Bleak House by Charles Dickens

 

Around the World in 80,000 Pages - Book 10

Bleak House by Charles Dickins

You can read about my Around the World in 80,000 Pages challenge here.

Miles travelled: 497

Pages read: 4,138

Disclaimer: I'm rather behind on my reviews, so they will be super brief until I get caught up again.

Although much of Bleak House is set in London, the house itself was in St Alban's, just to the north, so that counts as our next location.

Bleak House is a classic, and a doorstopper of a book. It's been on my shelf for some years. It is probably the second most intimidating book I had in my TBR pile (Ulysses, I'm looking at you...). And it did slow my pace down, my average rate for the last couple of years has been six days per book, Bleak House took twenty-six.

So it was long, but was it hard going? Yes, and no. The plot is convoluted and meandering, but that is intentional, and mirrors the course of the case it follows Jarndyce vs Jarndyce.

The language is, well, Dickensian: it is deliberately obscure in places, but it is never dry. Dickens took a pleasure in language, and is joyous in the way he approaches the physical construction and interplay of sentences. There is the sense that the way the words sound are equally as important as the message they convey. Google tells me this is known as phonaesthetics.

I had never really noticed this before, but Dickins use of language in Bleak House reminded me sharply of Dylan Thomas (who I generally consider the best writer of the English language). There is also a similarity with Thomas's work when it comes to a celebration of characters who delight in the visceral seediness of existence. They both draw a salacious delight from characters who push the boundaries of societal expectations.

So yes, it did take a bit of getting through, but it was never a chore. I scored it 109½/140 (★★★★☆), with a bit more of an actual plot, and some deeper exploration of the characters it could easily have been five stars.

The flag for Bleak House is Saint Alban's cross (which is also the flag of Mercia). The suggested accompanying music is the ribald London Town by Bellowhead.