Reviews - A Tale of Two Cities, Volume I

5.03k reviews for:

A Tale of Two Cities, Volume I

maaaybe 3 and a half i’m not sure. i listened to the first half or so of this on audiobook over the summer and had a harder time following the time jumps and different narrators than i think i would’ve if i’d read the physical copy from the start so i was going to give it a lower review because of that (and plan on rereading at some point) but i enjoyed the second half so much that now im torn! i went into this thinking of it as much more of a romance novel than i think it ultimately is, which threw me off a little, but i thought that dickens’ depiction of the french revolution as well as his cast of characters was so fascinating and well done that i was not mad abt it!

hannah_milio's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

seano312's review against another edition

5.0

I have started and stopped reading this book for years. Mostly because I've always known the story. I mean, who doesn't know the bones of this tale, which is baked into the French Revolution so much that it's hard to separate the two.

But after reading Bleak House earlier this year, I was resolved to do this book justice.

True, the story is well known: Doctor Manette and Lucie, Charles Darnay and Sidney Carton. Madame Defarge and her knitting. "It was the best of times" all the way to "it is a far far better rest I go to than I have ever known."

Fortunately there's more to the book than that. There's Miss Pross and Jarvis Lorry, and Jerry Cruncher and Mr. Striver. There's the Vengence, and Jacques Three. And always Saint Antoine and La Guillotine.

My biggest gripe about Dickens is he loads
up his books with a number of subplots that are great, but add more pages than substance.

There's not a lot of that here. Even the rather strange grave robber subplot is needed for the story.

My only regret would be if I could read this without the spoiler. But that's a pipe dream. And knowing the ending does make it easy to see the craft Dickens used in constructing this tale.

jill_t's review against another edition

3.0

I didn't hate the book. Dickens can put a sentence together like no other, but I found myself not caring what those sentences said. It has been a long time since I have read a book with such poorly developed characters. I didn't have any really emotion or connection with anyone aside from Sydney Carton and Jerry Cruncher. Those were really the only characters that felt in anyway complete, and they weren't even in the book all that much.

At least I can say I have read Tale of Two Cities now.

hilareeads's review against another edition

2.75

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I remember I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. The overall storyline is very interesting in theory and Dickens's writing style is always enjoyable. But, I just remember it didn't quite grab my attention like I was hoping it would. Plus, there are a lot of characters, so it could be a little tough to keep it all in order in my head while I read it. I do remember that the ending was very sad, and it made me think about how the justice system really has wronged so many people worldwide. But there are also people out there willing to sacrifice everything for the ones they love. So that part definitely hit me hard in the emotions. Not one I'll revisit, but it is one I remember I liked well enough.

loidianthescribe's review against another edition

5.0

I tried to read this book a few years ago and had a hard time getting into it. Listening to it read by a very good audiobook performer (Simon Vance) made it come alive! It was so much better than I even expected.