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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a masterpiece. This book introduced me to Dickens' writing and taught me the importance of a good story.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To me, Great Expectations is one of the two best narrative-driven novels I have ever read (the other being The Lord of the Rings). I say ‘narrative-driven’ because my other favourite novel is Moby Dick (anyone who has read the book will understand why I don’t describe it as such).
This is the second Dickens novel I have read after ‘A Christmas Carol’, which I very much liked, but thought was a fairly standard adventure for the most part. And so I went into the novel without any ‘great expectations’ (pardon the pun). And then after I started to read about the genuinely mad Miss Havisham and the also bizarre Estella I began to wonder what I’d actually got myself into.
Yet the more I read, the more I became sucked into finding out who in actual fact is on Pip’s side and who isn’t what they seem, and was intrigued to find out exactly what was going on and how the novel would pan out (as anyone knows a novel that compels the reader to read on, and makes it so the further on you get the more you want to read, is an extremely good piece of literature).
As I got further into the novel I began to understand why people like Miss Havisham act in the way they do and the great thing about the book is it’s like a who-dunnit in a way, where there’s a sudden click as you finally understand how everything fits into place and you realise what the heck has been going on all this time (a feeling that I can’t say I’ve ever felt in a novel of this type before).
Therefore, after finishing the novel, I must say I was surprised at just how entranced by the book I was and I can now say I have become an avid Dickens fan (Oliver Twist up next).
So naturally, given the high praise I’ve given the book so far it’s to not surprise that I’m awarding Great Expectations the highest possible award of 5*, not only cementing itself as a deserving classic in my mind, but also introducing me to the world of Dickens proper (and making me a fan in the act).
5*....
This is the second Dickens novel I have read after ‘A Christmas Carol’, which I very much liked, but thought was a fairly standard adventure for the most part. And so I went into the novel without any ‘great expectations’ (pardon the pun). And then after I started to read about the genuinely mad Miss Havisham and the also bizarre Estella I began to wonder what I’d actually got myself into.
Yet the more I read, the more I became sucked into finding out who in actual fact is on Pip’s side and who isn’t what they seem, and was intrigued to find out exactly what was going on and how the novel would pan out (as anyone knows a novel that compels the reader to read on, and makes it so the further on you get the more you want to read, is an extremely good piece of literature).
As I got further into the novel I began to understand why people like Miss Havisham act in the way they do and the great thing about the book is it’s like a who-dunnit in a way, where there’s a sudden click as you finally understand how everything fits into place and you realise what the heck has been going on all this time (a feeling that I can’t say I’ve ever felt in a novel of this type before).
Therefore, after finishing the novel, I must say I was surprised at just how entranced by the book I was and I can now say I have become an avid Dickens fan (Oliver Twist up next).
So naturally, given the high praise I’ve given the book so far it’s to not surprise that I’m awarding Great Expectations the highest possible award of 5*, not only cementing itself as a deserving classic in my mind, but also introducing me to the world of Dickens proper (and making me a fan in the act).
5*....
I was reading this along with my cousin who had a paper to write... but I just couldn't finish it.
There are no appealing or endearing characters, you hate them all.
There are no appealing or endearing characters, you hate them all.
I didn't enjoy this book because I never liked the main character. I felt like he never treated the people who really cared about him well and he was selfish.
I haven't read this for years. It's a well known story and one that I have read several times. But this time somehow it seemed so much better than before. The language is superb, and there is so much more in the story than I remembered. I'm looking forward to re reading much more Dickens in the next few months.