It's a classic. It's a great story. That first scene of Pip in the graveyard, menaced by, or some say 'befriending' the escaped convict - the tension, the sinister backdrop/inferences, the reader's mind wondering what could happen to Pip. What an opener.

LOVED !

Great Expectations, Charles Dickens' 1860 first person narration centers on the formation and social development of the inimical English character Pip.

Set in and around London in the early 1800s, Dickens uses vivid imagery and his usual genius at characterization to build a story that has become one of English languages greatest and most recognized stories.

As always in a Dickens’ novel, his brilliant cast of intriguing characters takes center stage as the reader comes to know a parade of literary gems. Perhaps the most intriguing is the escaped convict, Abel Magwitch, a complex man who Dickens brings to understandable life. Another classic portrayal is that of the jurist Mr. Jaggers, a lawyer who no doubt has become the template for a long list of legal caricatures since.

Two words: Miss Havisham.

Typical Dickensian themes such as wealth and poverty, isolation and salvation, and the struggles between good over evil come to life in this very entertaining story.

** 2018 - So many great memories of this wonderful book and like all of Dickens' stories, so many great characters. Pip, Magwich, Estella and of course Jaggers (wonder how he dances? Does he have moves?) But without a doubt the one who stands out most to me is that psychological train wreck that is Miss Havisham. Well worth the time in reading, probably good enough for a re-read.

Excuse me for this infamous pun - which I'm sure has been wearily used since the book was first published -, but I had great expectations about it. Not only had I never read anything by Charles Dickens - who seems to be one of those polarizing authors that continues to inspire, decade after decade, a love/hate relationship with his readers -, but also because Great Expectations is regarded as one of his most important works. For someone as anxious as myself - I should really look into that - it seems expectations and anxiety are like non-identical twins: they're born together – or just few minutes apart from each other - but while the first born is a hopeful and optimistic attitude about something to come, his younger brother denotes an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, a sensation that his good twin may never come to fruition.

I expected Dickens's text to be dark and bleak, with touches of sadness and even over-sentimental at times. More, I expected a black and white - heavy, sluggish - Béla Tarr film. Because of that, I was anxious and feared that if I wasn't in the right state of mind or in a proper setting (which is a fair feeling, I guess: it's curious how much external variables - as the rain leisurely falling outside or infuriating noises of beeps and horns in a rush hour in traffic - can have effects on our most internal sensations; it's amazing how physical can also have control over psychological and the brain isn't always the commander in chief), I wouldn't be able to properly enjoy and absorb what the novel was about.

As it turned out with Great Expectations though, I really appreciated the book (whenever and wherever I spent time with it) and actually found the story to be humorous - as I caught myself giggling on more than three or four occasions - and even have a gothic touch - which I never supposed about it. Parts of the novel - volume 2, as to be completely clear - were harder to get through, which only came to add up to my initial concern about the remaining of the book.

Divided in three volumes, the book has different paces and approaches for each one: Volume 1, as it happens with every book we're starting to read, feels slower and more descriptive. We get to observe everyone - and the places, and people's manners - like we've just arrived to a party that's been famous for years and we've been anxious to attend to, still a little shy to go around meeting and talking to the other guests. Volume 2, as important as it was to determine Pip's character - and also for covering an important part of his life and setting the stage for the final and striking act -, I must confess, dragged a little bit and added to my anxiety that while I was enjoying the book, it might not have what it takes to carry it to the next level, to a great 5 stars book - and to think it was supposed to be twice as long! Volume 3, on the other hand, has a rapid pace and is surprisingly quite a page turner! Everything unfolds and we find out that the characters and events were a lot more connected than we could ever have suspected them to be and, because it was so masterfully written, it never felt like those common and overused cheap plot twists.

I expected Pip's great expectations to fail as I resented him and I intimately cheered that he wouldn't become a rich man because I worried he wouldn't do Joe and Biddy - always there for him, always his faithful companions - justice if his design and ambition to become a gentleman was successful. On the other hand, I never expected that Joe would turn his back when Pip needed him again, and I was glad to find out that Joe never did - it was never even an option for him.

I never expected that Pip's journey would be all about self-understanding and education: what first seemed to be a simple quest for society and financial triumph, turned out to be much deeper than I had anticipated at first. In offering Pip money, Magwitch thought he was doing his dear boy a big deed and changing his life for the better; eventually, what accomplished that was something much simpler: Magwitch's presence. Ashamed of the past - his life conditions, his friends, the house he lived in - Pip was all about living in the future, erasing his childhood and trying to write himself a future like he was writing a book - conversely, the book he ended up writing was all about his past. Ashamed of his relations with an ex-convict, initially he tried everything he could to avoid being associated with Provis, worrying about the damage it would do to his own reputation. As the story went on, Pip was able to reconnect with his past and free himself from all the shame, assuming Provis as his benefactor and fighting to save his life. Without realizing it, Pip was becoming a better person.

Like our narrator - a boy who would grow up to be a gentleman as opposed to a man who was unsuccessful for most of his life and looked down in society for being an ex-convict -, Estella is also a product of frustration, a creation of Miss Havisham: a girl who would become a heartbreaker to revenge Miss Havisham's own broken heart. It's interesting, to say the least, to follow their stories to find out if they'll be able to cut their puppets strings and become their own selves without having to comply to what was initially expected and planned for them and - as those expectations were blurred with what they wanted for themselves - unveil their free will to live on a future they could be active parts of.

There are two different endings to this story: Dickens's original intended finale and that which became the official one - although nowadays both are included in most of the editions published. On Dickens's original manuscript, Pip was to have a brief and random encounter with Estella, after being many years apart, where he would see that she had experienced sufferings in her own life and was lonely as himself:

n  "I was very glad afterwards to have had the interview for in her face and in her voice, and in her touch, she gave me the assurance that suffering had been stronger than Miss Havisham's teaching, and had given her a heart to understand what my heart used to be."n

After having his friend, also a writer, Edward Bulwer-Lytton to read the novel, he was then convinced to change the ending so it would be more romantic and not so much hopeless. The "new" ending, although being controversial for its many interpretations, implied that Pip and Estella would end up being together in some way or another - if not as lovers, at least as good friends:

n  "I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw the shadow of no parting from her."n

Although both conclusions work and are satisfying as far as my tastes go - and both are so beautifully worded as well! -, I prefer Dickens's original ending as it seems to be more consistent with the story, also more psychologically believable and less sentimental, less "everything works out perfectly in the end".

Rating: for what I was expecting - to not say, again, "my great expectations" - have been met with acclaim and success, 5 stars.

Había escuchado cosas maravillosas sobre el autor y sobre todo sobre esta novela "Grandes esperanzas", pero por alguna razón, quitando su famosa novela corta "Canción de Navidad", nunca me animaba a leer nada del autor hasta ahora. Una vez terminada esta obra y teniendo tan dentro de mí tanto su historia como sus personajes solo me queda agradecer el maravilloso momento en el que decidí embarcarme en este viaje.

En el libro se narran las aventuras y desventuras de Pip, un niño huérfano al que el destino pone en bandeja una gran oportunidad de salir del mundo sórdido y pobre en el que se encuentra, de tener "grandes esperanzas" y buscarse un futuro como caballero en Londres por medio de un peculiar benefactor anónimo. Un libro absorbente como pocos, con descripciones y personajes soberbios y una peculiar historia de amor.

En definitiva, se trata de una obra evocadora, bellamente escrita, además de atemporal. Cubre casi todas las emociones conocidas, venganza, envidia, desesperación, júbilo, amor, odio. Me habían dicho que con cualquier novela de Dickens la lectura no es una empresa pequeña, pero que vale la pena el esfuerzo. Y vaya si lo vale, tanto que hace que "Grandes esperanzas" sea una de mis novelas favoritas de todos los tiempos.

It has been a very long time since I last read this book but it was still every bit as good as I remembered. I was very interested too to find out which parts of it I still remembered well and which parts I had totally forgotten!

Great Expectations is certainly one of Dickens’ best books. He always wrote great characters, good stories and wonderful observations of everyday life. In this book he brings all that plus humour, danger and some spooky stuff too. Who could forget the scene where little Pip meets the convict for the first time? Or our very first meeting with Miss Haversham in her bridal gown.

There are so many great characters it is impossible to pick a favourite. Poor Pip is not very likeable for most of the story but comes good in the end. Wemmick and Herbert are excellent friends for him and Wemmick in particular has some of the best scenes with the castle and the Aged P. Even Estella discovers in the end that she does have a heart.

All very enjoyable and now I am inspired to reread some more Dickens - maybe David Copperfield next?

Another reread, loved it the first time around, loved it all over again!

4 Stars for Great Expectations (audiobook) Charles Dickens read by Anton Lesser.

I think I still like A Christmas Carol better. But this was an interesting look at what it was like for a boy growing up in England in the 1800’s, it was such a different world back then.

The first 5* this year.

Some books are better to read later. I am very happy that I read Great Expectations now and not when I was at school. I probably wouldn't had enjoyed then and It would have been such a pity. I think I am becoming quite a fan of Victorian literature.

