Is Bleak House hard work?

[BlackWidow]

Am loving the TV adaptation, and fancy reading the book - is it hard work or worth a try?

Hard work.

Sentences that go on for ever and a day, just like bloomin' Jarndyce and Jarndyce, until you have entirely lost the will to live.

IMO. Think it is generally considered by many to be a great work of fiction...

I've got to read it for a new book club and have to confess I'm dreading ploughing through it!!!

I like Dickens' descriptive writing and the way he uses language; I don't think there are many writers who can match him for that. Bleak House isn't one of my favourites but I enjoyed it and found it was worth sticking with.

I loved it. Engrossing, funny, fantastic. Once you get into it you'll have a fab. read. Best CD novel for me I think.

His endless sentences have always bogged me down too.

I'll try him again one day then!
always wanted to read dostoyevsky too - might do that 1st!

Some of those endless sentences are full of the most wonderful language and beautiful description you could wish for, and I enjoy that kind of writing far more than something with a simpler sentence construction like Jane Austen (who I'm not at all keen on!).

I think ks is right when she says that it takes an older, more mature reader to appreciate Dickens ... his plots bored me rigid when I was at school (or should I say Dombey and Son bored me rigid when I was at school) but at the time I didn't really appreciate quite how well balanced they were - because they were written in weekly episodes they have lots of cliffhangers, lots of drama; they were the equivalent of today's EastEnders, there's always that "dum-dum-dum-dumma-dumma" (that was meant to be the EastEnders drummy bit at the end!) moment at the end of each installment. I sometimes find Dickens easier to read that way - in short bursts, the way he intended his books to be read. The long sentences are much easier to handle that way!

war and peace?

I love Dickens. I agree that his novels can be hard work but that is one of the reasons why I like them - they demand your attention and in return you become captivated by his characters and settings. My favourites are Hard Times and Great Expectations. He is wonderful ! not sure about this current TV adaptation of BH though!it's a bit clever - too many fancy camera angles etc.

ks - you'll have to read them all over again!!!

oooh so if I don't appreciate Bleak House, it's because I'm too young too

teavee - never read War and Peace but I've read Resurrection by Tolstoy and found that mostly accessible!

LOL, I remember getting War and Peace out of the library when I was a teenager, amazingly it went back unread.

not an easy read but definately worth it. AFter the intial 60 or so pages, you are hooked and then it goes really easy after that. I read it over 20years ago and still remember it and refer to it such as " wow, that is just like in bleak house". Dickens is very relevant to so much that goes on today.

did it for A level and really enjoyed it, even at 17! It is basically a glorified soap opera with some fantastic descriptive bits.

havent seen the show though.

Have got this for my MIL as part of her Xmas present so hope she will like it. She is watching the series and said she would love to read the book.