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averypaige's review
emotional
mysterious
medium-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
4.0
coldcoffee7's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
4.75
allym's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
3.0
emersonrae27's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
3.5
aoifemcevoy's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
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
4.5
marieintheraw's review against another edition
4.0
It's weird that my least favorite character is the main character.
willbefunorelse's review against another edition
3.0
For Alaina's full review (and a random movie reference that has absolutely nothing to do with Charles Dickens but everything to do with how Alaina's mind works), follow the link to That's What She Read.
ponch22's review against another edition
4.0
This was a bit of a challenge to read... Pretty apt since it filled the "book that intimidates" me slot in my 2016 Reading Challenge which I finished on December 31—just in time!
A Tale of Two Cities almost filled that slot but since I kind of read that in high school (probably the CliffsNotes version actually—SORRY Mr. Leskusky!) I decided to go with this great Charles Dickens novel which I literally knew nothing about.
I didn't know that Great Expectations was all about young Pip and how he was orphaned and lived with his sister and her blacksmith husband, Joe. I didn't know that he helped an escaped convict as a child nor that he hung at the rich Miss Havisham's house and fell in love with her adopted daughter, Estella. I didn't know that the titular "Expectations" were referencing an unknown benefactor who sent Pip to London as a young man to learn how to become a gentleman.
All I knew was I picked up a free ebook on Amazon (yay public domain!), read 2% (basically one chapter), and then didn't read any more of it for ten days. The first chapter or two didn't grab me and I procrastinated with the final book in my 2016 challenge. But it was on my list and I knew I had to finish this.
That's when I rented an audiobook from my library to help me "read" the book faster/during times when I couldn't read. But after listening to about 20% of the novel, I realized that a lot of my cramming in of "reading" through my headphones was done while I was multi-tasking and I had close to 0% comprehension. I remember there was a chapter that said "Biddy" about a dozen times in a few minutes and I realized that I had no idea who Biddy was.
So I went back to the last page I actually read and used the audio book to listen while reading to catch myself up (so I actually read about a fifth of this book twice!) and then I tried my best to listen/read in combo to focus on the novel.
While my personal experience reading/listening to the novel was...unique, in the end, I mostly enjoyed the experience. Dickens created a bunch of interesting characters and developed a story with a lot of twists and turns (you can really tell how serialized the story was with basically every chapter ending with a reveal or cliffhanger). I feel like there's probably a lot of good literary study available here (themes, motifs, symbolism, etc.) but I'm not in high school so I did my best just to read the book to learn its plot and characters and enjoy the ride.
And for the most part, I was able to do that. With a few hours to spare before the end of the year!
A Tale of Two Cities almost filled that slot but since I kind of read that in high school (probably the CliffsNotes version actually—SORRY Mr. Leskusky!) I decided to go with this great Charles Dickens novel which I literally knew nothing about.
I didn't know that Great Expectations was all about young Pip and how he was orphaned and lived with his sister and her blacksmith husband, Joe. I didn't know that he helped an escaped convict as a child nor that he hung at the rich Miss Havisham's house and fell in love with her adopted daughter, Estella. I didn't know that the titular "Expectations" were referencing an unknown benefactor who sent Pip to London as a young man to learn how to become a gentleman.
All I knew was I picked up a free ebook on Amazon (yay public domain!), read 2% (basically one chapter), and then didn't read any more of it for ten days. The first chapter or two didn't grab me and I procrastinated with the final book in my 2016 challenge. But it was on my list and I knew I had to finish this.
That's when I rented an audiobook from my library to help me "read" the book faster/during times when I couldn't read. But after listening to about 20% of the novel, I realized that a lot of my cramming in of "reading" through my headphones was done while I was multi-tasking and I had close to 0% comprehension. I remember there was a chapter that said "Biddy" about a dozen times in a few minutes and I realized that I had no idea who Biddy was.
So I went back to the last page I actually read and used the audio book to listen while reading to catch myself up (so I actually read about a fifth of this book twice!) and then I tried my best to listen/read in combo to focus on the novel.
While my personal experience reading/listening to the novel was...unique, in the end, I mostly enjoyed the experience. Dickens created a bunch of interesting characters and developed a story with a lot of twists and turns (you can really tell how serialized the story was with basically every chapter ending with a reveal or cliffhanger). I feel like there's probably a lot of good literary study available here (themes, motifs, symbolism, etc.) but I'm not in high school so I did my best just to read the book to learn its plot and characters and enjoy the ride.
And for the most part, I was able to do that. With a few hours to spare before the end of the year!