Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

9 reviews

julleah's review against another edition

This book is super depressing and treats child abuse (physical and emotional) and manipulation like a normal everyday thing. It also has a weird relationship between an adult and minor that isn’t romantic but is strange and unhealthy. I wouldn’t recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Classism, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Bullying, Child abuse, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Confinement, and Grief

ayphyx's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book fucking sucked. It’s boring, Pip is a bland character, the only good thing  is Estella Havisham who is the best character in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

ladyrecordia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Some books are meant to be devoured, but this one? No, this one needs to be chewed and digested slowly. If you can muster the herculean stamina required to make it through Great Expectations, you'll be rewarded with glimmers of beautiful, heartbreaking prose that will stay with you forever. Pip, though he is not overly loveable, is deeply human at his core, and learns the hard way what matters most in life. Joe is by far my favorite character, owing to his good nature and surprising moments of innate wisdom. Careful! If you're not paying attention, you might miss it, and you really don't want to pass them by.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

bookerino's review

dark funny lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This was a lot funnier than I was expecting it to be. Some people find it to be depressing, but I did not. I really appreciate the self awareness the main character has of his traumatic past and how it affects his current state of mind. But it's always said in a humorous tone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Kidnapping and Classism

Minor: Mental illness

lazycycle's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Classism, Death, Mental illness, Stalking, Grief, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Bullying

benblackwell's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Child abuse

sofipitch's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked the first third of the book with Pip as a kid, the child logic of the narration was really entertaining. It's once Pip became an adult the story fell a little flat, it would be painfully long at times, with lots of different characters and plot points going this way and that. The way some things would get resolved too would be boring, two or three times Pip was in a really bad place and then is just magically saved by his friends. Also adult Pip is such a piece of work it really makes you wonder why these people are so kindly devoted to him. The gothic ambiance was really nice in this, I think gothic shit had been out of style in Dickens's time, but I'm glad he chose it for his stories.

I had to read this in 9th grade and I hated it, but then in 10th grade I read Tale of Two Cities and loved it, so I wondered if maybe I would like this book better once I was older. And while I don't hate it, I still don't get why this is one of Dickens'  most famous tales, Tale of Two Cities IS much better.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Physical abuse, and Death

Minor: Racial slurs

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

 DISCLAIMER -  I read this text as a set text for university meaning I did not pick this up for myself. It does not fit my usual reading selection so my review may be rather biased.
 
I read this book when I was younger and my thoughts have not changed much on it, although I certainly remember much more of the text. The plot of this text is somewhat interesting; it does have some drama and an air of mystery surrounding it, yet all of this overshadowed by Dickens' writing style.

For a little bit of historical context, Dickens first published this text in a magazine of his and was therefore paid by each line he wrote. The consequence is that his writing style is often very long-winded and complex. Personally I found this rather difficult to get on with, and so listened to the audiobook at 3.0x speed whilst reading along myself. This made it a little more manageable but I still struggled with the text and how it was written.

In summary, the plot is somewhat interesting but not necessarily something I would pick out to read/finish, if this was not a university text for me. Additionally, this has made me realise that the writing style of Dickens is not that which I enjoy yet is still an interesting one to analyse nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol and Injury/Injury detail

clapyourshands's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent