This was tough to get into, I'd nod off after two or three paragraphs. Once characters and conflicts were presented, The Warden wasn't much of a slog. I'm grateful I had a copy of Oxford World's Classics because a tenth of the novel time was spent looking at the footnotes and explanatory notes. That's one factor in how it came to have four stars, other factors being the Dickens parody, the mocking narration.