Great Expectations

Rating:
Summary: Wow! Amazing!
Review: I may be only a 6th grader, but you wouldn't believe how much I enjoyed this book. Charles Dickens having a poor childhood because of the little money his family earned, has written a miraculous book having to do with money. Charles Dickens makes his case for there being a potential for good and evil in everyone. I really enjoyed reading this book and if you are looking for a fabulous book to enjoy, I strongly reccomend you read this.

Rating:
Summary: One of literatures most famous novels
Review: I read this book as a freshmen in high school. The painful memory is still with me. The characters are somewhat colorful and eccentric, but Pip, the main character appears to be a weak individual. It seems to fit the ideal English novel, not a fast moving plot, but revalations still happen none the less.

Rating:
Summary: GOOD BOOK ! !
Review: I thought it was a great book. I'm only in 4th grade but, I thought it was pretty easy. My favorite characters are Estella, Pip, and Miss Havisham. The other characters are fine too. I reccomend this book to grades 4th and up

Rating:
Summary: free notes on great expectation by charles dickens
Review: this book sucked but i found notes on other guys pages. so if you have notes on this book give them to me. [e-mail] - we can talk about the book

Rating:
Summary: Scathing, Complex, and Brilliantly Observant
Review: Victorian society got a good spanking when Great Expectations was published, at the time Dickens's anger and frustration was at one of its highest points. Pip, the novel's protagonist - I hesitate to call him the hero - is at once likeable and recognizable as a powerful symbolic tool, though the former quality intentionally decreases as the novel progresses.
Pip is joined by a cast of the most memorable characters in literature - the cold, ethereal Estella, the crazy, wounded Miss Havisham, loveable dullard Joe, whip-smart lawyer Jaggers - the list could, and possibly might, go on for pages. If there were literary awards for Best Ensemble, the characters in Great Expectations would clinch them all. The characters function as both political/social symbols and, though they exist in a time period far removed from us, identifiable and memorable figureheads that will - and should - be a literary hallmark forever.

Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading In Spite of Itself
Review: Well, unlike the multitudes in America, I was NOT forced to read "Great Expectations" in high school or at any other time. However, lately it seemed like it was time to pick up this old classic and to dig into its treasures.

The story starts out with an unlikely scene in a graveyard in a small English village. There we meet a little boy named Pip, who is visiting the gravesites of both of his parents. There we also meet a desperate convict who is cowardly enough to scare the little boy half to death in order to get some food and other items. Pip - an earnest, battered little orphan being raised by his sister and brother-in-law - anxiously sets out to please this convict. And so starts the tale of Pip's life.

After the convict scene, Dickens takes his time in setting up exactly what Pip's life was like as he was groomed to take his brother-in-laws place as the blacksmith in the town. Dickens' genius for wit, along with some very likeable characters, help pull the reader through the endless pages of details and slow action.

Soon, however, Pip's fortunes change...and then they change again...and then yet again. Yet, while the storyline somewhat resembles a roller coaster, the pacing is so slow that one is never overwhelmed by the action. In fact, I was rather underwhelmed by the amount of action there was for the number of words I was reading.

Even so, I would say that this book is worth the effort. Dickens explores human nature of an average man when beset by a number of unusual situations, each one building on the last. Pip is likeable in these scenarios because he is never obnoxiously perfect or unaffected by his changing fortunes. In some ways, he "learns his lesson" by the end. In others, he does not.

While Dickens tackles some rather weighty issues in this book, he does so in his distinctive, chipper, witty manner. Thus, one never really understands the emotional depths that the characters experience due to either their oppressive or their opulent fortunes. But, of course, one does not go to Dickens for emotional depth. One reads Dickens for explorations of tough circumstances with happy endings. If that is what the reader wants, Dickens is probably as able to handle the issues as anyone.