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Title: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Graham Law, Adrian Pinnington ISBN: 1-55111-174-8 Publisher: Broadview Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.92 (302 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: AN OVERRATED DISAPPOINTMENT
Comment: In this coming of age documentation, you will find disappointment at every turn. Dickens' tedious descriptions and constant indecision on how the plot should turn makes the novel lose it's potential merit.
Thousands of scholars and other readers have lauded Great Expectations as the finest Dickens' work of all time. The fact remains that it appears Dickens could not decide whether to make this a tragedy or an "all's well that ends well" happy-go-lucky type of story. This is proven by his change of the original ending. However, any reader could give testimony of feeling "yanked, strung along, or thrown about" from page one as they wonder just what Dickens wants them to think about Pip and his less-than remarkable life. Should we sympathize, feel disgust, be concerned? Does he deserve Estella's scorn or is he a victim of circumstance?
The more you read of this cryptic novel the more you grow to understand that Dickens doesn't know what his novel is about, either. The entire book seems to vary by the chapter. And the fact that the plot has a potentially good story behind it that Dickens doesn't care to elaborate on makes the entire thing a bit more tedious for the take.
The fact remains that Dickens is a fabulous story-teller. He has accurate, unjaded descriptions, refreshing, occassionally bitter, sometimes triumphant plots, and enough suspense to keep you reading throughout the night. It's just that none of that takes place in Great Expectations.
Holly Burke, PhD.
Clinical Psychologist, Abnormal Psych. Proffessor
Georgetown University
Rating: 5
Summary: Social commentary, mystery, romance and a great story...
Comment: I've never read any Dickens of my own free will. I was forced to read "A Tale of Two Cities" in high school and I thought that was enough for me. However, one day, on a whim, I bought a copy of Great Expectations. I'm not sure what I expected, but I certainly didn't expect to love it as much as I did.
Dickens is not a writer to read at a swift pace. Indeed, this novel was written in weekly episodes from December 1860 to August 1861 and, as it was created to be a serial, each installment is full of varied characters, great descriptions and a lot of action which moves the plot along and leaves the reader yearning for more. Therefore, unlike some books which are easily forgotten if I put them down for a few days, Great Expectations seemed to stick around, absorbing my thoughts in a way that I looked forward to picking it up again. It took me more than a month to read and I savored every morsel.
Basically the story is of the self-development of Pip, an orphan boy being raised by his sister and her blacksmith husband in the marshlands of England in 1820.
Every one of the characters were so deeply developed that I felt I was personally acquainted with each one of them. There was Pip's roommate, Herbert Pocket, the lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, and his clerk, Mr. Wemmick. And then there was the wicked Orlick. The dialogues were wonderful. The characters often didn't actually say what they meant but spoke in a way that even though the words might be obtuse, there was no mistaking their meaning. I found myself smiling at all these verbal contortions.
Dickens' work is richly detailed and he explores the nuances of human behavior. I enjoyed wallowing in the long sentences and letting myself travel backwards in time to a different world. However, even with the footnotes, I found myself sometimes confused by the British slang of 150 years ago, and there were several passages I had to read over several times in order to get the true meaning. Of course I was not in a particular rush. I didn't have to make a report to a class or take a exam about the book. This is certainly a pleasure.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good read.ting from the secret wealth of Magwitch, who made a fortune in Australia after being transported. Moreover, Magwitch's unlawful return to England puts him and Pip in danger. Meanwhile, Estella has married another, a horrible man who Pip despises. Eventually, with Magwitch's recapture and death in prison and with his fortune gone, Pip ends up in debtors prison, but Joe redeems his debts and brings him home. Pip realizes that Magwitch was a more devoted friend to him than he ever was to Joe and with this realization Pip becomes, finally, a whole and decent human being.
Originally, Dickens wrote a conclusion that made it clear that Pip and Estella will never be together, that Estella is finally too devoid of heart to love. But at the urging of others, he changed the ending and left it more open ended, with the possibility that Estella too has learned and grown from her experiences and her wretched marriages.
This is the work of a mature novelist at the height of his powers. It has everything you could ask for in a novel: central characters who actually change and grow over the course of the story, becoming better people in the end; a plot laden with mystery and irony; amusing secondary characters; you name it, it's in here. I would rank it with A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield among the very best novels of the worlds greatest novelist.
GRADE: A+
Rating: 5
Summary: Great expectations
Comment: Great Expectations was a remarkable book. I really enjoyed it. I didn't really have great expectations before I read it. It was about a little English boy named Pip. Pip is a poor kid who suddenly inherits a bunch of money and becomes rich. When he was poor he hated the way rich people treated poor people, but he finds himself doing treating poor people horribly when rich. He finally learns that everyone deserves to be treated with the same respect, even those less fortunate. This was an interesting book, but a tough book to understand, I would probably recommend it only for adults.
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Title: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, Jeremy Tambling ISBN: 0140434941 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens ISBN: 0451526562 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens ISBN: 0812580036 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Great Expectations (Cliffs Notes) by Debra A. Bailey ISBN: 0764585983 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 30 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Bleak House by Charles Dickens ISBN: 0679405682 Publisher: Everyman's Library Pub. Date: 01 September, 1991 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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