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april_does_feral_sometimes 's review for:
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
I haven’t read ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ since I was in high school. So, as a bookclub selected this novel as the winner for the book of the month to read, I dusted off my old copy…ok, actually it was my Kindle app and it did not have any dust (artistic license, right?)… I re-read this high school favorite.
It probably will earn me some nerf balls tossed at my head to say this, but the author's style of writing in this novel occasionally has not held up to Time. The first 100 pages or so in particular are so full of narrative filler and writing excess, I wondered if I had a debased copy. Alas, no. I also have an old Audible audiobook which I bought almost twelve years ago (yes, I became an Audible member before Amazon bought the company - I still have my original Audible player they gave away free) and listened while I read. While that made me happier as I cleaned or walked or traveled, I did not enjoy every minute. There were wordy parts and paragraphs I could not understand until Dickens finally spoke to the point. However, I am happy to say the plot definitely was still exciting and the characters were as complex or heroic as I like today. Dickens being Dickens, the twists and turns miraculously end in bizarre coincidences which force guffaws from most of us as we read; nonetheless most of us are as pleased as kittens playing with a feather from the literary game Dickens plays with us. The ending had me in tears, surprisingly, gentle reader, although I knew how it ended.
I honestly think nothing should be said of this plot, other than it needs patience to read, especially for the first half of the story. However, most people know the story already. (The opening lines of the first paragraph are particularly familiar and still thrilling.) There have been dozens of movies made based on the book. I will say the book is more complex, nuanced, thematically universal, and sad than movie adaptations I have watched. Also movie watchers most emphatically will miss almost all of the twisting and turning coincidences Dickens always tosses in for pure reader enjoyment. Movies cut out two-thirds of the characters and scenes, leaving often only a bastardized sentimentality and a simplified tale of good and evil.
I couldn’t help thinking as I finished the last page: I must read [b:Animal Farm|7613|Animal Farm|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424037542s/7613.jpg|2207778] again; and what will it take to anger people enough today to rise against reactionary oppression?
Did anyone else think, yeah, Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, when Madame Defarge was described? (Batman Returns, 1992, Tim Burton)
https://youtu.be/IPKZl6P89u0
I did.
It probably will earn me some nerf balls tossed at my head to say this, but the author's style of writing in this novel occasionally has not held up to Time. The first 100 pages or so in particular are so full of narrative filler and writing excess, I wondered if I had a debased copy. Alas, no. I also have an old Audible audiobook which I bought almost twelve years ago (yes, I became an Audible member before Amazon bought the company - I still have my original Audible player they gave away free) and listened while I read. While that made me happier as I cleaned or walked or traveled, I did not enjoy every minute. There were wordy parts and paragraphs I could not understand until Dickens finally spoke to the point. However, I am happy to say the plot definitely was still exciting and the characters were as complex or heroic as I like today. Dickens being Dickens, the twists and turns miraculously end in bizarre coincidences which force guffaws from most of us as we read; nonetheless most of us are as pleased as kittens playing with a feather from the literary game Dickens plays with us. The ending had me in tears, surprisingly, gentle reader, although I knew how it ended.
Spoiler
I had forgotten the little seamstress who holds Sydney Carton’s hand.I honestly think nothing should be said of this plot, other than it needs patience to read, especially for the first half of the story. However, most people know the story already. (The opening lines of the first paragraph are particularly familiar and still thrilling.) There have been dozens of movies made based on the book. I will say the book is more complex, nuanced, thematically universal, and sad than movie adaptations I have watched. Also movie watchers most emphatically will miss almost all of the twisting and turning coincidences Dickens always tosses in for pure reader enjoyment. Movies cut out two-thirds of the characters and scenes, leaving often only a bastardized sentimentality and a simplified tale of good and evil.
I couldn’t help thinking as I finished the last page: I must read [b:Animal Farm|7613|Animal Farm|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424037542s/7613.jpg|2207778] again; and what will it take to anger people enough today to rise against reactionary oppression?
Did anyone else think, yeah, Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, when Madame Defarge was described? (Batman Returns, 1992, Tim Burton)
https://youtu.be/IPKZl6P89u0
I did.