A Tale of Two Cities

Rating:
Summary: Dynamically written!
Review: Mr Charles Dickens is an exquisite author, whose works live on to this very day. A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel of the French Revolution. The book is cleverly written using dynamic characters, incredible events, and unique overviews of the French Revolution. Though a great deal of the book is fictatious the novel holds true every historical event. The novel is so cleverly written you cant help but wonder " Did it really happen that way?". A Tale of Two Cities tells the story of imaginative love, horrific death, and heroic courage. Mr Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities will remain a dynamic piece of classic Literature.

Rating:
Summary: Dickens' Best?
Review: This book is excellent. But is this really Dickens' best creation? To be sure, there are profound insights into human nature. The characters are convincing. There is beautiful symbolism as well as dramatic irony. In all honesty this is an excellent piece of work. What I do not understand though is why this is more popular than his profound and more organized works such as "Dombey and Son" (1848) and "Hard Times" (1854). I certainly feel "A Tale of Two Cities" (1859) is a great book. But if you think this is Dickens' best, try reading "Dombey and Son" (1848) or "Hard Times" (1854).

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent!
Review: A tale of two cities represents a broad canvas that engulfs issues from social upheaval to personal tragedy to moral decency. It is the epitome if comparing and contrasting two separate entities. This book is filled with many deep undertones, and sub comparisons. It is difficult for me to truly explain the full scope of the novel, therefore I believe it would be more fitting to put the emphasis on how I personally perceived A Tale of Two cities, what I drew from the novel; however I feel partially awkward critiquing and dissecting a piece of literature so beyond me, so magical it is incomprehensible how one individual could materialize the richly intense and vivid story that has captured my mind. Immediately when the reader embarks on the journey through a tale of two cities Dickens' sets the stage for what is to come. He paints a preliminary picture of the conditions that existed in both France and England at the time. He compares the both sovereignties and their rulers. Early on one can see a literary device often used by Dickens' through the piece where he volunteers a physical trait of a character, which represents specific behavioral qualities; an example of this would be Dickens' description of the Monarchs of both countries as men with large jaws exemplifying the hollow words of both kings and their virtual interchangeability among one and other as harsh monarchs. Beneath it all A tale of Two cities is mainly about resurrection. The first Book "Recalled to life" could in fact serve as a fitting title for the entire novel. The main character Sydney Carter whose death is strikingly comparable to the death and crucifixion of Jesus Christ in more than one-way embodies resurrection. The background of the French revolution and the Social revolution occurring in England at the time is not essentially what the story is about. Furthermore the characters reaction to the above events is what Dickens captures so accurately, the human reality and emotion and sentiment is what this story embodies. The political happenings serve as a backdrop, an exterior to the suffering and all the emotion therein. All the characters, so complex so detailed, I could almost picture them in my mind. Dickens' allows the reader to paint a vivid picture of the characters. A Tale of Two Cities is an undisputed classic of monumental proportions. The climatic ending of this piece is truly heart wrenching; it is the finest example of self-sacrifice and human decency. The feeling of self fulfillment one gets from reading this book is unparalleled. The book is however very complex it requires much analysis and thought, I was forced read between the lines, cross-reference and take time to absorb the beauty of this true unparalleled classic. "It is a far, far better thing that I do, then I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." This memorable quotation ended A piece of literature that I think is the best book I have ever read, a piece of literature that contains so much human emotion- romance and tragedy, mystery and history, revolutionary atrocities and even humor. I consider myself fortunate to experience and comprehend the beauty of literature as a whole. Those who criticize, do not understand; I think that everyone could personally benefit from this book, it changes a person in a very personal way.

Rating:
Summary: You need to read this book.
Review: This book is absolutely the best book I have ever read. I was "forced" to read it, like many high school seniors, for my English class. When I opened the book, my first impression was, "This is going to be the longest 400 pages I have ever read," but I soon was hooked, and, as mentioned in many other reviews, I found myself staying up until the wee hours of the morning. I could not put it down! It may take some concentration at first, but this book is well worth it. This book changed my mind about classical literature, and now I can enjoy many other great authors as well.

