Bleak House Book Review

I just finished Bleak House. It took me quite a while to read, because for about 75% of the book I was Not Terribly Invested. (The last 25%, however, was a different story (figuratively).)

Since my thoughts on Bleak House are random and mixed, here’s a nice random and mixed review for you.

(Warning: spoilers will be spilt. Proceed with caution.)

~ Firstly – and this was a big reason why it took me so long to get interested in the book – am I the only one who needed a long, long time to warm up to Esther? I feel like Dickens’ portrayal of her humility is so much that it seems almost a little ridiculous at times. However, it also seemed to me that Dickens couldn’t quite let go of his snarky little jabs at people when narrating in Esther’s voice, so it came across that Esther 1) kept making this huge deal of how unimportant she was but 2) was actually rather snarky, to the point of being almost mean. It was a strange combination which I didn’t like. Which brings me to…

~ Why was Esther so mean to Mr. Guppy when he proposed? Sure, I get not wanting to marry him, but he obviously meant well and had no malice in him. Couldn’t she have had the decency to at least treat his proposal with a modicum of respect? “…I feel that I ought to thank you. I have very little reason to be proud, and I am not proud”?? Sheesh. Being proposed to is supposed to be a compliment, not something to make you mad. A simple “no, but thanks” is all it takes, honey.

~ I FIGURED OUT WHO ESTHER’S PARENTS WERE ALL BY MYSELF AND I WAS SO PROUD OF MYSELF. I told my brother Noddy (who had already read Bleak House) my theory beforehand, and he didn’t tell me if I was right or not (for which I thank him, because I didn’t want it given away) and then I started thinking “blast, I was probably wrong after all” but then I was RIGHT and I was so pleased.

Anyway. Moving on.

~ We happened to re-watch All About Eve while I was reading BH, and now I can’t shake the idea of George Sanders playing Mr. Tulkinghorn.

~ That spontaneous combustion bit was very…random.

~ If I were Esther, I’m not sure I could have been that patient with Richard when he kept abusing Mr. Jarndyce. Similarly, I’m not sure I could have restrained myself from bopping Harold Skimpole one at some point in the proceedings – and when I bop them, they stay bopped until nightfall (as Bertie Wooster eloquently put it).

~ Mr. George was undoubtedly one of the best characters. (And although he doesn’t quite look like how I picture him, I could really see Philip Quast playing him.)

~ I like Allan – really, I do – but I still couldn’t quite help liking Mr. Jarndyce better and sort-of-kind-of wishing the ending were different.

~ Why did Lady Dedlock have to die?? I felt so horrible for poor Sir Leicester. I thought for sure that he was going to die too, so I suppose it could have been even worse. Why must you do these things to us, Dickens?

All in all, it wasn’t my favorite Dickens book by any means. Some Dickens – like Our Mutual Friend, for instance – leaves you exhausted at the end, but in a good way. You feel satisfied and fulfilled and uplifted. When I finished Bleak House, I felt like I had a dark cloud of depression hanging over me. I think if the whole Dedlock plot had wrapped up differently, I would have liked the book as a whole much better. Even if one or both of them had died, but with more closure – if Sir Leicester had managed to get the message across to Lady Dedlock that he forgave her, and knew that she got the message – I would have been much more contented.

So yes, not my favorite.

…which obviously means that I need to start watching and comparing movie versions. Shall I start with the 2005 mini-series, do you think?