Great Expectations

Rating:
Summary: It's a notable work
Review: This is worth the time to read. It's actually a bit amusing to see if you can follow the bread-crumb trail and predict what'll happen next. (Usually, you'll be right.) I offer this warning: * Do NOT read the abridged version! * In tightening things up, they usually cut out the best parts.

Rating:
Summary: This is the greatest book written!!
Review: This is a classic story of unrequited love and growth. It teaches something to everyone who reads it. There is so much beauty and depth in this novel, it cannot be put into words. My advice for anyone and everyone who will read this in the future is to treasure every moment you spend reading this book. Take every detail in and you will never regret the time you spent because it is entertaining and absolutely thrilling. There are a lot of twists and turns in the plot as well as the emotions in the characters and it literally brought tears to my eyes.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!!!
Review: I read this book in 5th grade and I loved it! I still do. It is the best book. I think it is not boring at all and is very very very funny!!!! I think that everyone will like it once they get into it!

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully woven plot with unforgettable characters.
Review: I think that two clarificifactions need be made to edify those who thought this book "sucked", and that the characters were "insane". Dickens is exaggerating! For example, there are hardly any people in real life like Jaggers, who do everything in such a business-like way. And yet he is very interesting and highly entertaining. And for everyone who thinks there were too many details: try to imagine just a bleak straightforward account of Pip's life. A good novel shouldn't just be a summary. And if you think it's wordy and too descriptive, try IVANHOE (another great book). Regarding the alternate ending: YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE FOCUS OF THIS BOOK IS NOT PIP"S LOVE FOR ESTELLA. Who gives a damn whether he marries her or not? The focus of the story is on Pip's aspiring to such expectaions, and being drawn away from his family and humble origins, until he discovers the true treasures of life. I loved this book, and if you do not think it ranks as a classic, then what does?

Rating:
Summary: This book is boring and hard to understand!
Review: Hi! my name is Roy Chan and I am reading this when I'm in 7th grade. I decided to read Great Expectations because I thought it has a lot of excitement. When I read it, it turn out okey but when I'm in Chapter 6 it is boring and hard to understand. So I give it up. Maybe I don't understand this book because I am too young. Maybe I will read this book again in 9th grade.

Rating:
Summary: Great Expectations is a wonderful book....
Review: Great Expectations is the story of a young boy, Pip, and how he struggles to reach the experiences of Estella, the girl he loves, as he grows up and matures. This novel, written by Charles Dickens, explains the disappointment of loving someone without response, and being unsatisfied with one's life, because of having such high expectations that one cannot meet. I liked the way that the author portrays the characters and the setting to give a resemblance of the theme. I was interested throughout the story, for it is gripping and unpredictable. I sincerely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys novels that one can relate to with a deep meaning. Also, to anyone that likes a challenge Great Expectations is an ideal book.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Little Poorhouse In London
Review: When a game of leap-frog goes awry, young Pip Maplethorp's father is killed.With the family crumb-winner out of the picture, Pip is forced to travel to London where he finds employment as a Governess to the Lingus family (whose daughter, Constance, taunts him with cries of "you're lost - lost in a Fog of Lag !"). On day, while gathering pond scum, Pip meets and befriends Dr. Wetherbee. This chance meeting provides the book with one of it's few moments of comic relief, as Dr. Wetherbee repeatedly strikes Pip about the face and head with a cricket bat that he affectionately calls "Trevor". I won't ruin the book for you by telling you what Pip sees behind the potting shed that makes him no longer desire to be a Pediatrist, but I will tell you that, after reading that chapter, I never looked at pudding the same way again. I predict that this book will have resurgence in popularity and soon everybody will be saying, " Is that your Dickens in your hand?"

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest novels ever written
Review: This is Dickens' greatest novel, and one of the best of all time. Full of some of his most memorable characters, such as Magwitch (convict with a heart -- or liver), Miss Havisham, Pumblechook, Jaggers, Wemmick and more. From the opening graveyard scene to the final confrontation between Pip and Estella, you're hooked, laughing and crying. Pip is the Dickens character with the most psychologically realistic growth, and is therefore the author's most sympathetic hero. Wonderful plot, wonderful description, an absolute must. I highly recommend the Bantam paperback because the introduction by John Irving, "The King of the Novel", is just as extraordinary in its own way. It's a superb, personal, passionate defense of Dickens that has affected me as much as any of Irving's best novels.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: While reading the reviews that others had written, I was amazed at how many people did not like this book. Maybe if you weren't so rushed into reading this book, you might actually enjoy it. Some of the reviews may stop you from reading this book, but I am telling you to read it. It is very descriptive, has a wonderful plot, and a great author. Ignore the other reviews because this book is clearly a classic and will ALWAYS be a classic.

Rating:
Summary: This is a Dickens novel without an ounce of fat.
Review: Yes, it's hard to believe. Not a page is wasted. There are no digressions and few apparent digressions; the story - admittedly a long story - is swiftly and cleanly told, and it contains all the character growth, suspense, and frippery that one could reasonably ask of any story. This is DESPITE the fact that the book has all the virtues of any Dickens novel. The languge is, as usual, witty and a delight to read - in fact, more so than usual: it turns out that first person narration suits Dickens. All of the charcters are memorable - in fact, more so than usual: it comes as a great surprise to hear that this is the Dickens novel with the fewest characters, if you actually number them. The usual quota of gorgeous incident is there: in fact, more. And so on. It's hard to imagine a more nearly perfect book. -And there's one other thing I should mention. "Great Expectations" probably has a special personal appeal to many different sorts of people, but I would like to especially, from personal experience, commend the novel to graduate students. I hope they'll see what I mean.