Bleak House

By Charles Dickens

Widely regarded as Dickens’s masterpiece, Bleak House centers on the generations-long lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce, through which “whole families have inherited legendary hatreds.” Focusing on Esther Summerson, a ward of John Jarndyce, the novel traces Esther’s romantic coming-of-age and, in classic Dickensian style, the gradual revelation of long-buried secrets, all set against the foggy backdrop of the Court of Chancery. Mixing romance, mystery, comedy, and satire, Bleak House limns the suffering caused by the intricate inefficiency of the law.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 31, 2006
• ISBN: 9780553903065

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

[msjudithann_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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

[xuesheng_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a complex story about characters caught in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, a chancery case regarding a will of someone who died long ago. Some of his characters include Esther whose past is a shadow and who is a gentle and loving woman; John Jarndyce is a benefactor of many who is also a gentle and caring soul; Lady Dedlock is trying to hide an old secret; and Richard Carstone becomes obsessed with the Jarndyce case. I’ve only listed a smattering of the characters included in this book. In fact, I recommend that anyone reading it, keep a list of both characters and locations in order to keep all of them straight. The book starts slowly as Dickens introduces us to the Chancery Court and then the Dedlock’s, but within a few chapters I found that it picked up speed as I got to know the characters better. Dickens is a marvelous author and I marvel at his way of weaving together disparate characters that, at first look, seem to have no relationship to one another, but who often have long, unknown, to them, histories that are intertwined. I am also fond of his use of characters to comment on the social mores of his time. However, I really struggled with some passages and during these would tell myself to “just keep reading” until I was through them. I noticed that these sections often described a place, individual or thing and seemed to just go on too long for my attention. Nevertheless, I am a Dickens fan and recommend this book.

[cyderry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I won't write a formal review for this book, because IMO it was just way tooooooo longggg and I don't want to spend anymore of my time on it then necessary. I will say that the story was over populated with characters and need some serious editing. But since Dickens probably had it published as a serial, the longer it was the more money he got. I guess I'm still having problems with CLASSICS.

[jackiep_52 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favourite Dickens book, I could read this over and over. It has so much depth, and fantastic memorable characters. It's both fun and dark all at the same time. Pure genius.

[sarahemmm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Soap opera, Victorian style! Each chapter was originally published in a "periodical" - a bit like the modern magazine Cosmopolitan or Elle - so it's not surprising that each ends with a cliffhanger. The amazing thing is that it has the same effect today, 159 years after its original serialisation.Intended to raise the issue of long-running, expensive legal cases, it did eventually lead to changes to prevent the type of abuse demonstrated in "Jarndyce v. Jarndyce". Other themes are poverty and illegitimacy.

[eruditescythian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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

[memccauley6 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I could easily write many negative things about this novel. For starters it is LONG. It is more a social and political commentary than a novel. The story follows many interconnected subplots told from the point of view of a third person narrator - or from the first person viewpoint of Esther Summerson, whose voice is not the least bit believable. (Biting the inside of my cheek to refrain from making snarky Mary Sue comments) The subplots are all tied up too neatly at the end.

Did I mention how long it is?

Nevertheless, it kept me interested enough to finish reading it. (Well, almost. After a certain character died, I read the remaining 8% out of sheer stubbornness) Despite the lack of character development, I found myself sympathizing with many of the characters and caring what happened to them.

[kale.dyer · 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.

[lamotamant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've been a fan of Dickens since eight-year-old me discovered that "Marley was... as dead as a doornail;" in fact, I fully blame Dickens for several of my Victorian era lit classics binges throughout the years. A love, burgeoning or fully grown, for Dickensian wit and social satire is oft the struck chord that creates a distinct urge to reach out for more (and more). The heady simpatico taste of a Dickens' tome certainly has a lot to do with a logomania camaraderie. Oh, the words. The words! However, Word Lovers United™* aside, what I truly love about the Dickens' works I've experienced so far is that I'm constantly getting something new out of them. Like the Hans Brinker from folklore, I tend to get the sense that I'm standing at the side of a dam with my finger on the flow and I'll end up with whatever I'll allow through. Or, for a modern take, I'll go with Shrek's take on onions: they have layers!

That's the merit factor for me; the depth of the story, of Dickens' empathy and opinions, of the references that flesh out the world of both author and characters. All of which culminate in a work that makes you truly feel the weight of it as an experience had - as if each word simply bulges with it. It's this that keeps such a work relevant in my opinion.

So, in this reading of Bleak House since I hope there will be several more to come, I found myself most captivated by Jo's plight of moving on and the rippling riptide of Chancery. Jo was my emotional Twist twist. "Please sir..." where should I move, sir. Dickens knowing how to haunt both the soles and souls of even the modern human:

"'My instructions are that you are to move on. I've told you so five hundred times!'
'But where?' cries the boy.
'My instructions don't go to that...move on!'
Do you hear, Jo?... The one grand recipe remains for you- the profound philosophical prescription- the be all & end all of your strange existence upon earth. Move on! You are by no means to move off, Jo, for the great lights can't at all agree about that. Move on!"

He's also quite the master of encapsulation and metaphor. From character to character we have these revolving spheres of motion, action, inaction, emotion that give us insight to the whole. It's this interconnected style that I find absolutely fascinating (and that keeps my list of characters pretty well thumbed through).

Not wanting to emulate Dickens in a review of, well, Dickens, I'll keep it short and sweet. This is an easy new favorite. The wit and wisdom being balanced with a plot that I found pretty interesting as we encounter characters arcs diverging and a bit of a caper-esque (timing, timing, timing) climax that, though not the crux of the work, certainly adds intrigue. While not all characters made a significant impression on me this time around - that's kind of the beauty of want I've rambled about so much here. On another read through I'm sure I'll find even more to sink into.


*A fascinating group, really. We never get anywhere though; everyone talks too much.

[kaethe_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Weirdly, this was my first Dickens, except Christmas Carol, Loved it then, still love it best. I saw a funny reference the other day to someone who thought Jarndyce v. Jardyce was a real case, and how smug that made me. No story that includes spontaneous human combustion can be to dull, though, can it?

2001/01/05

[gbill_7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bleak House is Dickens’ satire on the British legal system via the case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, which is generations old and mired in beuracracy. This is a very long read (850+ pages) with a large number of major and minor characters; the back cover was filled with my notes to try to keep it all straight. Many think it’s one of his best works, for some reason for me it didn’t resonate quite as much.Quotes:On charity:“…he had remarked that 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.”On lawyers:“Here, in a large house, formerly a house of state, lives Mr. Tulkinghorn. It is let off in sets of chambers now; and in those shrunken fragments of its greatness, lawyers lie like maggots in nuts.”“’It won’t do to have truth and justice on his side; he must have law and lawyers,’ exclaims the old girl, apparently persuaded that the latter form a separate establishment, and have dissolved partnership with truth and justice for ever and a day.”On marriage:“My experience teaches me, Lady Dedlock, that most of the people I know would do far better to leave marriage alone. It is at the bottom of three-fourths of their troubles.”On mothers:“The time will come, my boy,” pursues the trooper, “when this hair of your mother’s will be grey, and this forehead all crossed and re-crossed with wrinkles – and a fine old lady she’ll be then. Take care, while you are young, that you can think in those days, ‘I never whitened a hair of her dear head, I never marked a sorrowful line in her face!’”And:“…and wondering toward evening what his poor old mother is thinking about it, - a subject of infinite speculation, and rendered so by his mother having departed this life, twenty years. Some men rarely revert to their father, but seem, in the bank-books of their remembrance, to have transferred all their stock of filial affection into their mother’s name.”On the poor:“It is said that the children of the very poor are not brought up, but dragged up.”On railroads, the “internet” of the 19th century:“Railroads shall soon traverse all this country, and with a rattle and a glare the engine and train shall shoot like a meteor over the wide night-landscape, turning the moon paler; but, as yet, such things are nonexistent in these parts, though not wholly unexpected.”On staying up late:“It was late before we separated: for when Ada was going at eleven o’clock, Mr. Skimpole went to the piano, and rattled, hilariously, that the best of all ways, to lengthen our days, was to steal a few hours from Night, my dear!”On the transience of life:“’Rooms get an awful look about them when they are fitted up, like these, for one person you are used to see in them, and that person is away under any shadow: let alone being God knows where.’He is not far out. As all parts foreshadow the great final one, - so, empty rooms, bereft of a familiar presence, mournfully whisper what your room and what mine must one day be.”On virtue:“…Mrs. Bagnet serves out the meal in the same way, and seasons it with the best of temper: being that rare sort of old girl that she receives Good to her arms without a hint that it might be Better; and catches light from any little spot of darkness near her.”Lastly, this description of the Smallweed family, in a chapter I loved:“During the whole time consumed in the slow growth of this family tree, the house of Smallweed, always early to go out and late to marry, has strengthened itself in its practical character, has discarded all amusements, discountenanced all story-books, fairy tales, fictions, and fables, and banished all levities whatsoever. Hence the gratifying fact, that it has had no child born to it, and that the complete little men and women whom it has produced, have been observed to bear a likeness to old monkeys with something depressing on their minds.”