Not as good as Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist, a tiny bit better than A tale of two cities, but to its core just Oliver Twist 2.0 with a first person narrator, and a perfect reason for why nobody likes serialized short stories condensed to weak novels.

I mentioned some of the weaknesses of Dickens writing in my review of A tale of two cities
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and the reason why it´s not as bad as it because he went back to a topic he could describe with more credibility because of the real life experiences he had made, and possibly people wanted more Oliver Twist and he knew he could sell more or just because he was nostalgic while getting old.

Dickens is a prime example of a not ingenious author motivated to produce new content due to market forces
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_E...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_E...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_E...
and was unable to reach the level of the incredible quality and timelessness of Austen, London, Twain, etc.

It´s quite kind of sad that his great, timeless, and important first works that point the finger at many societal problems are indirectly reduced by readers who choose to pick this work or Tale of two cities first instead of reading his masterpieces. I would completely understand if one wouldn´t want to try a second book after this one.

From all UK/US classics I´ve read, these two novels are by far the weakest. I do often think that some classics, many of them I won´t be able or willing to read, weren´t really good, subtle, or ingenious, but just the first on the market and had no competition, as simple and unromantic that might sound. I mean, reading outside stupid indoctrination BS was long time deemed a dangerous, stupid women activity real men would never do and as the wasted centuries were over and humankind awoke out of the terrible nightmare of the unnecessary Middle Ages, the first average writers had the easy stand of being the only person writing in a genre or even just one of 5 to 10 authors sold at all. That´s what I call a monopoly,

And the authors were idealized and glorified, mixed up with patriotism and national pride, made superstars, it was the first wave of endless Bieber fever for all ages.

Both factors contributed to a romanticized idealization of works that are just your average reading if nothing else is out there, but nothing one would read with flow and enthusiasm, more with a meh attitude instead of watching TV, social interactions, or other wastes of lifetime.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

Starting with "Great Expectations" that I will finish it this time.

A rightful classic with unforgettable characters and a lot of humor. Part 2 of the book bored me a little but the overall message is interesting and Pip is heartwarming
Always the best of friends

A sprawling novel, full of colourful, almost caricature like characters.
Still Pip’s development and growth in the book is well executed and never feels to sweet or moralistic.

Orphan Philip Pirrip (Pip) is the focus of this book and we meet him on a cemetery. It’s a banging start of a book which seems quite grim a first.
The Christmas eve dinner, with all the adults quite Roald Dahl like (with the exception of the blacksmith) in their vanity and disdain of children, belies this. Dickens is clearly here to have some fun!

His pocket change being collected by his sister to “liquidate the national debt” is another good example.
Not to say there are no serious topics covered: Joe not being able to read, domestic abuse

The story gets into higher gear when we meet a mysterious Estella. This leads to a first dilemma for Pip’s young heart: Bidy versus Estella. The role of aspiration is big in the narrative anyway, for Pip wants to be a gentleman.

Pip arrives in London in the neighborhood where my MBA is, delightful to hear all the references to places I know.
So much meetings in London in part 2 with new people, of which I don’t know the relevance for the overall story, Dickens loses me here a bit.

Joe Gargery remains funny in his awkwardness, showing the chasm of class, which Pip experiences intensely:
Made me cry again, inwardly, and that’s is the sharpest crying of all

Pip tries to adapt and at times feel out of his depth and cowardly, so it is all the better he has someone to rely on:
Never to soon, sir and never too often Pip
- Joe has a heart of gold.

Pip taking a leave out of the “I am not angry but I’m hurt” book in his quest for social upward mobility. There is even some sass developing: I’ve been locked up as much as a silver teacup
However nothing trumps Estella: You adres nothing in my breast, you touch nothing there.
Cold killer Estella.

The faults of the parents repeat in the children

Part of my existence is a beautiful speech as is the term Ecstasy of unhappiness, we should bring that back.

Part 2 was a bit boring but part 1 is near perfect comedy and part 3 has a lot of confrontations, emotions and action, very musical, Phantom of the Opera, like.

The relativity of prosperity without human connection is commented upon,rowing up the Thames around Temple, unimaginable nowadays. Loss and growth seem intertwined.
The people have the best memory ever, and are supremely obsessive as well, traveling across continents to follow people they hate.

Jaggers is so shady for a lawyer, water and fire befall the criminal bridegroom and the cold, withered bride and overall Pip his relations with women are quite saddening.

Difference between having and not having money in how people treat each other is still relevant today and Dickens his commentary of being poor in assets but rich in relations, and which is more preferable, including his appreciation of nature and experience, still hold value for our current day.