Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Title: Bleak House
Author: Charles Dickens
Publication Date: 1853
Rating: 3.5 Stars

Often considered Charles Dickens’s masterpiece, Bleak House blends together several literary genres—detective fiction, romance, melodrama, and satire—to create an unforgettable portrait of the decay and corruption at the heart of English law and society in the Victorian era.

Opening in the swirling mists of London, the novel revolves around a court case that has dragged on for decades—the infamous Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit, in which an inheritance is gradually devoured by legal costs. As Dickens takes us through the case’s history, he presents a cast of characters as idiosyncratic and memorable as any he ever created, including the beautiful Lady Dedlock, who hides a shocking secret about an illegitimate child and a long-lost love; Mr. Bucket, one of the first detectives to appear in English fiction; and the hilarious Mrs. Jellyby, whose endless philanthropy has left her utterly unconcerned about her own family.

As a question of inheritance becomes a question of murder, the novel’s heroine, Esther Summerson, struggles to discover the truth about her birth and her unknown mother’s tragic life. Can the resilience of her love transform a bleak house? And—more devastatingly—will justice prevail?--Summary From Goodreads

Let me start off this review by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHARLES DICKENS!!! Okay, now that that is covered I'll tell you what I think of Bleak House.

Bleak House is the sort of book that you have to be determined to read. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just really LONG and Dickens can get a bit long winded. For me it wasn’t so much about enjoying the book as it was a point of pride to finish it. If you want to get the story and meet the fantastic characters, check out the amazing 2005 BBC miniseries. It’s 8 ½ hours long and it’s very close to the book.

All that being said, the book is pretty enjoyable. Dickens is a master at creating believable characters, both likable and unlikable. I really loved Esther. Sometimes I thought she was a little too perfect, but then I realized that she’s an unreliable narrator. It’s not that she’s trying to make herself look good, she’s just trying not to dwell on the past and convince herself that everything is alright and that she is content. There’s a lot of insight into her character in moments she brushes off or downplays her reaction to events in the story. I loved her relationship with John Jarndyce, Ada, and Richard. Even though they had never met before Jarndyce took them in, they became a family. Their little group was just so friendly and loveable, I hate to see strife enter their relationships. And I absolutely love Allen Woodcourt (even though he isn’t in much of the book), he has a heart of gold. He is exactly how I like my book boyfriends.

This story has a very large cast of characters and the plot is stretched over such a long time that the only reason I was able to keep everything straight was because I had watched the miniseries beforehand. If I hadn’t, I would have wondered if there was any plot at all, but there is and, eventually, everything gets explained. You just have to have patience and determination. Dickens loves having characters connected in ways you couldn’t imagine and plenty of strands of plot going every which way. I cannot believe that he was writing this while he was publishing it (it came out monthly).

Bleak House is not a cakewalk, especially if you are not used to reading classics, but if you are determined to read it then go for it! It is by no means an unenjoyable book. And don’t worry about taking your time reading it, it took me over 6 months.

        -Christina

Great Expectations (Movie 2012)

     I have never read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, nor have I seen any other movie versions, so I have nothing to compare this movie to. That being said I really liked this movie.

     Like most Dickens movies they did a really good job at showing the grittier and less romanticized side of Victorian England. The whole movie had a dark tone to it and, like many Dickens stories, there were plenty of plot twists and unknown connections between the characters.

     The thing that really made this movie enjoyable was all of the side characters that revolve around Pip, like his brother-in-law Joe and the creepy Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham is my favorite character. Helena Bonham-Carter did a magnificent job playing this sad and disturbed woman, and it wasn’t over the top crazy like it could have been. Pip was a good main character, but he was annoying at times due to his new found wealth and place in society. I couldn’t completely like him because of it, but it was certainly realistic and in the end he did become a character I could respect.

     It’s hard to fit a complex book into 2 hours of film. While it is a good movie you can tell that there’s plenty missing, whether it be the finer details of the characters and their relationships, or what seems like time gaps. It does the best that it can with the time that it has.

     This movie acts as an introduction to the characters and plot of Great Expectations and I’m looking forward to reading the novel someday.

               -Christina