bleak house

here is my synopsis on dickens' bleak house, the most gigantic and difficult and time-consuming book i have ever read.

some funny or interesting things from the book

- a kid named Peepy Jellyby
- "O my eye! Where can I move to!" [a kid who talked funny--I'm wondering if this was his way of saying "oh my"]
- Marrow puddings (I have to look up what those are)
- "Mangering is as necessary to me as it is to a Frenchman" ["manger" means "to eat" in French and this guy said it like it was the thing Jesus was born in]
- "He wouldn't have liked me dying at his place!" [A guy talking about how another guy died in the apartment he lives in and he is now creeped out by it]
- "He is devoid of the light of Terewth." [It took me forever to understand that meant Truth, and not some mystical land like Narnia]
- There was a guy who kept yelling stuff out randomly and one of his favorite sayings was "Brimstone devil" or "Brimstone idiot" or "Brimstone ____"...so one time he said "Brim--" and then thought better of it and ended with "my good friend" so it ended up to say "Brimmy" and he "appeared to have an impediment in his speech." hahaha.
- "Yes, you did say about ten. But, according to my count, it's ten times ten--it's 100 o'clock!"
- "Will somebody obleege me with a spitoon?" [That was said by Brimmy guy and made me laugh out loud...just try saying it out loud and you'll realize how hysterical it sounds]
- Someone had a visitor one time and it was "A person of the name of Michael Jackson in a blue welveteen waistcoat with a double row of mother of pearl buttons. [1. Michael Jackson in a weird outfit? Was C.D. psychic? 2. welveteen - haha. 3. Nice observation of fashion details there.]
- This sentence made me laugh: "It is not unlikely that you may inquireof me why Inspector Bucket, Mr. Woodcourt, and a lady call upon us in Cook's Court, Cursitor Street, at the present hour." [P.S. I looked up that place and there is indeed a "Took's Court" on Cursitor Street, off Chancery Lane, in London right now. I wonder what is there.]

So. What can I say about this book........I learned a little bit about English law in the 19th century, which seemed incredibly confusing. I learned that some illnesses they had altered their appearances. They would be in bed for like 4 months with these illnesses. I'm thinking that maybe it was tuberculosis? People died of what would now not be life-threatening. People frequently had multiple houses, one in the country and one in the city. Um...noble occupations were doctor, surgeon, lawyer, detective. A lot of people went into the army or navy. If you were poor you had a very, very shitty life. They drove places in carriages.

What else? Part of the reason it was so confusing was that there were approximately 97 sub-plots that were all different until the end when they finally all came together. Some sub-plots were said in the narrator's first-person voice and some sub-plots were said in a different third-person voice. That was also weird. One thing that I never fully comprehended was the different houses everyone was at. I don't even really know where Bleak House is supposed to be. The book goes between Lincolnshire and London. I think that Bleak House is in Lincolnshire, but I'm not sure. Upon looking at a map this afternoon I realized that Lincolnshire is way up north, on the east coast next to Manchester. They always talked like it was right next door so I was expecting it to really be right next door. But it's pretty far up there. However, in England you can go anywhere in a matter of hours, so whatever.

I'm getting the DVD of the version that was recently on Masterpiece Theatre. It stars Gillian Anderson. She was on the cover of the book I got.

I just don't even know what to write because there was so much. If you have a question, I guess you can ask. There you go. Like anyone really cares!!!