Rating: 
Summary: From A Different Era
Review: I still wonder why this book is a perennial reading requirement in junior high schools across the country. I had to read it way back when, and it almost turned me off from books in general. This is not to say it's a bad book, because, on the contrary, it's great, but don't have great expectations of an exciting contemporary read. To enjoy this book and appreciate the beauty of fully-fleshed characters, come-alive scenes, and intricately woven plot, you absolutely must keep in mind that this book was written in a different time, before the Hemingway revolution of sparse prose. As you read it, expect long verbose passages and miles between exciting scenes. But stick it out, and in the end expect a great read that stays with you a lifetime. If the schools are trying to expose antsy kids to Dickens, they may be better served with A Tale of Two Cities, which moves a bit faster in my opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as great as I was expecting
Review: I was assigned to read this book for my English class and I have never read a more stupendously boring book.It's almost 500 pages long and has a story that could be told in half that.A poor, young orphan has aspirations to one day be a respectable gentleman.Big deal. GE is a revered book but it lacks everything that makes a book truly great.There is very little theme or characterisation and the plot is virtually non existant.THe chapters are so long and meandering you have to force yourself to read them.You keep reading waiting for something,anything to happen. The characters are unlikable.Pip comes across as a snob who thinks he's he's better then those around simply because he has higher aspirations then they do.Ms.Havisham,a recluse who wears her old wedding dress and keeps her decayed,untouched wedding cake,is a weird,unappealing freak.And Estella is the dictionary definition of bitchy. Why do English students have to suffer by being made read this boring,incomprehensible,overrated 'novel'.I'd rather watch paint dry then read this book again. Still,any insomniacs looking for a cure.This book's for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Everyone should read this book at least once.
Review: I am not sure how to review Dickens. Everyone knows Dickens and almost everyone has read something by him. All of Dickens stuff is pretty much the same and you either like his writing or you don't. But even if you like him you probably don't like everything by him. I, for example, am not crazy about "Oliver Twist", but that is probably because of that stupid musical. In any case I liked Great Expectations very much. It is a large book, but it read pretty well, and kept me interested enough to finish it in less than two weeks. The story and the characters are classic Dickens, and I don't want to talk about them because that is a large part of the fun of the book. The writing is simply great - Dickens manages to be unique, fun, easy to read, and intelligent all at once. There are humerous and touching moments, and I think that is what really sets Dickens apart - his ability to make us laugh and cry - all just by reading his words. By the way, I didn't give this 5 stars because I hold that rating back for really really (earth-shattering) great books. The five stars loses meaning if you give it out to every book you really like, doesn't it?
Rating:
Summary: Not as great as I was expecting
Review: I was assigned to read for my honours English class and I have never read a more stupendesely boring book.It's a revered book but it lacks everything that makes a book truly great.It's poorly written,uninteresting,the characters are unlikable,there is very little theme or characterization,the plot is virtually non-existent.The chapters are so meandering and pointless you have to force yourself to read it.English students shouldn't have to suffer by being made read this incomprehensible,boring, overrated 'novel'.I'd rather watch paint dry than read this book again.Still,any insomniacs looking for a cure,this book's for you.
Rating:
Summary: Great Expectations for Great Expectations?
Review: Now I'll admit that when all is said and done I am a newborn to the world of so called classic literature. So when I was assigned to read Great Expectations for English class, I'll admit to being a little more than skeptical. However once I began to read the novel I discovered something. The novel wasn't that hard to understand. While it did take a while to get fully immersed in the novel, once you were in you really wanted to see the novel to its resolution. The prose was easy to understand, and the plot crossed generations easily. Maybe classics just have a bad reputation with the younger generation, but Great Expectations went a long way to helping to shorten that gap. I think the driving force that leads me to recommend this book is the fact that we all have great expectations of life, and that we all dream of improving our status in the world. People will always share a common bond, and in this novel Dicken's truly shows us that.
Rating:
Summary: Slow but certainly worth a read
Review: Having seen the many reviews written by students, I must say that I would agree. In fact, they sounded like they could have almost been my students from the past. Overall, GE is well liked, but the major complaint most have is that the story line is too slow-developing. I think this is a fair assessment. Of course, this was the style chosen by Dickens since this book was compiled from serial form. How many people would claim that we ought to take a week's worth of a soap opera program and turn it into a movie? I doubt such a production would attract much attention. In the same way, a serial writer's objective was to build mini-climaxes throughout the book, twisting and turning to get the audience to scream with anticipation, so that the next segment would sell. From what I understand, Americans could hardly wait for the shipments to get off the ships. They would purchase the newest segment and immediately dig in! If you are a teacher, I highly recommend showing the 4-hour movie starring Anthony Hopkins (produced in the late 1980s, I believe). It is the best and most accurate of all the GE movies. This works really well in conjunction with the book, and it truly helps in the interest level for those students who are not as motivated as "the readers." So go ahead and find out about the adventures of squeezable Pip, lovable Joe, the mysterious Miss Havisham, sweet Biddy, snooty Estella, and of course the mysterious Magwitch. I think you will be as surprised as I was when I first read it. (I've read an abridged version four or five times!)
Rating: 
Summary: I don't read books
Review: ...that is unless i have to. i had to read this book for my english class and it way surpassed MY expectations. i actually liked reading this book, it didn't bore me. even though it was long i still found myself looking forward to the next chapter. i found a lot of humor in it. Pip was a highly interesting character. out of all the books i was ever forced to read in my life this one is hands down the BEST BOOK EVER.
Rating:
Summary: This book is not worth your time
Review: I am an avid reader and enjoy reading most books. This book, however, I found exstremely boring and I constantly lost interest. There were very few interesting chapters and I was thrilled at finally finishing the book and moving on to another that was better. I can honestly say that this book was one of the worst books I have ever read and would never recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Lived Up To My Expectations!
Review: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a superb book! I must admit that it is a tad wordy and the details are overwhelming, but that just adds character to the book. My favorite characters were Estella, Biddy, and of course, Pip. Many poeple my age (I am 15) have said that this book was a long and boring ramble. I thought it to be exciting and very funny. I especially enjoy the part where Joe visits Pip in London and he has no place to put his hat, so he puts it on the mantle. During their meal, Joe's hat keeps falling, and Joe keeps picking it up. Finally, Pip gets so annoyed, he throws the hat across the room! Great Expectations is a wonderful book and I recommend it to anyone!
Rating:
Summary: A True Classic!
Review: I love this book! This is one of my all-time favorite books ever. I had to read it eons ago when I was in ninth grade, and now (14 years later) I am still enjoying it. Every few years I take this one down from my bookshelf to revisit. This is the story of Pip, a small orphaned boy living in poverty in the English countryside with his much older sister and her husband. Pip meets a convict in a graveyard one damp morning and helps him out in the form of some vittles and an iron file. Later in the story, Pip moves from poverty to being a "gentleman" due to the influence of a mysterious, anonymous benefactor. This book tells of his adventures and how Pip's expectations guide him through life. Towards the end of the story, Pip finds out that reality is sometimes very different from what we expect it to be. The characters are what really make this book stand out. Charles Dickens is a master of character development, and his descriptions of Miss Havisham, Wemmick, Joe, and the others is brilliant! The dialogue is great, with the words written the way a commoner would have spoken in England in the 1800's. Another thing I really liked was how all of the characters are inter-related to each other in ways that you may not discover until you get to the end of the novel.This novel will make you laugh and it might make you sad, but it is always entertaining. If you are in high school and reading this book for the first time for English class, keep at it! It may seem difficult at first if you are not used to Dickens, but this book is well worth it! It is truly a gem.
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