A Tale of Two Cities will forever occupy a special place in my heart because even though adulthood sensibilities often cause childhood adoration to vanish in entirety, no one forgets a precocious reading of that first classic which reduces one to a sobbing, sniffling mess. But my memories of a first reading of this are hazy at best - the absence of guillotines lopping off heads and swoon-worthy heroes who make larger than life sacrifices could explain my much younger self's lack of appreciation. And it is only on a second reading after a gap of a decade and more can I categorize this as a novel written for adults, as a work much more worthy of 5 stars than "A Tale of Two Cities" should ever be. Predictably this rehashes many of Dickens' pet favorite themes - the orphaned, abused kid finding his way through the rat-infested, grimy bylanes of crime and penury towards self actualization, fairy godmother-stand-ins and so on - but never does it distill its thematic essence into easy dichotomies of good and evil. With all the appearance of a bildungsroman, "Great Expectations", sets out to demolish many cliched plot devices of Dickens' own creation. Pip never achieves the greatness he aspires to or even the fantasy love which planted the desire for upward social mobility in his mind, and yet his experiences enable him to become a more well-rounded individual who sees the world no longer through the rose-tinted shades of juvenile romanticism but with a maturer outlook.

n  All the truth of my position came flashing on me; and its disappointments, dangers, disgraces, consequences of all kinds, rushed in in such a multitude that I was borne down by them and had to struggle for every breath I drew.n

And, of course, this features a character not found elsewhere in the wide repertoire of Victorian novels - a woman who practices misandry with varying degrees of success. Perhaps to Dickens, Miss Havisham would have been merely a plot contrivance inserted to thwart our hero's romantic success and create an atmosphere of Gothic spookiness slightly palpable in many of Dickens' fairytale-ish coming-of-age tales. But when seen through the lenses of 21st century wisdom, she encapsulates a more realistic kind of horror - a woman, whose entire life and worth are predicated on the success of her getting hitched in a patriarchal society, jilted at the altar. Not a mad woman condemned to incarceration in the attic by a tyrannical figure of patriarchal authority but a woman who chooses to sequester herself from the world of men of her own free will.
Miss Havisham is bested in the end, by her own feelings of contrition for the harm she inflicted on a young, impressionable mind, but second wave feminism will point fingers at the real culprit and exonerate her.

n  Her chest had dropped, so that she stooped; and her voice had dropped, so that she spoke low, and with a dead lull upon her; altogether, she had the appearance of having dropped body and soul, within and without, under the weight of a crushing blow.n

Pip maybe one of the most unheroic of Dickens' heroes, but he is also a proper representative of a man torn between two contradictory ideals of value judgment, forever plagued by an identity crisis so acute that he appears in my eyes as one of his most fully realized, flawed characters. So undeserving of respect or even sympathy. Further, I don't remember Dickens being as funny and wryly witty elsewhere aside from The Pickwick Papers. Either that or I seriously need to refresh memories. The only reason I felt this does not merit the five stars is because of that rather random ending, a last ditch attempt at adding roses and rainbows to a palette majorly mottled with splotches of grey. The five star rating would have been an inevitability had this penultimate Dickens novel been the wholesome tragedy it showed every possibility of becoming in the last stretch.

n  The ground belongs to me. It is the only possession I have not relinquished. Everything else has gone from me, little by little, but I have kept this. It was the subject of the only determined resistance I made in all the wretched years.n

All plot points considered, it is a tragedy. Very nearly so but not quite.

"Ningún hombre puede simular lo que no es. No hay barniz capaz de disimular el grano de la madera, y cuando más barniz se le pone, más se nota el grano."

