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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
2.5 stars. This is the story of an orphan boy named Pip, born poor, brought to high (or higher) society, falling in love, etc. There's also a compelling part about all the people who helped Pip get into society.
Personally I found Dickens to be a whirlwind of energy, dumping words, phrases, and characters willy-nilly into sentences. They're long sentences and more difficult than they should be. And though I'm a patient enough reader to re-read the sentences I didn't understand, I nearly always felt that, on closer inspection, almost every sentence I struggled with was poorly composed. I also struggled with the high character count, which is unfortunate - Dickens makes compelling characters if you can only remember them.
(minor spoilers ahead) The last hour of reading was very moving, and took me to a weird place where the Pip character really did feel like he matured without undergoing any big Dostoyevsky-style change. This sort of thing isn't easy to do, and is a credit to Dickens. I almost wanted to re-read the book to make more sense of it. But the plotting often felt just as confusing as everything else in the book, and I felt like the character arcs would take some work to uncover, so I think I'm finished with this book for a while.
Personally I found Dickens to be a whirlwind of energy, dumping words, phrases, and characters willy-nilly into sentences. They're long sentences and more difficult than they should be. And though I'm a patient enough reader to re-read the sentences I didn't understand, I nearly always felt that, on closer inspection, almost every sentence I struggled with was poorly composed. I also struggled with the high character count, which is unfortunate - Dickens makes compelling characters if you can only remember them.
(minor spoilers ahead) The last hour of reading was very moving, and took me to a weird place where the Pip character really did feel like he matured without undergoing any big Dostoyevsky-style change. This sort of thing isn't easy to do, and is a credit to Dickens. I almost wanted to re-read the book to make more sense of it. But the plotting often felt just as confusing as everything else in the book, and I felt like the character arcs would take some work to uncover, so I think I'm finished with this book for a while.
(3.5 stars) The social scientist Brene Brown says that we should live a vulnerable life because it's at the point of vulnerability that we experience all the things that make life worth living: creativity, love, and surprise. This isn't an original thought because Charles Dickens wrote an entire novel about the perils of not living a vulnerable life 250 years before Dr. Brown.
What I loved about this book:
1. The characters. Mr. Dickens may not have a knack for exciting plots, or even average plots, but wow, does he have a knack for characters. This book is full of beautifully drawn characters: Humble, loyal, consistent, faithful, Joe Gargery, Pip's brother-in law. Pip's adult sister (and Joe's wife) Mrs. Joe who is as nasty a character as one can imagine, until she has an unfortunate encounter with a bad guy; Miss Havisham, the bride abandoned at the altar who will not let anything else get in the way of her sorrow; Estella, step-daughter of Miss Havisham and subject of a terrible experiment; Herbert Pocket, Pip's one time sparring partner and best friend. These characters stay with the reader long after the book is finished, surely the sign of well-drawn characters.
2. Mr. Dickens' exploration of the perils of avoiding vulnerability in life. Miss Havisham is left at the altar on her wedding day, and she allows this fact to ruin her life until the very end. She gains a step-daughter, Estella, and sets off on a grand experiment to prevent her from ever having her heart broken, but in the doing raises a monster who is incapable of love or feeling. This, to me, is the heart and soul of the book and a fascinating study. Estella turns into a sort of Frankenstein, which Miss Havisham realizes too late.
3. The encounters between Estella and Pip are my favorite parts of the book. Poor Pip, hopelessly in love with a girl who is incapable of love, and he realizes this too late.
What I didn't like about the book.
1. The book is s-l-o-w. I imagine in 19th century England no one minded that a book went along slowly because, let's face it, what else was there to do on those long, grey, winter nights. To the modern reader the plot—such as it is—moves along as languidly as a swan on still water. Mr. Dickens could have chopped this book in half and it would have been a great book. As it is, large parts of it are, dare I say it, just boring.
What I loved about this book:
1. The characters. Mr. Dickens may not have a knack for exciting plots, or even average plots, but wow, does he have a knack for characters. This book is full of beautifully drawn characters: Humble, loyal, consistent, faithful, Joe Gargery, Pip's brother-in law. Pip's adult sister (and Joe's wife) Mrs. Joe who is as nasty a character as one can imagine, until she has an unfortunate encounter with a bad guy; Miss Havisham, the bride abandoned at the altar who will not let anything else get in the way of her sorrow; Estella, step-daughter of Miss Havisham and subject of a terrible experiment; Herbert Pocket, Pip's one time sparring partner and best friend. These characters stay with the reader long after the book is finished, surely the sign of well-drawn characters.
