Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1298 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-31
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Customer Reviews

Must Read Victorian Novel
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading a Dickens novel but not sure where to start. I moved around to so many different high schools that I never was "forced" to read any Dickens and somehow also missed this in college. I just finished this book and I have to admit I did not "breeze through it" but I did take a week to read it in small increments and felt it was worth the effort. Some of the terms are no longer in use or would be rarely used in today's world; the use of the language has changed and the reading can be tedious if you are tired. I had to stretch my imagination to wrap my mind around mid-19th century London and its environs for I have not been there (nor have I been to the middle of the 19th century, thankee). I savored the prose and tried to recreate the intended accents in my head (not out loud, as that would have been dreadful). I did laugh out loud a couple of times while reading this...not my expectation. I was thrilled by the descriptions of Miss Havisham...what a mind Dickens had. You should read this but be patient with yourself (I was rather embarrassed that my husband plowed through four contemporary novels while I slowly worked through this one). Do read this.

A Novel of tears as well as laughter. An enjoyable classic.
Great Expectations is one of Dickens's later novels, a work of his artistic maturity. The narrative is symbolic rather than realistic. Although, as in most of Dickens and in Victorian literature in general, the plot relies heavily on coincidence, it is acceptable here because the events are true to the internal, psychological, logic of the story.

Great Expectations tells the story of Pip, a boy who starts as an orphan who moves on to apprenticeship in the business world of nineteenth-century England. Along the way, he falls in love with a girl from a wealthy family, and gains a mysterious patron.
The book is heavy on character development and descriptive detail, but relatively light on action and suspense. The orphan Pip, the convict Magwitch, the beautiful Estella and her guardian, the embittered and vengeful Miss Havisham, the master lawyer Mr. Jaggers and Wemmick his secretive assistant - all play their part in this story which is a memoir, a mystery, and a romance.
Great Expectations never loses sight of the social mishaps of the time and is often on the teacher's list in literature classics. Most people who read it will like it and will be able to identify with the characters, but impatient readers will drown in the details, extended descriptions and explanations, and deep characterizations.

Expectations Greatly Exceeded
Who knew that a book written almost 150 years ago could be so great? Not me. Granted, part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much was because I had expected it not to be (A Tale of Two Cities is still collecting dust on my bookshelf). The writing is flawless; characters, wonderfully varied; and plot, save an occasional feeling of contrivance at the almost uncanny character interconnections, spectacular.

Pip, an orphan, lives with his 20 plus years older sister Georgiana "Mrs. Joe" Gargery, an unhappy woman who "rampages" on him and her blacksmith husband Joe, a simple, kind man. During an unexpected encounter with a shackled escaped convict, he is coerced into helping the man to prevent bodily injury to himself. It's not the last the boy will see of him. Pip is later asked to visit an eccentric woman (having been left at the altar by a scheming fiancé), where he encounters the beautiful but cold Estella, a future love interest, and several other central characters. Eventually an anonymous donor provides monetary help to Pip hoping that it will facilitate his becoming a gentleman and a scholar. But as his financial situation changes from meager but adequate to one of relative wealth, his personality transforms from kindhearted and unpretentious to inconsiderate and snobbish. Only through the adversity that follows his attempt to fulfill the expectations of his benefactor does Pip learn some important life lessons.

Also good, Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones (wish I hadn't read it before GE), An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.