale_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charles Dickens merges the cold and impersonal world of legal proceedings with the passionate and tumultuous emotions of human affairs in this, one of his many acclaimed works, Bleak House.

[miriamparker_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ok. So, this is good. But it is long and it takes a LONG time to get going. And it's pretty archaic in its treatment of point of view (read: everyone has a point of view, even the houses). But it's worth it in the end. And it's super interesting to see what people were willing to go through for a marriage plot and a legal intrigue back in the day. Today, I think it would be edited down to just Esther's point of view and would be 200 pages...but that would be a shame, no?

[bcoghill_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best novel ever written, so far

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it.I haven't read a classic novel for a while, so I found it slow going for the 50 pages or so. But once I became used to the writing style, it turned into a page turner. Dickens is such a wonderful author with a sharp sense of humour and a way of describing society's structures and people that I really enjoy reading. In this novel, he writes a lot from a woman's perspective and displays a sympathy and understanding that I think was far beyond the norm for his time. A great story that explores themes of obsession, of living in the present without focusing too much on either the past or the future and all the many relationships that make up our lives.

[ztutz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite Dickens.It was given to me as a gift when I was involved in an epic and long-lived legal battle, which undoubtedly biased my opinion. Nonetheless, it is a very entertaining read.

[krista.rutherford · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The main character is actually likeable despite being the "perfect" female character. She's humble, made of love, and takes care of everybody around her. Good story.