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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have very vague memories of being introduced to this book in high school. I think we read excerpts from Pip’s interactions with Miss Haversham. So I took away from that that the central focus of the book was his relationship with her and Estella.
But now that I have read the book, I am far more intrigued by the relationship of Pip and his brother-in-law Joe. That is where I see the heart of Pip’s character development into maturity.
One other note: there is a bombshell of a reveal about 2/3’s of the way into the story that made me gasp. It is one of the great plot twists in literary history so far as I can tell, and it greatly helped Pip’s development into maturity. As you can see, I was a big fan of this novel, and it has earned its place on Classics shelves.
But now that I have read the book, I am far more intrigued by the relationship of Pip and his brother-in-law Joe. That is where I see the heart of Pip’s character development into maturity.
One other note: there is a bombshell of a reveal about 2/3’s of the way into the story that made me gasp. It is one of the great plot twists in literary history so far as I can tell, and it greatly helped Pip’s development into maturity. As you can see, I was a big fan of this novel, and it has earned its place on Classics shelves.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be.”
Shocked and appalled by how devastating this ‘light’ reading ended up being
Shocked and appalled by how devastating this ‘light’ reading ended up being
I think this is the first Dickens book I have read (or listened to) and it was quite good. His expression of feeling and character are amazing and he does a wonderful job setting the scene. It’s a fairly tragic story although there is some happiness.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not a great Dickens, but certainly brimming with enough for anyone to latch onto and enjoy. I felt many parallels between this and Balzac's Lost Illusions, perhaps because I took the remark on some wikipedia article or another that Dickens was 'the French Balzac' and vice-versa too seriously. They may have written in the same period and conjured images of their contemporary society, but their tones are all too different.
Great Expectations is a story of a young man who moves to his country's metropolis to seek his fortune. His desire to establish himself in the city causes him to abandon his roots, which initiates his steady downfall. Lost Illusions is the story of a young man who moves to his country's metropolis to seek his fortune. His desire to establish himself in the city causes him to abandon his roots, which initiates his steady downfall. The first-person narration of Pip allows the reader to understand him directly perhaps far better than we understand Lucien Chardon, but London itself doesn't have much vibrancy to it, and the middle of the novel is probably the weakest part. Balzac's omniscient narrator spends much more time sketching Paris itself and keeps the time Lucien spends there claustrophobic and compelling. It's my favourite part of that novel.
What I found curiously contrasting between the works was their attitudes towards sex. Pip loves Estella and no-one else; his love is expressed in a benign romantic way - there is little passion between them, or between Pip and anyone apart from maybe Herbert. It's more straightforward to imagine Pip as homosexual if one ignored his monologue and read scenes between characters without it. Conversely, Lucien is described as a beautiful creature, and is generally preyed upon by women than by being sexually aggressive himself, but he does fuck. Sex exists in France where it scarcely is in England, which gives Balzac another edge for pure realism.
Of course, why would anyone read Dickens for realism? The plot of this book is absurd, but that doesn't make the unraveling of it any less entertaining. It's certainly for the best that there aren't any people realistically named Wopsle or Pumblechook. The most striking scenes of this book have a dramatic flair to them that stick in the memory in the way Lost Illusions, though I think it is a superior novel, does not.
And then there's the matter of the ending. I knew there were two endings before I got to them, so I was quite disappointed in the 'suppressed' original ending, which seems more of a fragment than an alternative to Dickens' published ending. I couldn't quite imagine reading it first, and don't think it's all that interesting in comparison to the original, which has melancholic and subtle cues of its own. I don't really have a conclusion here. Good book, not my favourite Dickens - side characters mostly didn't warm to me - but I am to read more soon, no doubt.
Great Expectations is a story of a young man who moves to his country's metropolis to seek his fortune. His desire to establish himself in the city causes him to abandon his roots, which initiates his steady downfall. Lost Illusions is the story of a young man who moves to his country's metropolis to seek his fortune. His desire to establish himself in the city causes him to abandon his roots, which initiates his steady downfall. The first-person narration of Pip allows the reader to understand him directly perhaps far better than we understand Lucien Chardon, but London itself doesn't have much vibrancy to it, and the middle of the novel is probably the weakest part. Balzac's omniscient narrator spends much more time sketching Paris itself and keeps the time Lucien spends there claustrophobic and compelling. It's my favourite part of that novel.
