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Summary: Too farfetched
Review: I did not think this book was a total waste of time, but for a book that isn't a sci-fi novel, the plot was extremely improbable. In the end, all the principal characters fit together too neatly. Estella was the daughter of Magwitch and Jaggers' housekeeper. Jaggers was attorney to both Miss Havisham and Magwitch. Joe Gargery married the woman that Pip wished to propose to. I could bring up more examples, but that would be too redundant.
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Summary: Charles Dickens - Read a contemporary review
Review: Great Expectations is Dickens' classic novel about the life of a young poor boy and his voyage through life. To me, it is not dissimilar to David Copperfield in its themes; however, David Copperfield moves me to tears every time I read it.I came across an original review of Great Expectations at The Atlantic Monthly's website. The reviewer wrote of Dickens and this work "The very title of this book indicates the confidence of conscious genius. In a new aspirant for public favor, such a title might have been a good device to attract attention; but the most famous novelist of the day, watched by jealous rivals and critics, could hardly have selected it, had he not inwardly felt the capacity to meet all the expectations he raised." T.A.M. then went on to state that they felt the book did in fact live up to its title. Unfortunately I am not permitted to type in the whole web address so that you could more easily find this review, but if you are interested, go to The Atlantic Monthly's website and under the section entitled "Books and Critics" type in "greatexp.htm" at the search engine. The review itself was posted in September 1861.
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Summary: Great book
Review: GE is one of the better books that I read in my illustrious high school education. The book threw me a little because of all the words Dickens used to describe every character right down to the tiniest little thing. Pip and Joe is a good pair of characters to have in this book, because they are so different and so alike at the same time. They both like to work with metals and Joe is a blacksmith and pip is his apprentice. They are different in the way that they act. Joe takes the brutal ness of pips sister, and pip does not. When pip starts to work for Ms. Havisham it shows his torture that he has to take from Ms. Havisham in the way of verbal bashings. Thought Ms. Havisham does not beat him unlike his sister does, she is a very cruel and malignant women. Then one-day pip meets Estella, she seems like a nice girl but in fact she is a very cruel women just like her grandma. This is the beginning of pips crush and then turns into a passion. Dickens then goes into the part of the story where pip finds out why she wants Estella to hate men. He finds out that she was left at the alter by her ex. This set a fire in her and that is why she hates men. Then pip returns home one day from work at Ms. Havisham's house and he finds a lawyer there with Joe and some one gave him enough money to get a good education and a home. So he takes the money and pip goes to school in England and the story pretty much lost its importance after that, but pip does find out that the person who gave him the money was from the Escaped convict, he owned his own farm in Australia and he was rich from that. These are just some of things that happened in the book, to find out some of the finer details I urge to you read the book for yourself. It will give u a better insight into dickens writing also.
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Summary: Great Fun!
Review: What have I missed all these years? I'm ashamed to admit that this is the first Charles Dickens' I've read and I'm 40! Heavens forbid! Don't make the same mistake.......read this book now! I've spent the past week being thoroughly entertained by Pip! No wonder Dickens' is considered such a great writer....this book will have you laughing out loud, and being inspired by the incredible depth of understanding Dickens has for the human condition at all levels of society.....and he manages to do so while weaving a story about one young boy's transformation and maturation...and the tradeoffs for every choice in life. Once you pick this book up, you won't want to put it down until you finish. It's that good!
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Summary: The Sources of Goodness
Review: Great Expectations succeeds beyond almost all novels of its time in exploring the roots of character and moral behavior. Charles Dickens makes the case for there being the potential for good in everyone. Evil and sin follow from a combination of being self-absorbed and selfish. What is remarkable about the way these themes are handled is that they are clearly based on an assessment of human psychology, long before that field was established. The book is also remarkable for its many indelibly memorable and complex characters. Miss Havisham, Pip, Magwitch, Mr. Jaggers, and Estella are characters you will think about again and again in years to come. The book also surrounds you with a powerful sense of place. Although the England described here is long gone, it becomes as immediate as a nightmare or a dream that you have just awakened from. For a book about moral questions, Great Expectations also abounds in action. The scenes involving Pip and Magwitch are especially notable for way action expresses character and thought. Great Expectations also reeks of irony, something that is seldom noticed in more modern novels. Overstatements are created to draw the irony out into the open, where it is unmistakable. Yet the overstatements attract, rather than repel. The overstatements are like the theatrical make up which makes actors and actresses look strange in the dressing room, but more real on the stage when seen from the audience. At the same time, the plot is deliciously complex in establishing and solving mysteries before that genre had been born. As you read Great Expectations, raise your expectations to assume that you will receive answers to any dangling details. By reading the book this way, you will appreciate the craft that Mr. Dickens employed much more. This is the third time that I have read Great Expectations over the last 40 years. I found the third reading to be by far the most rewarding. If you like the book, I encourage you to read it again in the future as well. You will find that the passage of time will change your perspective so that more nooks and crannies of the story will reveal themselves to you. If this is to be your first reading of the book, do be patient with the book's middle third. It may seem to you that the book is drifting off into a sleep-inducing torpor. Yet, important foundations are being lain for your eventual delight. Mr. Dickens wrote two endings for Great Expectations. Be sure to read both of them. Which one do you prefer? I find myself changing my mind. Give love with an open heart, without expectations!
