Bleak House shuts its doors at last

Yes, I have finally finished Bleak House, by Charles Dickens which I read as an Ebook. It has felt like a bit of an epic I have to admit. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't enjoy it, but it just seemed to go on and on and on. This is the story of Esther Summerson, an orphan who finds herself the unwitting participant in the madness that is the Chancery case of Jarndyce v Jarndyce - basically, a dispute over which of several wills written by the same person is the one that should be followed. This case has been going on for years and years and years - with the lawyers being the only people gaining from it. Almost everyone who is in any way connected with this case, and therefore, might be in for a bit of the inheritance when it's finally settled, gets sucked in and tend to lose their marbles in the process. Esther becomes the companion of two young potential inheritors (Ada and Nicholas), who are taken under the wing of John Jarndyce - an entirely sensible soul who has virtually ignored the legal case. She becomes his housekeeper, and the confidant of Ada and Nicholas, who have fallen in love with each other. Her goodness shines out from the pages and she cannot but help empathise and assist anyone she comes into contact with. I like Esther because when she starts to feel a bit down she gives herself a good talking to! When the cold and formidable Lady Dedlock comes into her sphere, she feels like she has met her before, but thinks she is imagining it. She is not ... and we soon find out about their joint past. There is tragedy, silliness, murder, obstinacy, loyalty and love to be found within this book. Practically the kitchen sink has been thrown on it ... including a case of spontaneous combustion! For my taste, there is a little too much going on - often stuff that distracts you from the main feature and we could have lived without. There are passages that are just fabulous to read, but I found with this book that there was just too many of, what I felt were totally unnecessary passages that detracted from the whole. Still a good read, but one that I would recommend that you give yourself time to have good run at. Five minutes here and there just won't do, otherwise you risk getting lost and confused with the myriad of different characters and sub-plots.



My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 1088 print pages (told you it was long!)
Price I paid: FREE on Kindle.
Other formats: print, audio CD, audio cassette, audio download.