No es necesario leer muchas novelas de su vasta obra para reconocer que Charles Dickens es el mejor narrador de novelas de formación o Bildungsroman en la historia de la literatura y es además uno de los mejores cinco novelistas que uno pueda leer.
Dostoievski en Rusia, Balzac en Francia, Dickens en Inglaterra. Es así de simple cuando de grandes novelistas del siglo XIX hablamos.
"Grandes esperanzas" es su antepenúltima novela y fue publicada entre 1860 y 1861 en la revista literaria All the Year Round fundada por él mismo.
La novela encarna el típico patrón de personajes que Dickens ponía en sus historias, la del joven huérfano o pobre que se abre camino en la vida a los golpes y enfrentando todo tipo de sortilegios, obstáculos y necesidades.
Este modelo de niño desamparado que se hace camino en la vida dependiendo de sus propios esfuerzos, seguramente es similar a otras de sus novelas como sus célebres "David Copperfield", "Oliver Twist", "La pequeña Dorrit" o "Nicholas Nickleby" (en menor medida) y hace que el argumento utilizado por Dickens sea casi el mismo, pero cambiando las circunstancias que rodean al personaje principal.
Es innegable pensar que sus historias se parecen (a mi entender y puede que esto suene a desagrado para ciertos lectores)
De hecho, al igual que Copperfield, el personaje principal de la novela, Philip Pirrip o Pip, como él se hace llamar, es vapuleado por la brutal y desalmada manera en que lo trata (y educa) su propia hermana en donde la violencia está a la orden del día.
En "David Copperfield", es la institución de la escuela y sus desalmados maestros los que aplican esa misma violencia. Y en ambas novelas hay un benefactor, siendo en ésta el exitoso abogado Mr. Jaggers quien trabaja para un enigmático benefactor, el encargado de sacarlos de aprietos y darle la oportunidad de su vida.
La lista de personajes no es larga. Tenemos a su violenta hermana, Mrs. Gargery, al esposo de esta Joe Gargery quien adquirirá un rol fundamental en la novela, y también otros muy importantes como el Sr. Pumblechook, el señor Wemmick, el Sr. Woople, la señora Havisham y su hija Estella, el personaje femenino que oficiará como partenaire de Pip en "Grandes esperanzas".
Otro rol clave en esta historia lo ocupa Herbert Pocket, el amigo inseparable de Pip. Mucho más adelante aparecerá el verdadero protector de Pip, pero eso lo dejamos en secreto.
"Grandes esperanzas" es el fiel reflejo de una época crucial de Inglaterra, la de la era victoriana.
Con una destreza impecable, Dickens nos ofrece un retrato de la sociedad inglesa de su época, sus costumbres, sus vicios y por supuesto, sus esperanzas.
Otro punto alto de esta novela es que Dickens conoce Londres como la palma de su mano. No hay calle, rincón o edificio que el autor no reconozca. Esto es algo que algún tiempo después perfeccionará James Joyce con Dublín en sus novelas "Ulises", "Finnegans Wake" o su libro de cuentos "Dublineses".
"Grandes esperanzas" resume la visión que Charles Dickens tenía de la vida y nos regala todos los ingredientes para leer una novela en la que reafirma su talento que permanece inalterable en el tiempo.

Just like he did in A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens emphasizes the importance of friends and family and the need to stay in touch with one's roots in the classic novel Great Expectations.

The story brilliantly depicts the evil side of money, how it changes a person. It is an extraordinary depiction of love, loyalty, and forgiveness, of false perceptions, and the derived sadness. The plot is slow at the beginning, but it picks up pace as the pages turn, only to keep the reader hooked to it.

As is always the case with Dickens' characters, they are vividly described in the prose. It is easy to fall in love with the positive ones, but the way he writes, makes one intricately understand the negative ones as well. And let's be honest, people are both good and bad, so there is always a gray area. Miss Havisham (a character in this book), for instance, is so eerily described that the reader is left unsure whether to love her or hate her - certainly can't just ignore her!

There is no doubting the genius that is Dickens. Few instances:

The subtlety by which he takes a jab at the way humans misuse religion is just wonderful:

n  "Mrs. Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and some people do the same by their religion."n

How life is nothing but a chain of connected events, remove any one and the result would have been different:

n  "That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."n

n  "life is made of ever so many partings welded together"n

How those who are affectionate are weak. Or are they?

n  "It’s a weakness to be so affectionate, but I can’t help it. No doubt my health would be much better if it was otherwise, still I wouldn’t change my disposition if I could. It’s the cause of much suffering, but it’s a consolation to know I possess it, when I wake up in the night."n

On the importance of crying:

n  "Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts."n

The definition of real love:

n  “I’ll tell you,” said she, in the same hurried passionate whisper, “what real love is. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter—as I did!”n

How looks are deceiving:

n  "Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule."n

Verdict: Highly recommended. Worth a re-read.

There is a reason that some books and authors are called “classics” and this book is a prime example of it.

The characters come vividly to life with all their flaws and their better sides, their desires and motives are depicted convincingly together with a whole society of ages past .

There are enough plot twists and surprises to satisfy even the modern reader while the language of the book although sounding peculiar today is itself worth noting.

The morals of the era are quite different from ours but in essence the author builds the story on the fundamentals of human nature, love, hope, hate, friendship and the fine moments and shortcomings of humans. And in this sense the book, as many other books and plays, is both old and modern.

Sometimes the book will appear slow paced to the modern reader but this is only to be expected considering how many years ago it was written.

It’s never late to read it!

I've actually read this quintessentially Victorian novel twice. The first time was as required reading in junior high school, where I liked it from the get-go; the second time was as an adult, back in 1997. It remains one of my favorites (among the ones I've actually read) of the novels of Dickens, a writer whose work I was first introduced to as a grade school kid, and have long counted as a favorite author. Written serially in 1860-61, it's a mature Dickens work (his second-to-last completed novel). By the time of its composition, his unequaled mastery of characterization, dry humor, social consciousness, and ability to evoke powerful emotion and to conjure totally realistic scenes and situations even while writing in a thoroughly Romantic style, were already honed to their fullest perfection. But he also brought to this novel a focused moral message, which is more marked here than in some of his earlier works, such as David Copperfield, and the classic simplicity of a basically linear plot (albeit with some tightly controlled and dovetailed subplots). And in the person of Pip, he gives us here a protagonist who's dynamic --that is, who changes in significant ways besides aging and altered circumstances, unlike, for instance, the eponymous heroes of David Copperfield or Oliver Twist. For this reason, it has a stronger effect on the reader (or at least this reader) than either of those novels. (I rank it in the same class as my other favorite Dickens works, A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol.)

Although David Copperfield is usually considered Dicken's most autobiographical work, Michael Slater (who contributes the introduction to the 1992 Knopf edition I read) makes the case that this novel represents "a far more ruthlessly honest fictional use of his personal life." It's certainly the case that he was born in the same part of England as Pip, the marsh country around the southern coast, and evokes that setting here with a vividness born of personal familiarity. (The same goes for his ability to bring the teeming, sooty urban jungle of London to life.) Again in Slater's words, "The deep concerns of Dickens life that feature so prominently in the novel...[include]...concealment of a shameful prison secret about one's past [his father spent time in debtor's prison], love for an unobtainable woman [Ellen Ternan], English class snobbery and the debate about what constitutes a 'gentleman,' the life of the imagination, the father/son relationship, bad mothering, and the moral and psychological consequences of brooding on past wrongs and betrayals."

It's worth noting that this is the only Dickens novel, to my knowledge, for which he wrote two entirely different endings, the original more "realistic" one (written in advance of publication) and a more ambiguous one which he wrote on the suggestion of his friend Bulwer-Lytton, and used in the published version. Both editions I've read included both (the original ending being added as an appendix), and this seems to be a common practice. So the reader has a sort of "choose your own ending" option. :-) (Personally, I prefer the Bulwer-Lytton approach --as Dickens apparently did himself, considering his decision to publish it and not the original!) If readers have a settled dislike or mental block towards Victorian prose, they won't like this book; yes, it's wordy (though, contrary to what some people believe, Dickens was NOT paid by the word for his writing), and the diction can be elaborate. But if that isn't a deal-breaker, this offers a great tale of Gothic atmosphere, lethal danger, intrigue and secrets, a window into a fascinating and vanished time --and most of all, Dickens' deepest exploration of what really matters (and what doesn't matter) in human life, and what makes for human happiness. (And what doesn't.)

1.) Note: A more in-depth discussion of the novel, with some significant insights and interesting background information about, for instance, the real-life models for some of Dickens' characters and settings, can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... .

2.) Note: Of the many movie and TV adaptations of this novel, the one I personally recommend is the 1999 version starring Ioan Gruffudd as Pip (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167187/ ). That one adopts the published ending as its conclusion.

