“Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens
ISBN-10: 0199219761
ISBN-13: 978-0199219766
Great Expectations is a fictional novel written by Charles Dickens. It is available for purchase from http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0199219761.
Great Expectations is a drawn out story about class, maturity, life, and love. It follows an orphan named Pip throughout his life. His connections with other people are what drive the plot for most of the story, ranging from his sister and her husband who adopted him to a convict he encounters in a local marsh when he is still young. These connections are later interconnected to incredible amounts such that they're all like flakes of snow--initially separate entities, though later revealed to be indistinguishable from each other.
With regards to class and maturity, early on in the story, Pip is revealed to have inherited a large sum of money from a "secret benefactor". As a result, he leaves his family and moves to London where he evolves into a gentlemen. However, in the process, he takes new people on and leaves other people behind. As much as Pip is a gentleman, he is dreadfully good at letting people down.
With regards to love, Pip is the perfect Archie doppelganger. With two main female options in his life (Estella, our Veronica, and Biddy, our Betty), Pip obviously pulls an Archie and the story shoots off from there, following an analogous plot to the entire Archie comic series (with less back and forth).
Overall, Great Expectations was okay. The beginning I found to be dragged on for too long. It was only in the last hundred pages or so that we actually hit a point of suspense and I'm left in a state of "OHHH". However, the twists aren't all that amusing and don't make up for the bore that initially greets the reader. I recommend this book to people who enjoy literature; although it wasn't the best book, it wasn't bad and is probably useful for recognizing allusions and the like.
Anybody interested in discussing this book, feel free to discuss it here: http://forums.deathofdestiny.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15.
Also, note to anybody that's interested: our book club is reading William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury for the month of November. It will be discussed at http://forums.deathofdestiny.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=21.
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November 7th, 2009 - 21:47
Haven’t read it, the idea of reading Dickens kind of scares me.
But it’s really neat how you do these books reports. I have to wonder how many other science students dip into literature in their spare time.
November 7th, 2009 - 22:22
Wow. I really disagree with you. I think people are sort of used to faster paced plots from t.v. and books nowadays but the slow plots are more realistic. In real life, things don’t happen that fast. It’s the complex characters and the nature of society as a whole that make things interesting.
Also, I loved the plot. Even though it wasn’t that fast paced all the time, it had a million different story lines going on and it had something different for everyone.
Finally, comparing the love triangle in this book to archie comics is funny but to do that too seriously is an insult to the novel and Charles Dickens. Estella and Pip are both a lot more complex than Archie and Veronica.
In conclusion, I love this novel and I think you’re crazy.
November 7th, 2009 - 22:28
oh. sorry if that sounded harsh. it is just my opinion and you can feel differently than me.
November 9th, 2009 - 12:10
@Miriam:
I heard bad things about Dickens too, but I didn’t find him all that bad.
@Emily:
If we’re going to talk about realism, the odds of that actual story line happening are… …not realistic.
“something different for everyone”… …although I agree with the kadrillion things going on, I can’t say there’s something for everyone. I’m not sure I like lego stories.
I’m sure a lot of people will likewise say it’s an insult to Archie comics because they shouldn’t be compared to something so boring :P