Maven Books
Reviews about historical, literary, classic, and other fiction. Miscellaneous book things.
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Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Phew! I managed to finish the whole thing! I think this was the first Dickens novel I read in full, at least that I can recall, and it was quite an experience.
It's a hefty tome, especially in terms of the often weighty language and cast of characters. (I wish I'd taken notes or had a list of who's who to refer to as I read along. Though sometimes it seemed like there were only 30 people in England at this time, and they all knew each other.) I often had to reread passages to grasp was what going on, or go back to a previous chapter to remember if I'd seen a certain character before, and I'm sure I missed some clever coincidences or small events that played into the bigger story.
Despite all this, I did enjoy reading it, though I feel I'd need to reread the whole book to really see all that was going on, and to appreciate the writing more fully. Maybe someday.
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