2. Mr. Dickens' exploration of the perils of avoiding vulnerability in life. Miss Havisham is left at the altar on her wedding day, and she allows this fact to ruin her life until the very end. She gains a step-daughter, Estella, and sets off on a grand experiment to prevent her from ever having her heart broken, but in the doing raises a monster who is incapable of love or feeling. This, to me, is the heart and soul of the book and a fascinating study. Estella turns into a sort of Frankenstein, which Miss Havisham realizes too late.
3. The encounters between Estella and Pip are my favorite parts of the book. Poor Pip, hopelessly in love with a girl who is incapable of love, and he realizes this too late.
What I didn't like about the book.
1. The book is s-l-o-w. I imagine in 19th century England no one minded that a book went along slowly because, let's face it, what else was there to do on those long, grey, winter nights. To the modern reader the plot—such as it is—moves along as languidly as a swan on still water. Mr. Dickens could have chopped this book in half and it would have been a great book. As it is, large parts of it are, dare I say it, just boring.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
slow-paced
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
thank god i am finally done. this book took years off my life. and it's not even that i didn't like it. i honestly, truly, really did. i liked the characters and the plots a lot!! but i just found it sooooo much more boring compared to other dickens. oliver twist? an amazing story about an orphan getting caught up in a whirlwind life of crime that he has hardly any control over. great expectations? another orphan, but this time he's *much* more lucky: raised by his sister and his brother in law (with whom he's always had a good relationship with), had a rich old lady have interest in him, was then graciously sent to london to become a gentleman (which was not a common occurrence for someone of his status, i believe), where he quickly became in debt. oh, he was also deeply in love with the same woman for his entire life, which started out as really cute when they were kids turned out to be really annoying when he wouldn't take no for an answer. i know it seems like i hated this book based off these critiques BUT. my rating is so high because i ENJOYED reading these events. i would still recommend this book, but definitely not over dickens' other work
This book continues to be one of my favorites. I see something new every time I read this. I still remember the first time I was introduced to this book. I was six or seven years old and my grandma got me a big box of these condensed, illustrated, chunky books for kids.I can still see the I.lustrations in my head as I read this book.
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
With Great Expectations come Great Disappointments. I expected a lot of this novel and was underwhelmed in the beginning. It looked like Oliver Twist 2.0 as someone has already mentioned in a review.
Pip annoyed me to no end with his treatment of people who loved him - like Joe - but were considered lower in class since he wanted to climb up to gain the love of the insufferable Estella. Why does he love such an uncaring and cold woman is beyond me.
However, I appreciated the development of Pip as a character as the story develops and his slow but sure learning that social class is not a criteria to judge people, and that in the end, our relationships are the most important thing that matter. He got helped and loved by those he would deem inferior, and those he admired and wanted so much to please were either taking advantage of him or not caring about him at all.
The end was controversial to me..
In all, it was an interesting novel.
Pip annoyed me to no end with his treatment of people who loved him - like Joe - but were considered lower in class since he wanted to climb up to gain the love of the insufferable Estella. Why does he love such an uncaring and cold woman is beyond me.
However, I appreciated the development of Pip as a character as the story develops and his slow but sure learning that social class is not a criteria to judge people, and that in the end, our relationships are the most important thing that matter. He got helped and loved by those he would deem inferior, and those he admired and wanted so much to please were either taking advantage of him or not caring about him at all.
The end was controversial to me.
Spoiler
I love how he reconciled with Joe and Biddy, who are happily married and how he spends 11 years working hard and living a good life growing as a person. But his encounter and happy ending with Estella didn't feel right to me. I read that this is not the original ending that Dickens had planned, and I agree the original ending is more true to Pip's character development than the one we got.In all, it was an interesting novel.
I tried. I tried really really hard. I just could not get into this book. Dickens just isn't entertaining for me. I got about 3/4 through it before I just gave up.
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes