A Tale of Two Cities

published	2003 by Penguin Classics
first published	1859
isbn	0141439602 (isbn13: 9780141439600)
pages	544
description	Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Richard Maxwell. The "two cities" here are London and Paris, in the years before and during the Fr...more [close] Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Richard Maxwell. The "two cities" here are London and Paris, in the years before and during the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.
date added	09-25-06 edit book

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Tammy rated it:

03/27/08

Read in March, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I dont' know how to summarize my feelings about this book. It's title suggests the tale between England and France, a tale between london and Paris - and perhaps that's how Dicken's intended it. But as I got further and further into the story, to me, it begins to symbolize the tale between two sides - between mercy and vengeance, love and hate, aristocrat and peasant, freedom and oppression, and generations of poverty and tyrany. France goes from Monarchy to Anarchy to Empire in a span of 20 yea...more I dont' know how to summarize my feelings about this book. It's title suggests the tale between England and France, a tale between london and Paris - and perhaps that's how Dicken's intended it. But as I got further and further into the story, to me, it begins to symbolize the tale between two sides - between mercy and vengeance, love and hate, aristocrat and peasant, freedom and oppression, and generations of poverty and tyrany. France goes from Monarchy to Anarchy to Empire in a span of 20 years, and the turmoil, bloodlust, and hysteria of the French Revolution serve as the backdrop to some of the most engrossing chacracters I have ever encountered in Literature. The main characters, Lucie and Darney, are simple and under-developed. But Doctor Manette (incidently, I could not help but draw parallels between Manette and Hugo's Jean ValJean), Sydney Carton, Madame Defarge, and Miss Pross grow from tragic backgrounds into the strength of the novel. They rise from ashes to bring about intense and remarkable ends.
I struggled through the first part of the book, and then somehow got to a point where I couldn't put it down, and it all came down to the last chapter, for me. It was an ending I did not see coming, and found myself actually tearing up (which I have rarely done with a book) as Carton stood in line, holding the hand of a young girl, stoic and brave to face the guillotine. And his last line - "It is a far, far better thing that I do..." is one of the most beautiful and moving last lines of a book I have ever read.
I also cheered when Miss Pross stood before Madame, fiercly giving her line "I am your match". I could see it in my mind, two women - one aggresive and unrelenting in her power and leadership, dangerous and horrifying in her manical desire for revenge, and the other - defiant and protective, and unmoving because of love for her Lucie, and her will to protect her at all costs.
I have loved reading a novel where weak ones become strong in character, and where women are so portrayed in strength.
I don't think I will ever forget two moments in this book - when Monseignor's carriage kills a child, and he stands harassing the people for their carelessness, and all around look down, cowered and not meeting this gaze, except for Madame Defarge, who stands, steadily meeting his eye with a look of stone resolve. One begins to understand how the people of France emotionally came to a place where they could rise up in frenzied revenge, without mercy or pity. (Interesting, also, that Dicken's portrays two kinds of aristocrats here - Monsiegnor, who you feel deserves the anger and uprising from the people, and his fate, and Darnay, who is innocent, and even sympathizes with their plight, and who does not deserve to be targeted - two types of high society, and from both sides, thousands sent to the guillotine).
The second is when Carton has arranged his plans, and has set in motion his path to save Darney, and thus, the heart and life of Lucie, and the night before he sacrifices himself in one last great act of selflessness and love, he stands in the darkness before her window, closes his eyes, and whispers a blessing, resolved and redeemed.
This is the kind of love you hope to be able to experience - where your love and care and all that you do and feel is so strong and motivating for another, that you can set aside all you hold dear, even your own life, for the preservation of their happiness and all that THEY hold dear.
This is truly love - a pure, peaceful, life-changing love that, to me, upholds every one of Christ's teachings and ring's true the RS motto - Charity never faileth.
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Banzai rated it:

12/02/07

Read in November, 2007

This was the only book I remember enjoying from my high school English classes. Re-reading it twelve years later I can see why I liked it so much--and still do.

Dickens lays it on pretty thick in parts and is perhaps trying too hard to evoke the passions and bloodlust of the French Revolution. And as lovely as dear Lucie Mannette is, she's pretty unbearable by modern women's standards. But don't worry, Dickens isn't a misogynist. He more than makes up for Lucie in the characters of Madame Def...more This was the only book I remember enjoying from my high school English classes. Re-reading it twelve years later I can see why I liked it so much--and still do.

Dickens lays it on pretty thick in parts and is perhaps trying too hard to evoke the passions and bloodlust of the French Revolution. And as lovely as dear Lucie Mannette is, she's pretty unbearable by modern women's standards. But don't worry, Dickens isn't a misogynist. He more than makes up for Lucie in the characters of Madame Defarge and Miss Pross. Their strength, resolve, and particularly Madame Defarge's intelligence and leadership leave no doubts that Dickens respects women.

