Bleak House - Mastery of pathos - posted 4 months ago

Rating Bleak House is difficult. It's hard to know how I might have perceived the story if I hadn't seen the miniseries first. Perhaps it suffers by reading it in tiny installments a little each day. But I think that regardless, this would not have been one of my all-time favorite Dickens.

Of course, I am a Jarndyce fan with book as well as series, so I can't love the ending. And unfortunately, Anna Maxwell Martin's subtly strong portrayal of Esther in the series makes book!Esther even more insipid and annoying by comparison.

However, Bleak House the book does contain some of Dickens' memorable characters, who were slighted in the miniseries by necessity; and some great scenes in which Dickens' mastery of pathos really shines. The scenes with Sir Leicester Dedlock were really moving, and I love the George subplot, which got barely skimmed over in the series.

On the whole, worth reading if you're a Dickens fan, even if it may not be his best.