The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins

Title: The Dead Secret
Author: Wilkie Collins
Publication Date: 1856
Rating: 3

The Dead Secret, as with Collins's later works, centres around a socially and morally questionable event, from which all incidents derive, and towards which all characters inevitably move. The secret, identified with the Cornish mansion Porthgenna, has all but ruined the life of the young servant girl Sarah Leeson; 15 years later it comes back to confuse and haunt Rosamond, the heir of Porthgenna. Collins's talent for eccentric characters is given full scope in the misanthropic hermit, Andrew Treverton, his bullying servant Schrowl, and the actress whose powerful will lies behind the secret. The Dead Secret is a relentless quest to uncover a forgotten crime; the heir's detective work must finally lead to a disastrous revelation.-Summary from Goodreads

This is the fourth Wilkie Collins book that I have read and I still think he has the easiest writing style of any Victorian author out there. It is a classic and thus will take you longer to read than your average YA book, but it’s not like some classics where you just HOPE that you understand half of it. Collins’ style is simple and enjoyable.

That being said, I would not recommend The Dead Secret to someone who is new to Collins because it is not his best work. I guess my main issue with it was lack of focus. I couldn’t tell who the main character was in this story. The story follows the plot to whichever character sees its advance. The main character seemed to be Sara Leeson at the beginning, but then it changed POV and I thought it would be Rosamund, but she took a long time to fill in to her role as a main character before it switched again. And there were some chapters which were told from the POV of Dr. Chenney, Uncle Joseph, Arthur Treverton, Treverton’s servant, etc. The way it was set up didn’t make it easy to connect with the characters. In Collins’ defense he was writing this story and publishing it weekly in a magazine. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been to publish while writing.

The characters themselves were not always likeable, but they were realistic. Uncle Joseph, the old German, was the most likeable of the bunch. He is so friendly with everyone that even the servants were offended by his familiarity. Sarah is a hard character to like, she’s so nervous and frazzled that reading from her POV made me feel like I was starting to lose my mind, but once she got a chance to tell her side of the story to a sympathetic listener, I was finally able to (almost) like her. Rosamund is hard for me, I like how she doesn’t care about social standing and treats everyone the same, but I didn’t always like her temper. She’s overall a good character, but never consistently likable.

This is the one of the few Gothic novels that I’ve read and it was fun picking out the clichés. There was a rundown mansion which held a dreadful secret, a woman who was driven mad by the secret, tales of a ghost, and all set on the moors of Cornwall. I enjoyed the Gothic feel and sometimes it even felt creepy to me, but mostly it felt like overkill. I had an idea about the secret from the beginning and, while I got the details wrong, I had the right idea and everyone’s reactions seemed a bit over dramatic. I know it was a different time, but come on! There is one scene where Sarah tells Rosemund (very mysteriously) not to go into the Myrtle Room and Rosamund screams. Everyone seems to overreact! But I guess that might be part of the fun of the story. I now understand why Jane Austen wrote Northanger Abbey.

In the end, The Dead Secret is a good representation of a Gothic novel and has a great resolution to the story. If you’ve read a ton of Wilkie Collins books then this one might be the next on your list, otherwise I would recommend The Moonstone, The Woman in White, or Armadale (in that order) before this book.

       -Christina

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