Cultural Clash of the Victorian Novel

I must admit that I had a lot of trouble reading/listening to this novel. At first, when I started reading it I had to look back all the time in order to figure out what was going on, and then when I reverted to listening to it I had to make sure I paid special attention to the reader. Not only was the reader male, (which made all of the female characters quite interesting) but he was also quite dull. I have to admit however, that not only did the sheer length of the novel make it hard to read, but the fact that it was written in such a different time period make it hard to follow as well. Considering that we live in and fast paced world it is extremely hard for modern readers to take the time that they need with a Victorian novel such as this one; myself included, but once I actually figured out what Charles Dickens was up too I was able to make some headway. Essentially what I am trying to say is that back in the day this book was published a few chapters at a time in the newspaper, and that readers with their completely different way of communicating were able to sit back and enjoy the ride at a slow pace.

                The descriptions in Bleak House are lush and spacious. Today readers want books to be short and to the point which then makes it hard to enjoy books such as Bleak House. Once I got broken in to the style though, it was nice to actually take the time to enjoy it. Traditional to Dickens’s style, he made his own little world, and made quite a list of characters. These characters are extremely hard to follow, but they are all elaborately done, and make the story what it is. Bleak House is a story that got published much like today’s soap operas, and its web of characters functions the same as well. The web of characters is a big one, but each story is important and each character is related to the other in some way or form. When having trouble reading a book from the Victorian era it is important to understand that the world has changed and that your mindset must change as well in order to comprehend it in the way you are supposed to. So take your time enjoy the ride and let Dickens take you into a whole new world.