[stevenfelson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If anyone is in doubt that Dickens was a genius, pick this up and settle in your chair. For the modern reader attuned to a certain spare writing style and relentless pace it may take a few pages to adjust to the different rhythm of rich and complex sentences, but once you do you'll be back in Victorian England in the mire of legal horrors.

[jayne_charles_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a lengthy tome, a sort of extended rant about the complications of the Victorian legal system which served only the lawyers and not the litigants. There were welcome moments of light relief - Old Mr Turveydrop, in particular, whose deportment is quite overwhelming my dear. Brilliant.

[allisinner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It took me almost 18 months to read this book completely through. I can`t explain why it took so long, as I did like the book and found the characters engaging. It may have been the edition I had, which had cramped and small typeface which meant after 5 pages I found myself tired. Taking so long to read the book didn`t help me in keeping the characters straight as they all had Dickensian names and would not reappear for hundreds of pages. My own fault.As I said, I found the characters engaging. Every once in a while I would be annoyed with a characters behaviour but as the book went on I found that behaviour was either repented or seen as ridiculous by the narrator of most chapters, Esther. Esther is the charcter that most of Bleak House revolves around and almost all plot points and characters can be tied to her at some point during the story. Though at times, she seems too good to be true, she is likeable and one of the truly most unselfish characters that I have ever come across. Despite the long process is was for me to get through the book, I really did enjoy and feel I will carry the characters with me for a long time.

[sarahehwilson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I decided to read this book because the back cover of "The Nine Tailors" by Dorothy Sayers put it in the top 4 mystery novels ever written. Those who try out Bleak House from the same motivation should be warned in advance that it takes about 600 pages to get to the mystery, and it is solved within another 100 pages, and doesn't quite follow the proper conventions for mystery. Of course, this is no real surprise, since Bleak House may actually be the first ever mystery novel (vying with Edgar Allen Poe's short story about the gorilla for first detective-story ever), so a few missteps are to be assumed. I also have to say that it took me till about p. 370 to get really interested--I kept at it that long out of sheer stubbornness, plus the number of friends who told me they'd given up--and the vast cast of characters left me a bit hazy about the plots. All these caveats in place, ultimately, I loved it and was sorry when it ended. The two narrator lines, one by self-reflective Esther and one by an omniscient unidentified narrator, were extremely effective. The characters are in good Dickensian fashion larger than life. In a day when we are really into sensationalism, I was struck by how possible it is to tell a really satisfying story of basically decent people (the villains are all minor characters). In a day of rampant moralism, I was impressed that Dickens could manage social critique without descending to that level, and was even capable of mocking social reforming gone amok as in the case of Mrs. Jellyby. If only he hadn't been paid by the word and made it just a trifle shorter and more efficient... say, 550 pages instead of 700+. That's my only quibble.

