Reviews

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

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chedwards72's review against another edition

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dark informative tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sincostami's review against another edition

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4.0

you know, with all the words this man is using I’m not particularly surprised that sometimes they managed to slap so well. An editor would, potentially, have helped though.

Madame Defarge I do not know if I want to be you or be with you, but I do know that you were an inspiration to me, morals or not. I wish France was real.

eleonora_s's review against another edition

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5.0

First time reading Dickens! I had a bit of a rough start when I had to Sparknotes what the heck the first chapter was about b/c I didn't know what a "Dover mail" was. Once I got into it, I got hooked. The story was super engaging.

This first read was for the story and plot. My next re-read will be for the language. I was so eager to find out what will happen next, that I didn't always take the time to slow down and appreciate these SENTENCES!

Also, while I was reading this, my friend told me that the level of wealth inequality today is larger than it was at the start of the French Revolution. The vivid descriptions of absurd poverty and absurd wealth were eerily relevant to to-day........

rtksunflower's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

cocopopsmonkey's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Delightful romp! This is my first Dickens novel, having read this I understand where Pratchett got his style from. Apparently Dickens was not highly regarded as "literature" at his time of writing but he takes place among the 100 best English Lit classics so who's laughing now!

As with any other book first written in the 19th century, the biggest hold back is the language used in the book. Dickens turns that on it's head and makes it a strength-- alongside the reader he is scoffing at the convention of language of the time, the long, drawn out sentences, the never ending semi colon use; he mocks it alongside the reader of the modern day. The way he writes his characters is so endearing, even characters that are detestable are detested in a fun way, dipping it's leg into cliche but not quite wetting the knee. The naming convention is also delightful, very easy to remember who is who, and the names given suited the characters perfectly.

As a side note-- I have just recently read Prophet Song, and found myself remembering scenes in that book in contrast to this one, I suppose novels depicting war can resemble another, particularly when it comes to civil conflicts.