The beginning of the novel is also a bit difficult and choppy. I don't think it's simply a matter of adjusting to his style of English; I think his prose smoothed out considerably after the first few chapters.

He also has this annoying tendency towards intentional obtuseness. The technique occasionally pays dividends, but mostly it's just frustrating as a reader to wait for him to explain what the hell he's talking about.

But all quibbles aside, A Tale of Two Cities is a remarkable novel.

His storytelling is incredibly cinematic--he himself used the term "picturesque" to describe his approach--with many scenes and setups that are perfect examples of the sorts of visual storytelling prescribed by screenwriting how-to books. I'm convinced that had Dickens lived today, he would have been an incredible screenwriter.

And though the novel is set within and inextricably linked to the French Revolution, it is not about the French Revolution. That setting is used as a spectacular backdrop within which Dickens weaves an intricate and tightly plotted tale. It never forgets that first and foremost it is telling the characters' story, not merely recounting history.

And the last chapter is just incredible. I was crying while reading it on the train this weekend. And the famous last line--"It's a far better thing..."--is well-worthy of its fame; it's the most profound, beautiful last line of a novel I have ever read.

I'll admit that it's not consistently gripping, that a great bulk of the middle of the novel is merely interesting but not engrossing. But as a means to an end--as a means to that ending--it's entirely acceptable.

Took me about 9.5 hours to read. Not a huge commitment. I strongly recommend giving it a try....less

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Sarah Beth rated it:

01/25/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in January, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I've never really gotten the hang of the classics - I don't know if it's that I don't make enough of an effort to really get into the language or if I haven't tried reading enough of them or if I just tend to prefer contemporary styles and topics.

So, I decided to read this on DailyLit (which is why it took me a full three months to read, a few sections at a time, first thing in the morning). And it took me a long time to get into - I didn't mind reading it, but I wasn't terribly moved by th...more I've never really gotten the hang of the classics - I don't know if it's that I don't make enough of an effort to really get into the language or if I haven't tried reading enough of them or if I just tend to prefer contemporary styles and topics.

So, I decided to read this on DailyLit (which is why it took me a full three months to read, a few sections at a time, first thing in the morning). And it took me a long time to get into - I didn't mind reading it, but I wasn't terribly moved by the people or stories... until, that is, about the last quarter or so of the book when it turns into a romantic's dream - and here's where the spoiler starts - ultimate sacrifices in the name of love (and not just romantic love), the irony of the oppressed becoming that which they hate, the excitement of a daring escape!

Charles returns to France, from which he long ago fled to escape the horrors of his aristocratic family. Even his wife doesn't know about his family's heritage, though, because he uses an assumed name, and his father-in-law asks him, as a wedding day favor, to keep it mum... we later learn why...

So Charles returns to save a former servant who has been condemned to die, as so many have as the oppressed peasants become to oppressors in the name of the Republic. He, of course, is imprisoned; when his wife and father-in-law learn of his fate (intimately involved with the guillotine), the rush to rescue him and do, for a moment, until the loving FIL's own, and ancient, words are used against them.

But a long-forgotten suitor-hopeful of Charles' wife returns and sacrifices himself in Charles' stead so that his love won't know life without her beloved husband - he even has to trick Charles into the swap!

I'll admit, I was all blubbery at the end... as much as I love DailyLit, I think it's true purpose - to encourage people to go out and buy the books - has worked on me - now I want to curl up with an actual copy and burn through it - maybe I'll see the compelling parts of the first chunk that way......less

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Susie rated it:

05/16/07

Read in April, 2007

recommends it for: Yes

What really made the book for me was the characters. There was a strong "supporting" cast. I put those words in quote because although Lucie, Darnay and Doctor Manette were central to the plot, character wise I felt there were so-so. Doctor Manette was a stronger character than Lucie - Lucie tended to be a tad flowery for me - but that seemed to fit the times. She was fairly 2-D, but she didn't need to really be anything more, I suppose. And Darnay was sort of a victim of circumstance ...more

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Dale rated it:

12/07/07

Read in November, 2007

This is the twenty-eighth book I read on my commute. A classic, a bonafide canonical capital-C Classic!

