catherine_the_greatest 's review for:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
5.0

It starts with
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

And ends with
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”

And in between is a whole lot of wonderful.

It took me a little while to get used to the language, and I highly recommend looking things up if you don't understand. (For example, I was completely confused about why Jerry Cruncher was so mad about his wife praying for him, and also why his boots were covered with clay each morning.)

I found the descriptions of France, before and during the Revolution, to be fascinating and with too many similarities to the current divide between the very rich and the very poor. I didn't connect with the characters in this one as much as I did with those in [b:Great Expectations|2623|Great Expectations|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327920219l/2623._SY75_.jpg|2612809], finding the good characters (Manettes and Charles) too good. (Sydney & the Defarges were much more interesting.) But the great historical backdrop more than made up for that.