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This book, like many of Dickens' works is a commentary on aspects of society - in particular in this case the legal system and the Court of Chancery in common law England. In this book, Jarndyce and Jarndyce is a case being heard in the Chancery that has been running for an extremely long time. No one involved in the case, least of all the lawyers seem to understand the legal status or why it has come around in the first place. With promises of pay-outs, it draws in its "wards" who spend their lifetimes and all their money on waiting for their own beneficial results.
The plot is full of uncertainty, almost definitely a reflection of the Chancery process and is centred around Esther Summerson, a young girl taken in by Mr Jarndyce (the only so named in the book who also refuses to have anything to do with the case). The book also focuses on Lord and Lady Dedlock (aptly named), an aristocratic couple living in a huge mansion that is represented as unfeeling. The Dedlocks, along with their many lawyer Mr Tulkinghorn (among others) sit on one side of the suit while everyone else is on the other. Mr Tulkinghorn is represented as a dangerous man, making his fortune off of other people's secrets and living by threat and intimidation. We also meet other characters, including two of Mr Jarndyce's other taken-in children, Richard who is to be enticed into the suit and the love of his life (and cousin)Ada. The young, homeless Jo becomes the object of the book when information comes to him and it is amazing the attention that the rich will direct towards such a human, when it suits them. Throughout the book this is the case, with Mrs Jellyby, mother to Caddy who is the ultimate philanthropist, giving the family's money to Africa while totally ignoring the starvation and mess of her only family and her husband's fading sense of self.
Esther's character serves as a light in the 'bleak' nature of the book. She appears to have a positive outlook and an undeserving view of herself which results in her being well-liked in general by most people in this book, regardless of the suit.
This is one of the best books I've read in awhile. Utterly memorable and completely intricately woven plot that keeps itself through the 800-odd pages and gives brilliant social analysis.
This book is a memoir written by a well-known writer of fiction. She attempts to recount her life from early to present and she does this astonishingly and amazingly. The early part of her life is masked in conceit, from a father who is one day replaced by a step-father and she is never told why, to bullying at school and a strange set of symptoms which come and go but are never diagnosed.
She then takes us through her high school years at a Catholic grammar school where she eventually becomes head girl before going to London School of Economics to study law, here she finds happiness in her studies but a lack of money means she eventually moves to Sheffield to go to university there and finds an environment wholly unaccepting of women, it is here that she falls deeply ill and the medical profession fails her, diagnosing a woman who won't shut up about pain as psychologically ill and she learns to grin and bear what would have been unbearable pain.
The ghosts in the book come as she learns the real reason for her sickness throughout her life, she is rendered infertile and the children she can never have haunt her life and become pieces of the past that never existed.
The book is separated into five parts, each detailing different stages of what parts of her life she can remember. The writing is beautifully crafted, at times with black humour and at other times horribly sad. Some parts of her life, such as her relationship with her husband that breaks up and reforms are never explained in as much depth as her feelings towards certain people and the denials she has received during her life.
I don't think I'm giving this book credit, I highly recommend it.
This is the first book I have read by Allende. One of my sisters is a huge fan of her work and I thought I would give it a try. This book was interesting, I think maybe she hasn't quite got the male perspective she was writing from down to a tee. The book weaves the tale of a family, the father leads the family on travels preaching what seems like some sort of new age spirituality. They eventually settle in a poor Mexican barrio after he falls ill.
The book is told in two perspectives, firstly a third person detailing events and secondly from the thoughts of the main character, Gregory. There is a very clear patterns of him chasing money and becoming an 'evil' person and then chasing love and becoming a 'good' person, I found this comparison slightly stereotypical, especially because he worked as a lawyer in the chasing of the money learning the tricks of the trade in a corporate law firm. The whole thing just didn't quite ring true for me, well that facet of the plot anyway.
There's also a strong element of how past experience can affect a person over time. Gregory who has grown up poor finds himself wanting to be rich, and in a turnaround finding how much he wastes money on things which get him nothing. His sister, plagued by memories of sexual abuse by her father in childhood coats herself in layers of food and dedicates her life to caring for children.
All in all it was a good book, and I'd be interested to read more by Allende. The characters were the least believable for me, the storyline was good, kept me interested in reading the book.
