Bleak House by Charles Dickens

"What connexion can there have been between many people in the innumerable histories of this world, who, from opposite sides of great gulfs, have, nevertheless, been very curiously brought together!" (p. 220)

I have been reading Charles Dickens' books since long before I could fully appreciate them. Even though I didn't grasp the social commentary at a younger age, I have always loved the webs he weaves between and around his characters. By the end of each novel, everyone has had some influence on everyone else. The world seems a much smaller, more significant place after reading one of his works.

"His novels are full of energy and are teaming with life," says Andrew Davies, one of my favorite screenwriters (who incidentally did an incredible screen adaptation of this book) "I love the way he makes such a rich mixture of humour, tragedy, sentiment and social indignation. You get so many different things rolled up into one great book. He had such a vivid imagination and some of his characters are just extraordinary. Bleak House combines a terrific mystery with a series of love stores."

Dickens had a huge influence for good on society of the 1800's through his writing, and in this novel he focuses a great deal on the British Court of Chancery. Yet to me, the most interesting characters were those not directly involved with the "infamous" Chancery suit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce: I loved (and despised) Mrs. Jellyby, a woman intent on helping children a thousand miles away in Boorioboola-Gha, Africa, with several latch-key, unkempt children of her own. The married life of the sweet Bagnets, the "deportment" or Mr. Turveydrop, the awkward, muddling, good-hearted Mr. Guppy, and the poor street-sweep, Jo, were more interesting even than the main characters. This story is told from two completely different perspectives: chapters told by an all-knowing narrator who can see the end from the beginning (and drops several hints of it along the way), and the autobiographical chapters of Esther Summerson, the sweet and kind orphan girl who ends up blessing countless lives. His jumping back and forth between these two voices keeps the story interesting.

If you don't think you can handle the book (although you really should try!), you must at least watch the BBC version. Even those skeptical husbands out there (like my own) will like it for its mystery and suspense.

"The vast majority of the fastidious critics [of Dickens] have . . . never read Dickens at all; hence their opposition is due to and inspired by a hearty innocence which will certainly make them enthusiastic Dickensians if they ever, by some accident, happen to read him." -G. K. Chesterton