Where we left off, we knew that Esther's mom is Lady (Dedlock) and they have decided to never talk again for Lady Dedlock's husband's sake.
Damn. It's all or nothing is it?
I will say that the last 300+ pages were crazy amazing. If pages the same weight as tissue paper and just as translucent could turn quickly I would call it a page turner.
It was really just one thing after another:
Esther tells her guardian about her real mom and now he wants to marry her but he OLD but he is just going to be a father figure to her? Not so husband-y? She says yes because feels marred from her sickness (scarlet fever? typhoid? what deforms the face??) and not worthy of the doctor whom she really loves. And Esther goes to the jerky lawyer and tells him to step off and the other mean - but powerful - lawyer is blackmailing Lady Dedlock. Also blackmailing George. Will someone please kill this guy! OMG someone killed this guy! Shot through the heart. Oh no, Buckett who we thought might be mean but is just doing his job is ARESTING George but George is the son of the Dedlock's trusted housekeeper and LADY DEDLOCK IS MISSING. Her husband now knows everything (getting knocked up by soldier who overdosed on opium) and says ALL IS FORGIVEN and is quelling rumors that they are divorcing because he loves her so much and LADY DEDLOCK COME BACK! But she doesn't. And she dies. Where her lover's body is.
But it ends happy!
How could it right?
But it does. Just as any Victorian novel should:
The Jarndyce suit comes to a close and guess what...no more money left to divide because it was sucked up by legal costs. Oh the irony! So Richard is upset cause now he really has no money, but is consoled by Ada and the fact that he is prob going to live with old Jarndyce because he will be lonely because he isn't marrying Esther because he saw how she loved the doctor and gave her a house and him as a husband!
I love it when it all works out. Leaves me warm and fuzzy.
"The beating of my heart was so violent and wild that I felt as if my life were breaking from me."
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Yes, it all works out except that Richard dies too! When I read that there was no more money left in the Jarndyce case.....I nearly threw the book across the room.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, in the end when he gives her the house - so sweet!!
And didn't you love the part where the storekeeper dies of spontaneous combustion?! Who DOES that?!
My next Dickens read will likely be Great Expectations. Oh, and give Hardy a try if you like Dickens. I'm reading The Woodlanders right now - it's amazing. But Tess was my first read of his and will get you hooked.
I'm so glad you liked Bleak House!
Jabba - True, Richard dies...but I didn't really like him so I wasn't that upset about it.
ReplyDeleteBUT, combustion guy! I can't believe I forgot to mention that! Hilarious.
Tess is def on my list to read!