Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Bleak House

By: Charles Dickens
Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $39.95

Buy for $39.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Held to be Dickens' finest novel, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon. Memorable characters include the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn, the friendly, but depressive John Jarndyce, and the childish and disingenuous Harold Skimpole, as well as the likeable but imprudent Richard Carstone. A suspenseful tale about the injustices of the 19th-century English legal system. This novel set the standard for modern day legal thrillers.

Public Domain (P)2013 Trout Lake Media
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Bleak House

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    87
  • 4 Stars
    32
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    9
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    78
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    9
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    81
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Perhaps better in print than on audio

Many times I've heard this work described as Dickens' masterpiece, so I'd hoped to find it more engaging than I did. I don't think the expansiveness of the novel alone is the problem, as I've listened to equally complex works and reveled in them. With Bleak House, however, the first half is such slow going that it's hard to find the main stream of the plot for all the interminable eddies, and the number of extraneous characters only serves to muddy the waters. By the mid-point of the recording, I'd come to think of it as "six hundred characters in search of a novel." But as other reviewers note, inherent difficulty of the novel isn't helped by the narrator, who reads at such a quick pace that many of the lengthier passages -- there are a lot of them of course -- dissolve into a rambling blur. Nor can he do justice to the sheer number of character voices that the narrative imposes on him. I strongly suspect that Bleak House is best served by its original medium.

I can still appreciate why the book enjoys such a strong reputation. I don't know many other works that deal so intensely and dynamically with the intersections of class in Victorian society. It is astonishing in that respect.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

oops

wonderful story very well read. A bit surprised that the last five minutes were cut off of the recording

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Better example of Dickens' art than many others better known...

This is only my third Audible book and while Mr Batchelor has a fine voice his personalizing of the characters was not an addition to the story. Many times it actually detracted fro the story. His voice of Messieurs Smallweed and Vols verged on the annoying and while both characters are annoying I think Mr Dickens words aline served the purpose. I will not avoid books read by Mr Batchelor but I won't be searching them out either. As to the story, there is a reason it is a classic. Dickens weaves a great plot with enough subplots to keep the listeners' interest. The story line is revealed enough at the right time so as to not injury the overall story but also not scarcely so much so as the listeners' intelligence is insulted. That the story was originally produced in serial from it must do as it does. Worthy of a third book and moving on to Evelyn Waugh next.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Cuts out?

I highly enjoyed this book but the very end cuts off in what sounds like the middle of a sentence. Everything else about it was highly enjoyable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Luxuriant

Immersive and a pleasure.
Very annoying repetition of some sections of the story recording also the recording cuts off before the story fully finishes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

For the serious Dickensian

To tackle this novel in any form is no idle pastime, but requires a serious commitment of time and intellect. With its complex interweaved narrative strands (alternating between Esther's first-person narrative and that of a nameless omniscient narrator), its extensive cast of characters, and its frequent digressions, it poses a particular challenge as an audiobook. It is the kind of novel that should have an index, and which in paper form would have had me often searching back through the pages for a reminder about who had said what to whom and when. Since this was not supported in my audio reader, there was no alternative but to soldier on through the thicket. A novel this dense in character and incident would challenge the greatest actor, but with Peter Batchelor on top form my interest never flagged. If I had one quibble it would be with the production itself - the frequent "re-recordings" are spliced in rather too abruptly, distracting from the flow of words. As for the story itself, Dickens' usual slow buildup is taken to extremes here, but the eventual payoff is as moving as he ever achieved elsewhere. The difficulty for the modern reader is to comprehend how a lawsuit can simply continue under its own momentum without any prospect of conclusion for generations despite the best will of its parties to end it. This undermines its effectiveness as the central narrative device that underpins the action of the novel, but as a critique of the legal system of the time, it was epoch-making and quite possibly history-changing. The greatest incidental pleasure is to be had in the minor comic characters such as the paragon of "deportment", Mr Turvidrop, and the evangelist Mr Chadband with his orotund sermonising (ministers of any stripe rarely fare well in Dickens' hands). Serious Dickens fans simply must attempt this, but best you know what to expect beforehand. You will be glad if you can make it to the end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Servants who sound like. . . Eric Idle!

Any additional comments?

I agree with the reviewer who said they wouldn't not buy another book narrated by Peter Bachelor, but they wouldn't seek one out either.My issue with his narration is that he races through the text. Dickens is full of subplots that intertwine, and cunning observations slipped in here and there. Bachelor reads so fast I haven't time to fully absorb one and relate it to the overall narrative arc before he's racing onto the next paragraph/scene.My other complaint is that the female servants sound exactly like Eric Idle! I laughed out loud the first time it happened, but after a while it became irritating.Mr. Bachelor, for the love of Dickens, please slow down when you read these complex Victorian epics and whilst I love Eric Idle (my favorite Python!) find another voice for the "common folk."

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Delightful! Dickens meets Austen

This was a delightful story! Well read! It feels a bit like dickens, with comical and sad illustrations of the times, and a bit like Austen with plenty of romantic twists and marriage proposals! Highly recommended!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good for long-haul reading

This narrator has a very pleasing voice and changes his pitch for different characters. He knows where to pause and his inflection makes even Dickens easy to follow. As someone who has seen the BBC adaptation of Bleak House, I can honestly say that he nailed the impression of Mr. Tulkinghorn. Sounds uncannily like Charles Dance!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good reading but technical issues

I really like Peter Batchelor’s readings of Dickens, and this one is no exception. There are some issues with the recording itself, some looped sections a dropped passage, and some issues with the volume rising and dropping. However, the reading itself was wonderful (as per usual) and the novel itself wonderful.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!