A Tale of Two Cities, Volume I by Charles Dickens

3.72 AVERAGE

librar_v's review against another edition

5.0
challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
This is what I've been saving my 5*s for... what a novel! Every word is saturated with meaning, every action belies a whole history. It has everything - love, loss, perseverance, revenge, commentary, futility, sacrifice, humour, shocking twists and turns. Cried on the tube.

anya_ch's review against another edition

5.0
dark inspiring sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

erijohnson501's review against another edition

4.5
adventurous emotional slow-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

justin1227's review against another edition

4.0
surprised by how much i ended up liking this even though the start was a little slow. go off dickens

nd_reads's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

canterburycathedral's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

writerbrad's review against another edition

4.0
A Tale of Two Cities has a lot of padding and a convoluted writing style compared to David Copperfield, the only other Charles Dickens novel I've read so far. But underneath the clutter is a powerful story well worth enjoying.

siallnexton's review against another edition

2.0
There’s no way Mac was enjoying this
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juliettee_july's review against another edition

0.5
emotional slow-paced

t3db0t's review against another edition

5.0
It's hard for me to talk about a book like this without talking about art. Although I consider the questions "What is art?" or "Is this art?" to be some of the more annoyingly pointless questions in this domain, I nonetheless find myself asking them when I encounter a work that, to me, unquestionably answers the latter in the affirmative.

"A Tale of Two Cities" is a beautiful book. Why? Is it because of the prose, which drops my jaw at times? Is it because the ending nearly brings me to tears? Why not both?

It doesn't matter. It is what it is. It's canonized, for better or worse. But I've always wondered how much a high schooler can really get out of this. I "read" it in 10th-or-so grade, but I definitely didn't actually. I don't think I could have, in some meaningful ways.

The bottom line is that I won't—can anyone?—forget those last, doomed lines of Sydney Carton's. I can still hear his voice, echoing like footsteps.