What I found curiously contrasting between the works was their attitudes towards sex. Pip loves Estella and no-one else; his love is expressed in a benign romantic way - there is little passion between them, or between Pip and anyone apart from maybe Herbert. It's more straightforward to imagine Pip as homosexual if one ignored his monologue and read scenes between characters without it. Conversely, Lucien is described as a beautiful creature, and is generally preyed upon by women than by being sexually aggressive himself, but he does fuck. Sex exists in France where it scarcely is in England, which gives Balzac another edge for pure realism.
Of course, why would anyone read Dickens for realism? The plot of this book is absurd, but that doesn't make the unraveling of it any less entertaining. It's certainly for the best that there aren't any people realistically named Wopsle or Pumblechook. The most striking scenes of this book have a dramatic flair to them that stick in the memory in the way Lost Illusions, though I think it is a superior novel, does not.
And then there's the matter of the ending. I knew there were two endings before I got to them, so I was quite disappointed in the 'suppressed' original ending, which seems more of a fragment than an alternative to Dickens' published ending. I couldn't quite imagine reading it first, and don't think it's all that interesting in comparison to the original, which has melancholic and subtle cues of its own. I don't really have a conclusion here. Good book, not my favourite Dickens - side characters mostly didn't warm to me - but I am to read more soon, no doubt.
I've always wanted to read Charles Dickens, and two stories are close to my heart. Oliver Twist, because it was a play in infant school and, at the age of 8 or 9 I became pretty obsessed with it. I had the soundtrack, watched the films, and just connected with it. My friend at the time, dressed as the artful dodger in the play and practised solidly to be able to flick her pocket watch up in the air and make it land in her waistcoat pocket. I'll never forget that. Also 'Great Expectations' - more so for the story of Estella and how she is trained to break the hearts of men by being cold and unattainable as a star.
I decided to give Great Expectations a try this December. My first impressions of Dickens' writing is it's true that his characters are almost like caricatures, with hilariously astute depictions of physical appearance and mannerisms. 'Uncle Pumblechook; a large hard-breathing middle-aged slow man, wit ha mouth like a fish, dull staring eyes, and sandy hair standing upright on his head, so that he looked as if he had just been all but choked, and had that moment come to.'
I also adored seeing through the childhood perspective of Pip, immersed in a miserable world of adults who teased and bullied him and then reminded him to be grateful that he was 'brought up by hand'. I laughed aloud a few times at the dark humour. 'To make it worse, they all asked me from time to time [...] why didn't I enjoy myself? And what could I possible do then, but say that I was enjoying myself - when I wasn't!'
However, a big however. I did find myself ploughing through lots of men's chatter and riddles that went in loops but were supposed to be clever. I essentially read this for the descriptions of Mrs Havisham's candle lit mansion she occupies in an old rotting wedding dress, the cold heart of her daughter Estella and Pip's blind love for her. I did get a lot though, from peeking into a little of what it meant then to be a 'gentleman' and how Dickens' challenges wealth and status, contrasting it with a genuine loyal heart and humble life.
I decided to give Great Expectations a try this December. My first impressions of Dickens' writing is it's true that his characters are almost like caricatures, with hilariously astute depictions of physical appearance and mannerisms. 'Uncle Pumblechook; a large hard-breathing middle-aged slow man, wit ha mouth like a fish, dull staring eyes, and sandy hair standing upright on his head, so that he looked as if he had just been all but choked, and had that moment come to.'
I also adored seeing through the childhood perspective of Pip, immersed in a miserable world of adults who teased and bullied him and then reminded him to be grateful that he was 'brought up by hand'. I laughed aloud a few times at the dark humour. 'To make it worse, they all asked me from time to time [...] why didn't I enjoy myself? And what could I possible do then, but say that I was enjoying myself - when I wasn't!'
However, a big however. I did find myself ploughing through lots of men's chatter and riddles that went in loops but were supposed to be clever. I essentially read this for the descriptions of Mrs Havisham's candle lit mansion she occupies in an old rotting wedding dress, the cold heart of her daughter Estella and Pip's blind love for her. I did get a lot though, from peeking into a little of what it meant then to be a 'gentleman' and how Dickens' challenges wealth and status, contrasting it with a genuine loyal heart and humble life.
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
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
I urge anyone who can to listen to the audiobook version. Pip's declaration of love to Estella was particularly moving when performed rather than read on a page, and had me crying like a baby at work. Don't be like me...when you get to chapter 44 be somewhere you can come apart without alarming anyone. :)
I really enjoyed this book at the beginning but i was having Avery hard time to read it towards the last pages. Also I know it’s a book of its time but the racist remarks really got to me!
Pip’s character development is interesting but a lot of the things could be solved way faster.
Pip’s character development is interesting but a lot of the things could be solved way faster.