At over 700 pages of miniscule writing Bleak House has to be one of the most longest #inbetweenys ever.
I did read three books in between this inbetweeny (no idea what that makes them) Beautiful Ruins, The Dry and His Bloody Project (all very good by the way check them out) but Bleak House still took SO long
Described by Ian Rankin as one of the best murder mystery novels ever the actual murder doesn't take place until nearly two thirds of the way through. It featured the usual fabulous Dickens characters and surnames (Turveydrop and Jellyby just to name two). However Dickens was still introducing characters half way through the book which made it very had to keep track of everyone.
I really liked Esther's narrative, even if she was slightly goody two shoes at times, and thought Lady Dedlock was a character that should have been utilised more (watching the BBC's Dickensian a couple of years back now inspired this book choice) but so many stories were unfolding that they almost became lost in amongst each other.
The book painted a scathing image of the legal profession and the judicial system and had brilliant insight and one liners as Dickens sometimes has such as how women can be incredibly nasty towards each other.
The pages just didnt fall away though and I did at one point question whether I was going to finish it. Given that I had already invested so much time into the book I felt obliged to stick with it so that at least I could come out of the thing saying I had actually finished it.
It was such a shame as I really enjoyed my previous run in with Dickens - David Copperfield which wasn't shy in page count either and I positively powered through Vanity Fair which was even longer in page count.
If you like to be able to say 'I have read all of his works' then do read Bleak House but if you're not fussy than there are much more enjoyable examples out there, and (whispers) there is always a TV adaptation featuring the very good Gillian Anderson.
I did read three books in between this inbetweeny (no idea what that makes them) Beautiful Ruins, The Dry and His Bloody Project (all very good by the way check them out) but Bleak House still took SO long
Described by Ian Rankin as one of the best murder mystery novels ever the actual murder doesn't take place until nearly two thirds of the way through. It featured the usual fabulous Dickens characters and surnames (Turveydrop and Jellyby just to name two). However Dickens was still introducing characters half way through the book which made it very had to keep track of everyone.
I really liked Esther's narrative, even if she was slightly goody two shoes at times, and thought Lady Dedlock was a character that should have been utilised more (watching the BBC's Dickensian a couple of years back now inspired this book choice) but so many stories were unfolding that they almost became lost in amongst each other.
The book painted a scathing image of the legal profession and the judicial system and had brilliant insight and one liners as Dickens sometimes has such as how women can be incredibly nasty towards each other.
The pages just didnt fall away though and I did at one point question whether I was going to finish it. Given that I had already invested so much time into the book I felt obliged to stick with it so that at least I could come out of the thing saying I had actually finished it.
It was such a shame as I really enjoyed my previous run in with Dickens - David Copperfield which wasn't shy in page count either and I positively powered through Vanity Fair which was even longer in page count.
If you like to be able to say 'I have read all of his works' then do read Bleak House but if you're not fussy than there are much more enjoyable examples out there, and (whispers) there is always a TV adaptation featuring the very good Gillian Anderson.
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