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Summary: This book changed my life...it really did...no kidding!
Review: Just like the Horatio Alger books, this book really changed how I saw life.
I was told to read it by an English teacher who taught me how to analyze literature. She really made the book come alive.
I know why this one is a slow read. I learned that Dickens wrote installments for magazines that became his books.
This created 3 things:
1. Income that was continuous
2. Stories that seemed to drag out a little
3. Suspenseful endings to each chapter
I love that about this book. It makes you want to read on.
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Summary: It will live up to your expectations....if you finish it....
Review: This was a wonderful book! I loved it very much. I bought a big book with 4 books by Charles Dickens in it. The first one was Great Expectations and I just finished it. It is a wonderful story about a boy named Pips life. Charles Dickens is a gifted writer! The book was about 500 pages, not that long, but at times it seemed as if I were reading a book of 2,000 pages! The book was extreamly slow at times! Do not give up on the book! The book will be very rewarding at the end. The book starts off very exciting and the ending is equally exciting, the middile is boring at times, but I dont belive that this book could be cut down that much, most of the details are very nessisary. The epic begins with a boy named pip in a cemetary, looking at his parents graves. He runs into a man that tells him to get things for him. He runs back home scared and is confronted by his stricked sister who raised him. He gets the things that he was asked of by the man and goes to give them to him. Later in the story he meets a Girl named Estella, Estella is quite rude to him in the begginning of the book. He likes Estella because she is very buetiful. He later moves to london because his sister was injured. He comes back to visit a few monthes after he was in london and sees Estella. He falls in love with her.
The book is a love story, among other things. It was a wonderful story. I havent even told you 1/10th of the book! So go out and read it! I will certainly read more Dickens books in the future.
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Summary: 9th graders at Fh
Review: i have read the book twice once last year for my teachers book report and this year for the 9th grade merit english classes. These reviews on here only describe parts of dickens story so if you do have to read this for 9th grade read it don't take the short cut because the teachers will know and when you have a test on the book you will FAIL!
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Summary: What to Expect in Life
Review: The great English master is at his best in "Great Expectations." This is a story about loyalty, trust, and, this being Dickens, dark overtones of the human nature. One should not expect something for nothing, that is what this novel makes perfectly clear. Pip, who is the central figure of the novel, a good-natured boy growing up into adulthood, expects to be continously favored by fotrune and his mysterious benefactor who, he thinks, is acting out of the goodness of her heart. Along the way he meets a cast of character who represent the entire range of human nature: devotion, strength, treachery, level-headedness, and brutality.
"Great Expectation" is a classic because of its relentless exposure of truth about the human condition--the condition in which decency and sanity are maintained at a high price, and innocence not at all.
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Summary: Surpassed Every One of My Expectations....YAHOOOOOOOO
Review: All right. I admit it. The book starts out slow. Dickens, though I love the man, writes in such flowery and long winded language at times. What takes many authors a line or two, Dickens will devote whole pages. And I almost put the book down for that exact reason. I'm very happy I did not. With so many detailed threads in the story, the depth to the characters--when they all start to blend together a few chapters in, the result is page-turning. The story centers around a young boy--well, almost young man-- named Pip, and revolves around his growing into age. You cannot help but love the boy. Much of Pip's worry and concern I could relate to--falling in love with a girl who refuses to return your sentiments and only plays with your heart, growing up and leaving home for the first time, and discovering your true relationships with others and yourself, as shocking as they may turn out to be. I felt as if I was side by side with Pip through it all, and that made the novel a wonderful experience for me. I recommend the novel for the young because so much relates to them, and also for the older readers--because you can experience it all again. A wonderful and heart warming tale. Just get through those first chapters.
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