Rating:
Summary: The end just doesn't justify the means.
Review: The symbolism and plot of the final three chapters of the book made what I consider to be one of the best closings of all time. However, the 300+ pages of drawn out language and wasted talk before the closing makes this book somewhat tedious and annoying. I'm a sophomore in High School and was forced to read this book for my Honors English II class. I must say that I consider myself to be an above average reader, and I would have gone crazy had it not been for the intervention of Cliff's Notes. Furthermore, I feel that the same points that Dickens got across about the French Revolution could have been expressed in half as many words. The characters wandered aimlessly among each other until they finally collided in one big bang at the end. In closing, I loved the final 3 chapters, but the immense amount of time wasted in getting there and figuring out where I was really spoiled the total experience for me.

Rating:
Summary: 'Tis Far Better... To Use Cliff's Notes As Cross-Reference
Review: It seems that my initial review was considered a spoiler, or either I didn't send it in (which I'm skeptical about). Okay, here it is in non-spoiler fashion. Dicken's "A Tale Of Two Cities" takes place in two cities- London & Calais. The high point of the novel is the French Revolution, which (in this book) incorporates a fictional twist with (you guessed it) fictional characters. The character dialogue in the unabridged versions of "Two Cities" may seem a tad on the tedious side to the novice reader (I know it did to me *hint*). Therefore, there are study guides like "Cliff's Notes" (which is a 12th grade AP English teacher's adversary) which aids in a couple o' steps onto the firm ground of better understanding. "Two Cities"'s central focus is on a man named Charles Darnay (half French/ half English) who goes on trial in England on accusations of treachery. Yet, he's acquitted based on the fact that his defense lawyer, Sydney Carton, bears a striking resemblance to him. Sydney Carton is a self-pity case who has no esteem for himself, and also has an eye on Darnay's wife Lucie. When Darnay returns to France to help out a friend, the revolutionaries snare him... because he's kin of the most hated Marquis in the history of France. Hence, that would mean he's "guilty by association." Now Carton has to put his neck on the line (or guillotine?) to redeem himself for his wrongs and save an innocent man (Lucie's man). In short, ballooned language or not, this has to be one, if not "the," best novel (on something other than America) ever written. It's good reading (it has suspense and plot), despite any specific target age.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good!
Review: This book was very entertaining even though I had to read it for school.Many interesting things happen and they make you want to keep reading to see how they end up. It is a realistic depiction of life in France during the Revolution. Any questions you have during the novel are all answered in the last couple of chapters and everything comes together;you start understand why certain things happened. It can be a little too descriptive at times, but otherwise it was very good. Pay attention to details, they will be helpful as the story progresses. TIP:KEEP ON READING, EACH PAGE IS BETTER THAN THE ONE BEFORE IT!

Rating:
Summary: A little hard to get into at first, but a VERY good book
Review: When I first started reading this book, I didn't think that I liked it very much. It was fairly boring for me. After reading on though, I started to really enjoy it. The book came to life for me towards the end. I stayed up until three in the morning to finish it! Sydney Carton is now one of my favorite characters. My one complaint is that the author portrayed Lucie like she didn't have very much, "girl power" as it would be said these days. I wouldn't recommend this book if you're looking for some easy reading, but if you're looking for a extremly good book, give it a try! =)

Rating:
Summary: I'm not sure...
Review: I read this book for school, and although I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, I found the tidbits of plot hard to pick out from the filler material. I recently learned that Dickens wrote for a publication which paid him by the word, and that makes sense to me, because there sure were a lot of words! I will, however, say that I found the ending incredibly poetic and poignant. This was my favorite part of the book by far, but I'm not sure if it was because it was beautiful, or if I could see the ending in clear view. The plot was wonderful, though.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterful Ending
Review: This is no doubt an excellent book, and the last 100 pages or so will simply dazzle you. As you read, you will feel the terror that accompanied the French Revolution, and understand the forces that led to the upheaval and chaos. I felt that Dickens' portrayal of the politics was suprisingly evenhanded. Dickens shows flashes of brilliant prose throughout, and his character development is simply unparalleled. Unfortunately, there are places where the story drags, and while some of these "dead spots" make sense later, many do not. This was the only flaw, and for this reason I gave this otherwise outstanding book only 4 stars.