[ajbraithwaite_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Liked: all the parts with Mr George, Mr and Mrs Bagnet ("Discipline must be maintained!"), Mr Guppy and Sir Leicester and Lady DedlockDisliked: overlong explanations of politics and the legal system (yawn), very-much-too-good-to-be-trueness of Allan Woodcourt and Esther Summerson, annoying passivity of Ada, idiotic behaviour of Richard, over-reliance on coincidences (trademark of Dickens's, it seems), the way people like Mr Skimpole so much (why doesn't he ever end up in the Marshalsea?)

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this very long audiobook. I believe there were 34 parts, most of which were over an hour long. That's a lot of listening but I never found it tedious. In fact I could hardly wait until I had the next opportunity to listen to it. Simon Vance, the narrator, did a terrific job of all the different characters.Dickens was no fan of the legal system and that shows clearly in this book which revolves around a case in Chancery court, Jarndyce v. Jarndyce. I never did figure out what the dispute was but I am not alone in this. None of the many solicitors involved understood the case but that didn't stop them from representing some interest. John Jarndyce, one of the primary litigants, never went to court and he had no belief that it would ever be settled. John became guardian to a young woman, Esther Summerson, who had previously been raised by her aunt. When the aunt died Jarndyce took over care of Esther, sending her to school and then bringing her to Bleak House to help him raise two orphaned relatives, Ada and Richard. Ada and Richard are also parties in the litigation but Jarndyce never allows this fact to impair his treatment of them. As Ada and Richard grow up they fall in love. Richard cannot settle to any occupation having tried medicine, the law and the military in turn. Then he devotes himself to the lawsuit and turns agains John Jarndyce. These are only the main characters in the book. There are a host of other characters who interact with Ada and Richard and Esther and Mr. Jarndyce. Some of them are comical, like the perennially broke Mr. Skimpole; some of them are tragic like Lady Deadlock who bore an illegititmate child that she thought had died at birth. One of my favourite minor characters was Mr. George, formerly a military man, who runs a shooting gallery in London. George is in debt to a money-lender and, although he works hard and lives meagrely, he seems to have no way of paying off his debt. When he was charged with murdering the lawyer who represented the money-lender I was sure he couldn't be responsible.As always Dickens' portraits of the poor are heart-wrenching. There are a lot of deaths in this book, more than I remember in other Dickens' novels. So it certainly is not a light-hearted book. However, I very much enjoyed listening to it.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a massive novel in every sense. In the Penguin Classics edition it weighs in at 980 pages of small print, and that excludes the extensive notes, preface and introduction. Carrying that around in my greatcoat pocket I have found myself tending to walk in circles. It is, however, surprisingly readable, and contains many themes that seem entirely contemporary to us.The themes, layering and interlacing of plots and the cast of characters are also offered on a grand scale, and the overall impact in mesmerising, yet surprisingly readable and engaging. It is difficult in a short review even to attempt to summarise the plots. Suffice it to say that they are all expertly managed and resolved. Looming over the whole novel is the long-running civil law case of Jarndyce v Jarndyce, which has been progressing at glacial pace through Chancery. ‘Jarndyce and Jarndyce’ has now become a byword for legal obfuscation (or ‘wiglomeration’ to use Dickens’s own term). Even in the novel itself, the case, originating decades earlier from disputes over the distribution of a complex estate under instructions contained in conflicting wills, the case had already become infamous, and those connected with it were imbued with a certain dusty glamour.There are some marvellous set pieces that show Dickens at his characteristic best. The opening paragraphs contain with a glorious description of an impenetrable fog surrounding (and emanating from) the Inns of Court that presages the confusion and opacity that the claimants in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, and indeed any other cases that come before Chancery, will encounter.It is, however, not just a splenetic satire on the iniquities and perfidies of the legal system. Social injustice is held to account throughout the novel, with some heart-rending scenes depicting the life of some of London’s poorest inhabitants, many of whom live in stark juxtaposition with some of the wealthiest members of society. There is plenty of humour too, with Dickens’s portrayal of Mrs Jellyby, an undoubtedly well-meaning woman whose obsession with bringing relief to the poorer tribes of Africa leaves her utterly blinded to the neglect faced by her own children, and the desperately ambitious Mr Guppy for whom what he lacks in self-awareness is more than compensated by good, old fashioned solipsistic vanity. There is also a murder mystery following the death by shooting of Mr Tulkinghorn, a sinister senior lawyer who has fingers in a multitude of pies, and whose passing is mourned by few beyond Sir Leicester Dedlock, one of his wealthiest clients.The main story is, however, concerned with the progress through life of Esther Summerson, who narrates much of the book. Esther is, as Jane Austen might have said, ‘the natural daughter of somebody’, and finds herself taken under the aegis of John Jarndyce to act as companion for his cousin, Ada Clare. Ada, along with her cousin Richard Carstone, is one of the wards of court around whom the interests in Jarndyce and Jarndyce circle. Unacquainted before the novel opens, they are both assigned by the court to the protection of John Jarndyce, who lives in Bleak House, and, almost predictably, fall in love with each other. John Jarndyce, who will emerge as possibly the most benevolent and generous character in English literature, counsels them to try and embrace life without considering what might eventually come their way as their respective legacy from the ‘Jarndyce and Jarndyce’ case. Ada is happy to follow that advice though Richard, like a prospector who has fleetingly spied a sparkle in his pan, cannot escape from dreaming of how he might enjoy his legacy, and allows his mind to be twisted by greed and hope. Esther, meanwhile, has her own story, that is no less beguiling and engrossing for the reader.