Thoroughly brilliant, as always. I get fonder of this one with each reread. Beautifully written and fascinating to the core!

thank god it's over

I adore this book, and I'm honestly amazed at the literary genius that went into it. I attempted reading Great Expectations as a teenager and I utterly failed. I didn't make it past chapter 3. The language was too challenging for me, and overall I felt like I didn't know where the story was going.

I recently picked this back up because I wanted to buddy read it with some friends, and that was such a good decision. I geniuenly feel like I've read this book at the perfect time in my life.

Great Expectations is a bildungsroman by Charles Dickens which was published between 1860 and 1861, and it deals with timely themes such as wealth and poverty, love and rejection and the differences between a rural environment and the London metropolis. In this novel we follow the psychological and moral developement of the young orphaned boy Pip to his maturity. It exhibits his hopes and youthful dreams and their metamorphosis through the hardships of adulthood.

I have to admit that my reading experience of this novel wasn't necessarily worthy of five stars. There were times when the novel dragged, and didn't manage to hold my interest, but overall, and especially looking back on it, I have to give credit where credit is due: The novel in itself is such a well-rounded story, in which every narrative thread was picked up again and resolved, thus weaving a complexity into this narrative which was honestly impressive.

Dickens created a lot of unlikeable characters for this tale: The cold-hearted bitch that is Estella. The crazy, egocentric spinster that is Miss Havisham. The disloyal ambitious boy that is Pip. However, all of these characters have a certain depth to them that makes them multi-layered and most importantly, real. Estella learns the hard way that her mannerism was cruel. Miss Havisham sees the flaws of her behaviour as well. And even Pip aspires to improve eventually, and pays his dues.

Great Expecations glistens with its side characters. I will never forget Wemmick and the comic relief he provided to the story. I will forever cherish his entertaining and loveable relationship to Mr Jaggers. Also, Orlick is a character that I'll think about for a long time. (Am I the only one who thought of Caliban from The Tempest whenever he popped up?)

Great Expecations is such an atmospheric tale and seems to draw heavily on the gothic novel, especially with Miss Havisham, the bride frozen in time and the ruins of Satis House filled with weeds and spiders. And even the aristocratic Drummle and his bursts of extreme cruelty, and Pip himself who spends his youth chasing for beauty fit the picture. Then again, it displays comedic, almost satirical moments, highlighting the novel's most eccentric characters. One only has to remember Pip's christmas dinner, Wopsle's performance of Hamlet or Wemmick's marriage, and the comedic traits of this story can't be denied.

I could literally praise this novel all day. It provides a rich basis for an analysis through the postcolonial lens (the book reinforces the standards that support the authority of the British empire and thus the exploitation of the Middle East through trade and travel), but also a basis for psychoanalytical criticism (the construction of identity in relation to the social order) and feminist criticism (the silence of women in the novel, and the glorification of domestic violence).

Moreover, in the centre of the novel stands the idea that wealth is only acceptable to the ruling class if it comes from the labour of others. Miss Havisham's wealth is considered 'pure', because it comes from rent collected on properties she inherited from her father and not from the sweat of her brow. Whereas, Magwitch's wealth is socially unacceptable, even repugnant to Pip, because he earned it through his own hard work, and because he was a convict.

The setting of the metropolis functions almost as a prison for Pip. In London, neither wealth nor gentility brings him happiness. His experience is dominated by chronic unease, weariness and feelings of insecurity. In the crowded metropolis, Pip grows disenchanted, disillusioned and lonely. Just like Estella (at the end of the novel), he learned the hard way how he took for granted what was most precious to him – his native Kent and the support provided by his dearest friends Joe and Biddy.

And I have to say that I've never read a better last chapter to any story. Ever. I saw no shadow from another parting from her. My mind is blown. Only few authors can pull of ambigious endings, but they all pale in comparison to Dickens. When Pip returns to the ruins of Satis House and meets Estella there, the whole scene had such a melancholic vibe to it, that I could literally feel it in my body. We witnessed two characters intentionally and unintentionally wreck the lives of the other, both have grown from the hardships that life has thrown in their way. They are 'bent and broken – but perhaps into a better shape.' Will they leave together or go seperate ways? It's up to the reader to decide, and I was never more satisfied after finishing a novel.

