I really loved this book, but it took me two tries over a few years to finally finish it. It's like a too-big slice of the world's greatest cake.

The character arcs of Lydgate and Causabon are some of the best depictions of the collision of personal ambition with social obligation I've ever read. As someone with their own ambitions, I'm a bit haunted by that part of the story.

It's also occasionally funny. The uncle is pretty funny and a good demonstration of someone who's mind is curious and too unshaped to ever utter a coherent thought.

It's less focused than a Bronte novel but I love its wider lens.