Bleak House (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Paperback, 912 pages

English language

Published May 26, 2005 by Barnes & Noble Classics.

ISBN:: 978-1-59308-311-3
OCLC Number:: 61255476

(5 reviews)

As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. A savage, but often comic, indictment of a society that is rotten to the core, Bleak House is one of Dickens's most ambitious novels, with a range that extends from the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to the poorest of London slums.

59 editions

friesen5000 reviewed Bleak House (Collected Works of Charles Dickens) by Charles Dickens

Review of 'Bleak House (Collected Works of Charles Dickens)' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I enjoyed Great Expectations, and loved David Copperfield, so this was a bit of a let down. This book is heavy on the descriptive, and while some of the it is fantastic (eg: chapter 1), a lot just seems like filler that clogged the story and slowed everything down. Some of the characters were also frustratingly verbose, which may have been meant to make a point about them, but the overall effect was to drag things out.

There were some great characters, and some great moments, but the book would have been better if a good third had been left out.