A review by shakgraph
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book was slow paced, which is not the pace that I prefer to read at. I remember liking it in high, so I kept reading. Even though the writing is slow, I appreciated the good writing- the figurative language. I also wanted to know the answer to the mystery of the doctor's past. A lot of sad moments. Horrible moments too. This is a good book to learn the horrors and inefficiency of vengeance from the uprising of any group of people to just have a different set of folks abusing power. Both parties were wrong. The hope is in eternity with Jesus.
The character development of Sydney Carton and Mr. Cruncher were the best parts of the book. Sydney Carton was the character I sympathized with from the start and liked (besides Mr. Lorry and, eventually, Miss Pross). I don't exactly remember where the moment happens, but Carton accepts Jesus and repeats John 11:25 leading up to his death and it is powerful and the truth "...I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die,he shall live." I mean- WOW. And you see that the Holy Spirit transforms Carton in that he doesn't get drunk at the end of his life. I was moved by Mr. Cruncher's come to Jesus moment. At the beginning of this book Mr. Cruncher would demand that his wife not pray for him, in fear that she would ruin his "honest" work as a grave robber. He would tell his young son to stop her everytime she prayed(he would say flopped. Lol)to God too. He was such a bad example to his son and a horrible husband. At the end of the book he represents from his sin and tells Miss Pross to tell his wife that she can flop(pray) whenever she wished. The most heart breaking part of the book was what Therese's family and the doctor went through- bone-chilling. Also, the epilogue is fantastic. I like that you hear from Sydney Carton's view in heaven. The last sentence ,my goodness, is so satisfying.
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