Great Expectations

Rating:
Summary: Passionate throes in woes begone...
Review: ...endless is the error of intimacy.

Such is the story of "Great Expectations." I have to say that Dickens totally floored me with this magical tale of love and pedestals. I don't even know what made me read it. I think I just found it in my mother's house amid throwaways in the attic. Oh no...this is NOT to be thrown away, this treasure of English literature. This is the reason why we read.

Pip is an orphan with no prospects in sight. But one day, under the strangest of circumstances, he becomes the veritable ward of an unknown benefactor and hurtles toward the gentlemanly future of high living and culture. Along the way, he is placed in the almost daily charge of the bitter and rich shut-in Miss Havisham, guardian of the irresistable, yet bitchy Estella. Poor Pip spends a great deal of his days partaking in the education of a gentleman, doing the bidding of the witchy Havisham woman and pining after the girl who uses and abuses him. It sometimes seems like this high society training is a big freakin' mistake.

Things heat up when he comes across the criminal Magwitch and doesn't turn him in to the authorities. From there on in the piece continues to fill the mind with limitless imagery. The writing style is a beaut and the characters continue to intrigue with every passing page, from the disgustingly prunish Miss Havisham to Pip's dim-witted, but thoroughly likeable father - a man he sadly comes to see as shameful as his education and training strengthens.

This is a story of yearning and loss, guilt and foolish pride as one person after another gets a wish granted and regrets it or waits for a train that never comes in. Yet somehow the ending leaves behind a great feeling. This is among my favorite books ever.

Rating:
Summary: Passionate throes in woes begone...
Review: ...endless is the error of intimacy.

Such is the story of "Great Expectations." I have to say that Dickens totally floored me with this magical tale of love and pedestals. I don't even know what made me read it. I think I just found it in my mother's house amid throwaways in the attic. Oh no...this is NOT to be thrown away, this treasure of English literature. This is the reason why we read.

Pip is an orphan with no prospects in sight. But one day, under the strangest of circumstances, he becomes the veritable ward of an unknown benefactor and hurtles toward the gentlemanly future of high living and culture. Along the way, he is placed in the almost daily charge of the bitter and rich shut-in Miss Havisham, guardian of the irresistable, yet bitchy Estella. Poor Pip spends a great deal of his days partaking in the education of a gentleman, doing the bidding of the witchy Havisham woman and pining after the girl who uses and abuses him. It sometimes seems like this high society training is a big freakin' mistake.

Things heat up when he comes across the criminal Magwitch and doesn't turn him in to the authorities. From there on in the piece continues to fill the mind with limitless imagery. The writing style is a beaut and the characters continue to intrigue with every passing page, from the disgustingly prunish Miss Havisham to Pip's dim-witted, but thoroughly likeable father - a man he sadly comes to see as shameful as his education and training strengthens.

This is a story of yearning and loss, guilt and foolish pride as one person after another gets a wish granted and regrets it or waits for a train that never comes in. Yet somehow the ending leaves behind a great feeling. This is among my favorite books ever.

Rating:
Summary: Uh no
Review: Boring. Dull. Overdeveloped. This book could have been told in one third the amount of pages.

Pip is a lower class boy who falls in love with this rich bitch, Estella, and will do anything for her. He hurts everyone he cares about so that he can become rich and impress Estella. That's pretty much it, except it is streched out over 400-something pages. It would have been interesting to read if it weren't so long and written so horribly.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Story
Review: Charles Dickens develops the characters, the plot, and the conflicts in Great Expectations spectacularly. The characters Dickens develops throughout the story are human and easy to connect with. Pip is the most real to life character, because he exhibits the most human-like qualities. Pip is a very personable character that makes the reader feel sorrow and happiness along with him. As Pip looks to better himself and become a gentleman, he comes to realize a very important life lesson; money cannot buy happiness. As Pip goes through the story, he allows the reader to see and feel exactly what he feels and sees.
Estella is described as a beautiful young woman that captures Pip's heart. Estella has a very insensitive personality, and enjoys making Pip cry; something everyone has encountered in a person some time in his/her life.
Herbert is a young man with many dreams and aspirations. Herbert becomes Pip's best friend, and Pip realizes that this young man works very hard for what he believes in. This is the kind of friend that will push a person where they would not normally go by themselves.
Abel Magwitch is the convict that Pip encounters at the beginning of the story. Magwitch gives Pip a large amount of money to start his life as a gentleman. Magwitch is the kind of person that would give the clothes off of his back to anyone in need. Magwitch is also a very personable character because he is not all good or all evil. He exhibits both of these; he is a convict and he devotes his life's earnings to Pip.
Charles Dickens develops an outstanding plot as the novel unfolds. There are many life lessons throughout the novel. Pip realizes that all of the money in the world cannot buy happiness. Pip also finds out that true love is not just the woman he cannot obtain, because love has to be much more. The plot has many twists and turns throughout. There is always something new happening to Pip. It is almost like a soap opera, because there are so many people and events interacting with each other during the novel. When the plot becomes a little thin, Dickens begins to create suspense for the next big event about to occur. Dickens chooses to develop the plot through the character's actions. Not once did Dickens explain what was happening in the story, he let the characters take over, and within a few pages all questions were answered.
The novel has many conflicts that develop throughout the plot. Pip and Estella have a love-hate relationship going on. Pip loves Estella, but she could care less about him. Pip and Joe have a conflict, too. Pip wants to see much less of Joe now that he is a gentleman, but Joe just wants to see Pip, period. Pip thinks he is too good for Joe, even though he is still just the same human as he was before. Money changes people's outlook on life. Pip was once a benevolent, caring, young man, but once he fell into money, he changed dramatically in the way he acted towards others. These conflicts provide for some pretty interesting facets in the story. Charles Dickens develops the characters, the plot, and the conflicts excellently throughout the novel.