A rags to riches story - for more than one character. Like Dickens’ other novels, it was originally published in chapters in periodicals, so it’s broken up into manageable chunks, with most chapters ending at a turning point, so you want to read on.

Pip is an orphan being raised by his strict sister and henpecked husband Joe, a blacksmith. A wealthy woman (who was left standing at the altar and has lived in her bridal gown ever since) invites him to play with her ward, Estella, each week. She is a little older than Pip, and mocks him and toys with his affections.

**** SPOILERS FOLLOW ****

When a few years later, Pip receives an unexpected inheritance, he goes to London to become a gentleman, and hopes his new found position will enable him to woo Estella. However, he becomes arrogant and feckless and is embarrassed by Joe – who is the kindest character in the novel.

It transpires the inheritance was actually from a convict Pip gave food to when he was a child, and who was transported to Australia where he eventually became a respectable wealthy man. Pip struggles to accept this unsavoury fact, though in the end he risks much to help his benefactor one last time.

It’s a good yarn, but part of the interest is that whilst Pip is ostensibly the hero, he’s not a very likeable character, which gives it an interesting edge.

if your serious about reading or lituature this book is a must read! prepare to be transported to a different time and place, Victorian England, a era forever known as Dickensian London! Dickens so encapulates this, he make a time period his own. that even the speech and laugage used in his books are how we think everyone spoke like back then. most Americans think of two dialects as Victorian "stuffy noblalty brittish" and Dickensian. I think the writing style was innovative and unique for the time like Mark Twain in his era. but the humor is lost on modern ears.

you start the book thinking it's a coming of age story about Pip. interesting enough. a good relatable protagonist. he spends so much time talking to and about minor charaters that you start to think this book is overrated and dragging a bit. then dickens the master ties the loose end and tells 5 or more charaters life stories before you even relize it. that moment of reconition is awe inspring. most authors take 300 pages to tell one person's story. Dickens tells many in 500 pages and it seems to short when he's done. his characters are so well devoloped that you feel as deeply for minor characters as you do Pip himself. I believe that everyone reading could possibly have a different favorite character. astounding from a first person narration. this character devolement and interweeving story telling is Dickens' gift to lituature, often mimicked never matched. only downside is the ending. someone must have really hurt Charles Dickens for him to write the original ending, and the rewritten one is only marginally more satisfying. sorry for the fervent enthusiasm but this is a top 5 for me! Dickens makes a Butcher from Georgia feel at home is Victorian London.

This was my second time reading this book but my first time reading it in English.
The pace is extremely slow (and some times boring), but one principal reason why this is such a good book is that it contains such memorable and colorful cast of characters, likable or not.
Dickens had a genius for creating believable and human characters.
This book reveals important truths about life and about humanity.
Who did not have delusional expectations while growing up? Delusions about love, about money?
Although I thought that the storyline was more like a fairytale (some events I thought were a bit unrealistic), its slow development is superb.
I found the writing a lot easier than I expected, but I did not realize that Dickens repeated the same words in the same sentence (I guess it’s a way to give more emphasis to the sentence or dialogue, or perhaps that’s how people used to talk).
I was simultaneously listening to the audiobook narrated by Martin Jarvis, who I thought did a terrific job. It really added that extra joy and a different pace to the book (as I have said on other reviews, I’m still not able to enjoy an audiobook on its own. I’m experimenting. Thank goodness for the public library!).
Now I want to watch the movie or TV adaptation (I have a couple of versions sitting on my shelves of DVD collection).

PS. This book was not meant to be read at once. It was originally intended for weekly publication. Great Expectations was divided into nine monthly sections, with new pagination for each, and released between December 1860 and August 1861.
A good reason to take it slow.

No soy mucho de amores y sus derivados trágicos. Esta es una de las pocas del género que me he leído, y la verdad es que me gustó mucho. Me encariñé mucho con el chico, su trama y ese amor tortuoso con una chica dedicada tb quererlo, pero no. Había visto el film en mi juventud y la verdad es que ahora después de leer el libro, creo que sí le fue bastante fiel a la historia del libro. No tengo mucho más que decir, prefiero dejar la reseña a los amantes del género. Lo aconsejo mucho, para esos días lluviosos y melancólicos en los que desea uno darse la oportunidad de entender al amor...el que no es complicado, sino más bien trabajoso.