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Bleak House

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Bleak House

By: Charles Dickens
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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About this listen

 First published in monthly parts from March 1852 to September 1853, this novel follows the fortunes of three pedestrian characters- Esther Summerson, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone. The story they tell embondies Dickens' merciless indictment of the Court of Chancery and its bungling, morally corrupt handling of the endless case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, giving the novel its scope and meaning.

Starting with Esther's account of her lonely, unhappy childhood, her role as protégée of the worthy John Jarndyce, Richard and Ada's guardian, the tale develops the relations between the three young people in the Jarndyce household. Numerous other characters contribute to the complex portrait of society which emerges from the novel. They include the romantic, effusive and unworldly Harold Skimpole (based on Leigh Hunt, poet, journalist, and critic, who published The Examiner in which he introduced the public to Keats and Shelley); the boisterous, short-tempered Boythorn (based on Walter Savage Landor, poet and essayist, mentor to Robert Browning); Krook, the rag-and-bottle shopkeeper who dies a hideous death by 'spontaneous combustion'; Gridley and the crazed Miss Flite, both ruined by Chancery; Mrs. Jellyby, neglectful of domestic responsibilities in favor of 'telescope philanthropy'; the greasy Mr. Chadband, a parson 'of no particular denomination'; and Conversation Kenge and Mr. Vholes, lawyers both.

Of particular importance to the moral design of the novel is Jo, the crossing-sweeper whose brutish life and death are the instruments for one of Dickens' most savage judgments on an indifferent society.

Click here to see all the titles in our Charles Dickens collection.(P)1998 Blackstone Audiobooks Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction

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Critic reviews

"Dickens could not have performed better than Robert Whitfield does here....His brilliant dramatizations range from a homeless street urchin to an arrogant barrister, from a canny old windbag to a high-minded heroine who deserves the happy ending Dickens affords her....This may be one of the most Dickensian novels Dickens ever wrote." (Library Journal)
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Dickens at his best,the old times brought to life.simon Vance is fantastic,great.A long book that that will keep you entertained.

great book

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Brilliant narration. Simon Vance is always a great listen and one of my favourite dickens books.

Brilliant

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characters fascinating, plot really draws you in. today's writers coukd take lessons from the Master of suspense

loved the book , listened twice, excellent story,

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Simon Vance is a terrific reader. Bleak House is a very long book with lots of characters, but he sustains all the varying voices and accents.

I keep listening again and again.

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In my view, this is Dickens at his best. Well plotted, superb charaters, brilliant depiction of Victorian England with some vey fine comedy (Don't be put off by the title).
A great reading with lively and well distinguished charaterisations.
Loses one star because sound quality is poor in some early chapters (the original tapes have print through which is audible throughout).
Don't miss this - and enjoy comparing your vision with BBC1's interpretation.

a Dickens Masterpiece

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Is a thoroughly good read and I had some concerns at how I would find the audio version but I need not have worried, the reader choosen does full justice to this marvellous mysterious novel from little Esther's first appearance to Miss Flyte's birds flying free

Bleak House

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In all respects a wonderful experience. It took me many years to get round to Dickens. This book exemplifies his great storytelling. The reader also could not be faulted. In all, this Audible book, is highly recommended to those who want to bathe in the English language and be lost in a wonderful story for a few hours .

Wonderful experience

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Simon Vance is always reliable. As with many of his narrations something sometimes goes wrong with the editing and a line is repeated twice. But it isn’t really a problem.Sometimes in fact it's quite interesting - when he has decided to change the inflection of how he is reading the sentence!

Bleak House is my favourite of all Dickens's novels, and Vance does it justice. His characters's voices are never too exaggerated and his background narration always has the pauses in the correct places. Not something that is always true of narrators!

The best narration I could find of Bleak House

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Great characters beautifully expressed by the reader.
If you enjoy Dickens you will enjoy this rendition.

Lengthy classic well told

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Would you try another book written by Charles Dickens or narrated by Simon Vance?

I saw the BBC TV series and loved it. I thought it was so good that I really wanted to get into the story and as it is a long story, thought the audio version would be a good way to do that. I'd listened to Little Dorrit and it had been even better than the excellent TV series. However, some books work in audio and some are too long and involved - I found the plethora of minor characters overwhelming and rather boring.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I should have bought the abridged version.

Have you listened to any of Simon Vance’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No I haven't but Simon Vance's performance was very good.

What character would you cut from Bleak House?

Several of the minor ones that did not add to the plot. Can see why screen adaptations combine several characters into one sometimes - the character traits are required to drive the story but you don't need 10 people where 1 or 2 would do!

It's just too long

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