Take a photo of a barcode or cover
strawlico 's review for:
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My buddy Chuck, Charles if you will, wrote a lil something so I thought I'd give it a read ya know? Help a friend out.
Young Pip, our orphan hero, has grown up in an abusive home, adopted by his sister and her husband. Dickens goes through great lengths to highlight the misery of his early years which includes a fateful encounter with an escaped convict. Out of nowhere, he receives an endorsement from a mysterious figure, promising his great expectations and an epic rise to riches. Pip embraces this opportunity and moves to London where he will be challenged in his relationship to his past.
Off the bat I need to highlight Dickens' writing, which initially was hard to get in to, but which I grew to love. I've never read any of his work so it was a nice surprise to discover that he writes with a heavy dose of humour, often spending time highlight slight character details but not overwhelmingly caricatural.
The novel broadly poses the question of whether social advancement and class are more important than loyalty, affection and the comfort of home. As Pip moves to London, we see him progressively steer away from his loved ones as he gets into his new lifestyle, obsessed with what these expectations might mean for him and making difficult choices along the way. What makes this narrative so compelling is Pip's relationship to figures from his past and present life. Dickens writes characters incredibly vividly and colourfully and I was hooked whenever Pip interacted with Estella, his unrequited love, Herbert, his best friend and terrible business partner, Joe, his kindhearted father figure and many others. I realised while reading that I actually wasn't necessarily really into the descriptions of English society or London at the time, but really simply looking forward to these interactions and seeing this characters drawn up.
Despite a slower pace initially, the novel heavily picks up towards the middle and I can wholly understand some people feeling that the narrative structure maybe becomes a bit 'easy' at that point. We almost fall into a type of telenovela-like storytelling with plot twists and big reveals, betrayals and heartbreak at every turn, but also huge conveniences in the unwinding of the story. Honestly it made it super fun and I was happy the pace picked up at that point.
It's a fun read despite being slightly tedious to get into at first and it's made up of a cast of very colourful and interesting characters. The immersion of the era definitely didn't blow my mind, and neither did the dilemma regarding social advancement, but the characterisation definitely did. It made me want to read more from my buddy Chuck.
-- Passages from the novel that I enjoyed --
Young Pip, our orphan hero, has grown up in an abusive home, adopted by his sister and her husband. Dickens goes through great lengths to highlight the misery of his early years which includes a fateful encounter with an escaped convict. Out of nowhere, he receives an endorsement from a mysterious figure, promising his great expectations and an epic rise to riches. Pip embraces this opportunity and moves to London where he will be challenged in his relationship to his past.
Off the bat I need to highlight Dickens' writing, which initially was hard to get in to, but which I grew to love. I've never read any of his work so it was a nice surprise to discover that he writes with a heavy dose of humour, often spending time highlight slight character details but not overwhelmingly caricatural.
The novel broadly poses the question of whether social advancement and class are more important than loyalty, affection and the comfort of home. As Pip moves to London, we see him progressively steer away from his loved ones as he gets into his new lifestyle, obsessed with what these expectations might mean for him and making difficult choices along the way. What makes this narrative so compelling is Pip's relationship to figures from his past and present life. Dickens writes characters incredibly vividly and colourfully and I was hooked whenever Pip interacted with Estella, his unrequited love, Herbert, his best friend and terrible business partner, Joe, his kindhearted father figure and many others. I realised while reading that I actually wasn't necessarily really into the descriptions of English society or London at the time, but really simply looking forward to these interactions and seeing this characters drawn up.
Despite a slower pace initially, the novel heavily picks up towards the middle and I can wholly understand some people feeling that the narrative structure maybe becomes a bit 'easy' at that point. We almost fall into a type of telenovela-like storytelling with plot twists and big reveals, betrayals and heartbreak at every turn, but also huge conveniences in the unwinding of the story. Honestly it made it super fun and I was happy the pace picked up at that point.
It's a fun read despite being slightly tedious to get into at first and it's made up of a cast of very colourful and interesting characters. The immersion of the era definitely didn't blow my mind, and neither did the dilemma regarding social advancement, but the characterisation definitely did. It made me want to read more from my buddy Chuck.
-- Passages from the novel that I enjoyed --