After enjoying "A Tale of Two Cities" so much, I decided to read the corresponding Cliffs Notes & Monarch Notes to get a little more insight into the story. Interestingly, each of these "summaries" presented surprisingly different insights. The chapter summaries were short & too simplified, but the chapter analysis was decent. I especially liked the "vocab" section for each chapter, as it cleared up some confusing terms and references. The Character Map at the beginning would have been a handy reference while reading, although it reveals too much about the story line to be useful until after the reader has read the story. There was an interesting essay about the history of the French Revolution at the end.

The Cliff Notes are so helpful in interpreting the story and really brings enjoyment to reading the classics.

Very useful and interesting. Would recommend.

This helped a lot with the historical Revolution.

Even with the help of this guide, I can not manage to read the original myself. I have good memories of it from high school (decades ago) and don't want to spoil them with a painful struggle now.
Oct. 2021

Good will overcome evil, but not without suffering and sacrifice.

I read this in conjunction with reading the novel itself. I found the first two thirds of Dickens' story to be a little too obscure to follow completely, so Cliff Notes was a real help in this reading exercise. It was truly what kept me going to the end of the book, for without its synopsis and analysis, I might have given up. As it is, it was an invaluable aid to an enjoyable reading experience.

BTW I was particularly pleased to find that the text was available free of charge on the web.

god bless cliff.

Whenever I read a classic, I like to read along using Cliff notes. I find it helps a great deal to understand the author, and the time it was written. Often this helps explain why it is such a classic.

I see that I definitely use these as a crutch... but I like feeling like I have the answer sheet.

Cliffs are a wonderful companion book. Dickens is so intense that this just makes things make more sense. Hey, I'm a poet and didn't know it.

Read this as a refresher about a year and a half after having read the book. Brought out a lot of "themes" that I missed in my first read of the novel. I like Cliff Notes for this reason. Wish it had more direct quotes from the actual text though, love Dickens' prose.