[michaeldwebb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've always avoided Dickens before, put off, I think, by those godawful BBC costume drama things. I decided to give him a real go this time after reading Nick Hornby's Polysyllablic Spree, and actually really enjoyed this. There's no point in attempting any sort of critique - what new could I possible have to say? I'll just note that I found the writing, in particular the sentence construction, an absolute delight, and will be reading more Dickens.

[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

[ssfletch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another rich, full masterpiece by the "Great One" himself. The story follows Ada and Richard, two orphaned beneficiaries in the infamous Jarndyce & Jarndyce court case and their friend Esther as they grow to adulthood as wards of John jarndyce and choose different paths along the slippery and dangerous byways of the byzantine English chancery court. The novel, originally serilised, is rich in its description of Victorian London and its often unfortunate inhabitants, personified by the simple, tragic crossing sweep, Joe. Evil and villainy is embodied in the indomitable character of Mr. Tulkinghorn who weaves the many disparate threads of the story together as the lawyer to Sir Leicester and Lady Deadlock, both of whom figure prominently in Jarndyce & Jarndyce and Esther's life. However, humorous characters also populate the story, my personal favorite being the country squire, Lawrence Boythorn, an irascible, loud, warm-hearted friend of John Jarndyce, along with William Guppy, the sad, love-smitten and hilarious legal clerk at Kinge & Carboys, and the dogged and menacing police detective, Inspector Bucket, whose contributions, in the end, reveal a strong sense of ethics and a good heart!Dense and multi-layered, this book is not for readers with a short attention span and lust for action. However, if complexity, tragedy, comedy and subtleties in mood are your "cup of tea" than drink up, I say!

[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.

[eleanor_eader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another missed classic on my reading journey thus far, another genuinely delightful discovery… Dickens’ particular talent was for imbuing everything with character - fog, mud, London, the law - and then surprising the reader by having more still left over for a marvellous array of actual characters. Bleak House is, for that reason, a companion of a book. The case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, a longstanding preoccupation of the gentleman of the Court of Chancery, is a character of its own right; sprawling, beleaguering and affecting lives that Dickens lifts out of the ‘London Particulars’ and follows in absorbing, engaging detail. The lawyers, particularly the watchful and endangered Tulkinghorn, the gentle Esther Summerson who becomes companion to the ‘wards of Jarndyce’, the interrogative, amiable and brilliant Inspector Bucket… some of the most remarkable people I’ve ever met lie within these pages. The writing is humorous – either blatantly so, or wry; often shamelessly sentimental (I was chuckling on page five and bawling on page nineteen), often enraging – Dickens’ disgust at the deprivations visited upon the impoverished lower classes of the time is legendary, and Bleak House contains a smorgasbord of exemplars – the story follows those involved in the case, innocently or not, as they navigate murder, romance, mysterious personal circumstance, charity (in all its manifestations), devotion or self-interest – I cannot think of an aspect of humanity that isn’t examined within the scope of this fabulous story.I finally understand what all the fuss is about when it comes to Dickens. This is what all the fuss is about.

