Although I've never read it (and thus cannot give an informed opinion), among well-known 20th Century classics "Sophie's Choice" supposedly suffers from a multitude of problems.
I was struck by HarryT's quote from Dicken's "Bleak House". When I was young (high school) I was forced to read it and hated it like the plague. Twenty-five years later I picked it up once again and couldn't put it down. Anyway, reading HarryT's quote I immediately realized why I liked China Mieville's description of New Crobuzon at the beginning of his "Perdido Street Station" --- it's a dead ringer Dickensian creation!
