Bleak House by Charles Dickens - Classic English Literature Novel | Perfect for Book Clubs, Literature Lovers & Gift Giving

I had not read any Dickens for years since I enjoyed "A Tale of Two Cities" and "A Christmas Carol." Several decades ago, I started Bleak House, a hefty 880 pages in this edition, but ran out of steam after only a hundred pages. But I vowed I would try again and I am most glad that I did. One has to remember that like most of his books, this one first appeared in segments in magazines and other periodicals--and that Dickens was paid by the word. So to say it is "wordy" is the understatement of the century. Nothing occurs without detailed discussion of many pages. Couple this with Dickens' incomparable ability to generate numerous plots, fascinating characters, and gripping descriptions of 19th century London (dark, foggy, and moist), the pages mount up with what appears to be limited unified plot development. Here, it takes Dickens 400 or so pages to set up his plot and many sub-plots. But once the reader gets past this point, the book becomes quite interesting and engrossing.This book of course is famous as Dickens' indictment of Britain's Court of Chancery, the Equity Court presided over by the Chancellor. The central focus is the endless litigation involved in settling the distribution of the Jarndyce estate among the various heirs. This litigation had been going on for decades, with nothing much settled. Dickens was quite familiar with legal London having worked for a time in transcribling records of equity proceedings. This book sort of bookends with "The Pickwick Papers," which is highly critical of the common law courts. As a lawyer, I found his highly unfavorable observations in some ways similar to what goes on in our own legal system. So this is a good book for prospective law students--however, relatively little of it actually deals with the Chancery Court. In the end, results for the heirs (nothing) and lawyers (happy fees drawn from the estate's resources) is typical here as well, especially in class action suits.I guess today we would call this a "mystery," and quite a good one at that. Writing superb ones seems a primary British occupation. But there is much more to this than an exciting "who done it." Dickens generates an unlimited cast of quite fascinating characters--the upper class folks in charge, maids and servants, independent merchants, derelicts, and various other colorful inhabitants of London (a prime character itself). Each character's speech patterns, from Oxford English to cockney, is captured perfectly--this was after all the high point of the British class system. The lower classes know their place, and rejoice in serving the wealthy; and dank London is overflowing with extreme poverty, hopelessness, and despair. But there are also some warm and happy folks as well, willing to help their less fortunate colleagues. This focus on Victorian London is a valuable dimension in itself.This Oxford Illustrated Dickens edition is enhanced by the inclusion of 40 original illustrations, two pages of brief descriptions of the characters (which is absolutely essential to keep things straight), and an introductory essay by Obert Sitwell on Dickens and the novel. Though a long grind, reading the novel in its entirety I found to be a enlightening and engrossing experience well worth navigating through endless sub-plots and characters. A happy ending is had by all.