[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.

[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!

[goldenphizzwizards · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of absolute favorite books of all time, although I oscillate between this and Dombey & Son as to which is the best Dickens novel. Like all of Dickens' novels, there are deep and varied characters as well as a complex plot. As always with Dickens, plot is a device to further reveal the depths of his characters. Some may complain about the length of this book, but it would have been possible to accompany the many characters on their journeys in fewer pages. I'm by no means an expert on narrative devices or literary theory, but I appreciate the balance provided by Esther's sweet yet wise voice in contrast with the third person narrative that employs satirical humor to deeply probe the true nature of his characters. Esther shows the reader the best side of humanity, while the third person narrative voice displays the vices, follies, and sins of humanity with a bitter humor.

[aiufjcf · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This isn't the most well-know Dicken's book, but it's one of my favorite. A very interesting and mysterious story, and unique characters.

[bcquinnsmom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bleak House is a book that has it all: murder, adultery, romance, blackmail, and a touch of the gothic. I have to admit to a bit of a tear at the end, to which my husband says "what? Crying over a book?" My response: you've got no soul. I think it would be difficult not to be moved by this book even a little. My edition also had reproductions of the original artist illustrations. I very highly recommend this one!I can't even begin to summarize because of the complexities of the plot and many subplots, but there are a number of very good analyses available on the internet should you be so inclined. The barebones outline is this: the books starts and ends with the case of Jarndyce & Jarndyce, a lawsuit which has been going on for so long that most of the principals involved have long since passed on. It has become somewhat of a joke in the court of Chancery, an institution that Dickens strongly criticizes by painting a vivid picture of the court's ineptitude, of lawyers whose sole job is to create business for themselves, and of those who find their interests tied up completely in the hands of lawyers & of the courts. Because of this lawsuit, two cousins are taken under the care of one John Jarndyce, who also brings along Esther Summerson as his ward. The story focuses on the fortunes and misfortunes of this group of people, along with several supporting characters and their stories. To go beyond this would be to give the show away, but I can say that this book's strong suit is (as is usual in a Dickens novel) the characterizations. The imagery in this novel is also a part of the story as is the commentary on existing social conditions and his critique of such things as the chancery courts, lawyers, old institutions that should have long passed out of existence, the missionary & do-gooder zeal, and the various types of dandies, fops and leeches that lived off of others.I very highly recommend this book to anyone who may be interested; it is long and it can get complicated, but it is a sterling example of the work of Charles Dickens, and should not be missed.

[auntieknickers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book in 1977 in a Victorian literature class, and enjoyed it, but I don't think I fully understood it until I worked in a county law library a few years later. I actually met people who had been driven insane by their relationship with the law courts. Of course there is much more to this book, as with all of Dickens. Melodrama, romance, mystery -- he has it all, and comedy too. Although I have yet to read all of Dickens, this is my favorite so far.

[billiecat_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dickens at his best. A sweeping and epic story, vivid characters, and Dickens' inimitable style. The plot is dense and features many a Deus ex Machina resolution to tie all loose ends up, but this story of how the rule of law can be misused and abused is as timely today as it was over a hundred years ago. The book also deals sensitively with extramarital sex, illegitimacy, poverty, and drug abuse. It has a mystery as it Maguffin, but the real subject is society at large. As a bonus, much of the London it describes can still be found in the Inns of Court and Lincoln Fields.