Rating:
Summary: Great Expectations-Pure excellance
Review: Charles Dickens puts together a twisted story of ever changing emotion. This story will make you smile, cry, dream, feel betrayed, and laugh very hard. Charles Dickens make the reader see his character for who they really are through there eccentric action and responses. Read it. These is a classic and my favorite Dicken's novel. Fall in love with and his often misguided heart.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful and beautiful book
Review: Charles Dickens's acknowledged masterpiece, Great Expectations, is rightly considered one of the greatest novels of all-time. It depth and breadth are staggering, as it follows its protagonist, Pip, from his early childhood through his later life. During the course of his life, we encounter a vast catalog of raw human emotions: love, hate, jealousy, hope, sadness, despair, anger, pity, empathy, sympathy -- and on and on. The story is treasured and revered for many reasons. One of its main strengths is its plot: after a somewhat slow introductory section, Dickens puts his story in fifth gear and delivers a fast-paced and exciting story that gallops along without ever losing interest or clarity. The incredibly complex plotline, full of separate stories and incidents that seem totally unrelated to each other, but are then all harnessed together as the book heads straight toward its denouement, is also full of constant plot twists, which continue up until, literally, the last paragraph. But, of course, as with all of Dickens's major works, it is the characters that make the book. Like Shakespeare, Dickens preferred to have the story develop through the characters, rather than having the characters be mere set pieces inside of an overriding story. And what great characters they are: the perennially paradoxical but essentially human Pip; the bitter and mysterious Miss Havisham; the beautiful and haughty Estella; the simple and saint-like Joe; the kind and benevolent Herbert; the very human convict, Magwitch -- and all of the other wonderful characters. Dickens excelled in creating well-rounded, very human characters who harbored very real and very complex emotions -- that is, human emotions. We identify with Pip as he winds through his life, because we have been there, too -- the disappointments, the surprises, the loves, the anger, the sadness. In whatever way his story may differ from our own, it is still essentially human, as is ours. For all of his complex and paradoxical emotions and sentiments, Pip is a recognizably human character -- and that is why we love him and this book. A masterpiece for the ages, which will endure for years yet to come, Great Expectations is a great book that can be loved by one and all, for, at its heart, is that grain of simple truth that says so much about what is human in all of us -- whether we have great expectations or not.

Rating:
Summary: Not for your typical High School Student
Review: During the course of the year I try to read a few, "Important Novels" in order to get a fuller understanding of literature. Dicken's "Great Expectations" has been on my list for nearly a year. I completely dreaded reading what I thought would be a long and drawn out story about something I could careless about. Well, I was wrong.

"Great Expectations" is now #1 on my all-time favorites list. While, admittedly, it took me roughly 150 pages to get any enjoyment out of the novel- once I was in- I was hooked. Pip's journey through life is a very refreshing look at how distorted we let our lives become by focusing on the unimportant. Dicken's ability to slowly alter Pip's views on life, without changing his essential character/morales (Ex. How Pip looks to help his friend in his business pursuits). Some have called "Great Expecations" his masterpiece... but in my opinion, it may be the "Masterpiece" of English Literature.

I also wonder why this is required High School reading. While I loved this book at age 28, I think most 16 year-olds would find it unbearable. It seems like such a waist to ruin both the book and Dicken's name on minds that are not ready for such a reading task.

Rating:
Summary: Easy read but long
Review: Great Expectations is a relatively easy book to read. There is a good deal of slang (and many people use "w" instead of "v") but after the first chapter or so the reader's mind adjusts. I enjoyed the book because it seemed to fly by quickly. However, it is on the long side for an easy-reader.

The biggest down-fall of the book is its main character, Pip, who spends most of the novel ashamed of his family. He seems to think they aren't good enough. I was a mite disgusted with this, but since it was a plot device I suppose one can let it slide.

Also, of the two endings, I prefer the original one. I shan't put it up here in case anyone hasn't read the book yet, but it seemed to fit the story better as a whole.

Rating:
Summary: Easy read but long
Review: Great Expectations is a relatively easy book to read. There is a good deal of slang (and many people use "w" instead of "v") but after the first chapter or so the reader's mind adjusts. I enjoyed the book because it seemed to fly by quickly. However, it is on the long side for an easy-reader.

The biggest down-fall of the book is its main character, Pip, who spends most of the novel ashamed of his family. He seems to think they aren't good enough. I was a mite disgusted with this, but since it was a plot device I suppose one can let it slide.

Also, of the two endings, I prefer the original one. I shan't put it up here in case anyone hasn't read the book yet, but it seemed to fit the story better as a whole.

Rating:
Summary: Easy read but long
Review: Great Expectations is a relatively easy book to read. There is a good deal of slang (and many people use "w" instead of "v") but after the first chapter or so the reader's mind adjusts. I enjoyed the book because it seemed to fly by quickly. However, it is on the long side for an easy-reader.

The biggest down-fall of the book is its main character, Pip, who spends most of the novel ashamed of his family. He seems to think they aren't good enough. I was a mite disgusted with this, but since it was a plot device I suppose one can let it slide.

Also, of the two endings, I prefer the original one. I shan't put it up here in case anyone hasn't read the book yet, but it seemed to fit the story better as a whole.