I need to read this again, perhaps a different translation. I missed so much on the first reading. (There is at least one useful podcast about the book.)

This book is daunting - 2500 pages in total, about 400 characters (only about a dozen are primary characters.) But it is well worth the effort.

And the central portion tends to get into 18th century Chinese poetry, something that doesn't come across well in English.

This book has spawned at least two TV series and an opera.

I was particularly intrigued by the characters Feng (who ran the household - and a loan sharking business on the side) and the various "maids" (essentially female slaves.)