A review by ayavandenbussche
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
5.0
I don't think I will cause much gasping or outrage if I declare this the best novel in the English language, and I say this despite the unlikelihood of me reading all the novels in the English language. Also, after reading Dickens, I don't think I have his mastery of language, to find enough words to express the array of emotions and feelings I have gone through reading this book. To call it a masterpiece feels almost meaningless.
I have read and heard most divide this book into two narratives, obvious ones, which become intertwined and connected. However, I would argue, or politely suggest that Bleak House has a lot more narratives than the two. Nearly every character in this book has a narrative and together these narratives create a beautiful tapestry that left me gasping and pulsating. It is a picture of England, or maybe Britain, please don't write in. The true protagonist of this book is England/Britain, aka Bleak House.
It is funny and sad and beautiful and ugly, chilling and warming and it is poignant, accurate, painful, wonderful, but never dull. I guess it is the War and Peace of Britain. Bleak House made me think of Kafka, for obvious reasons, and of Vasili Grossman's Life and Fate, for its mosaic structure, but also for its overpowering humanity. Both Kafka and Grossman wrote in the 20th century, I am sure they have read Dickens. Terry Pratchett of course, also came to mind, for the language and the world-building.
The book has had a great emotional impact on me and the beauty is that it wasn't so much because of the characters or their actions, it was more to do with the humanity or lack of humanity of the situation.
While reading the book I was listening to Mirian Margolyes reading it on audible. I cannot recommend it enough. Reading this book aloud can't be easy, I think it is highly demanding, but she gets it right, she read it magnificently.
When I finished the book I was elated and filled with a desire to do nothing but read and write. I think, like Don Quixote, this will be a book I will return to again.
I have read and heard most divide this book into two narratives, obvious ones, which become intertwined and connected. However, I would argue, or politely suggest that Bleak House has a lot more narratives than the two. Nearly every character in this book has a narrative and together these narratives create a beautiful tapestry that left me gasping and pulsating. It is a picture of England, or maybe Britain, please don't write in. The true protagonist of this book is England/Britain, aka Bleak House.
It is funny and sad and beautiful and ugly, chilling and warming and it is poignant, accurate, painful, wonderful, but never dull. I guess it is the War and Peace of Britain. Bleak House made me think of Kafka, for obvious reasons, and of Vasili Grossman's Life and Fate, for its mosaic structure, but also for its overpowering humanity. Both Kafka and Grossman wrote in the 20th century, I am sure they have read Dickens. Terry Pratchett of course, also came to mind, for the language and the world-building.
The book has had a great emotional impact on me and the beauty is that it wasn't so much because of the characters or their actions, it was more to do with the humanity or lack of humanity of the situation.
While reading the book I was listening to Mirian Margolyes reading it on audible. I cannot recommend it enough. Reading this book aloud can't be easy, I think it is highly demanding, but she gets it right, she read it magnificently.
When I finished the book I was elated and filled with a desire to do nothing but read and write. I think, like Don Quixote, this will be a book I will return to again.