angelal 's review for:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

3.0

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I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. There are parts that are beautifully written; parts that say important things. But ultimately, I felt that while Dickens identified aspects of the human condition that are valuable and aspects that are terrible, he failed to truly express them. Lucie is not a person, she is a caricature. Characters in this book rarely break beyond the bounds of caricature into actual characterization. So often Dickens relies on melodrama - bodies and poverty and lovers swearing their undying affection for one another - without actually addressing how those things play out in the human experience. He touches on poverty, but never honestly addresses it. Relationships and love drive the novel, but none of those relationships seem honest or authentic. The whole thing was very Victorian but not particularly profound.