I was an English major in college, mostly because English was my favorite subject in high school (certainly not because I thought majoring in English was a fantastic idea, post-college employment-wise). But I have a few guilty secrets as an English major, certain books I've never read and certain prejudices I harbor. And until I read this book I could offer up the following matched pai...more

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Donna rated it:

01/11/08

bookshelves: 1001-books, 18th-19th-century-novel, britlit, classic-books

Read in March, 2007

A magnificent piece of literature, and a brilliant historical novel, with intricacies of plot and symbolism that fired my imagination and kept me going from one chapter to the next. This classic book features recurrent themes of blood/wine, rebirth/resurrection, violence/cruelty, and imprisonment/sacrifice as we follow the characters from late 19th-century London to the madness (and the guillotine!) of revolutionary Paris. Dickens’ heavy narrative style bogged me down at times. On more than...more

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Leslie rated it:

02/10/08

Most satisfying ending in the English language.

Yes, the last line is a classic ("It is a far, far better thing ..."), concluding, in astonishingly concise language (for Dickens), the peace and redemption of the story's most poignant romantic hero. But this novel delivers such a gratifying experience because there are, in fact, many characters who cover significant emotional ground in their journey to love one woman as best they can.

Lucie's father battles his way back from ...more

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Jessica rated it:

03/31/08

Read in March, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I think that it may just be by sheer luck that I was reading this book and 'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo at the same time. I really didn't plan for the books to tie so nicely together. But they kind of do. Though I am not done with Hugo's book, I have read a 'Tale of Two Cities' before.

The first time I read it, I never got through it all. I was in 6th or 7th grade when I picked it up, and there was just way too much symbolism in it for me. Dickens was just way beyond my reading level at th...more

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Barbara rated it:

04/06/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in March, 2008

I feel a little weird writing any kind of review of Tale of Two Cities, since it falls into that category of Books Everyone Else But Me Has Read. So make of this what you will.

Heather and I became obsessed with the card game Guillotine one summer on a mission trip, and a friend told us he was rather disturbed by the game since he was currently reading Tale of Two Cities. Now I know what he meant. The afternoon after I finished reading this book found me sitting in Starbucks, pl...more

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Erin rated it:

01/23/08

Read in October, 2007

recommended to Erin by: Jessann28

I have learned SO much about the French revolution through reading this. It has given me totally new perspective on government and the lack of it. I just never truly realized that the French revolution was so horrible. I always thought it needed to happen and that Marie Antoinette and the King and the aristocracy needed to go. I never knew how blood hungry these peasants were. Dickens doesn't have one good word to say about those involved in the Revolution; yet he doesn't truly blame them e...more

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Brad rated it:

06/27/07

bookshelves: novel

A great multi-sited novel centering on the French revolution.

My generic comment about Charles Dickens:
First of all, although I am a partisan of Dickens' writing and have read and relished most his works, I concede to three flaws in his oeuvre that are not insignificant. First, while he seemed to develop an almost endless variety of male social types, his female characters are much less well developed. Second, although he portrayed the stark brutality of economic and class inequality with u...more

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Craig rated it:

08/14/07

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: anyone interested in revolutions, specifically the french.

Being a history major I have a strong background in the back story of the book. It is set against the French Revolution, and as the story reaches its climax, so does the revolution. There is the obvious comparison between the two cities (Paris/London), where England traditionally sidesteps violent revolution (see Glorious Revolution) and France, where chaos eventually rules the day. Thus, commentaries are made, and the English characters are horrified by what they encounter in France, while the ...more

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Kanchan rated it:

08/22/07

Read in April, 1986

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a historical novel by Charles Dickens. The plot centres on the years leading up to the French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. It starts with Dr Alexandre Manette's 1759 imprisonment and concludes 36 years later with the trial of Charles Darnay.

The book tells, first and foremost, the story of Darnay and Sydney Carton, who look similar but are very different in their personalities: Darnay is a romantic French aristocrat; Carton is a cyni...more

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Jeter_david rated it:

04/26/08

Read in November, 2008

I love Charles Dickens. Not necessarily his stories (Great Expectations - hated it), although they are mostly excellent, but his writing style is awesome. He's pretty loquacious, but he pulls it off very nicely.

Despite it being totally predictable and kind of long-winded, I remain hopelessly in love with this book. Even though you can predict how the main aspects of the story will play out, Dickens still manages to throw in a few surprises.

Read it. If you've already read it, read it aga...more

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Meghan rated it:

10/16/07

Read in October, 2007

I started reading this book in an effort to whittle away at my ever-growing "classics to read" list and expected it to be a completely perfunctory experience, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I rarely read anything that is older than I am, so the style and syntax were a bit off-putting at times. Dickens' sentences are long and littered with commas, but that was honestly the only thing that made the novel feel dated. Dickens is funny and sarcastic-- and his sarcasm is the...more

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Audrey rated it:

11/11/07

Read in November, 2007

This book contains the best and worst of Dickens. It starts incredibly slowly, even for a Dickens novel. I'm no wimp when it comes to slow-moving books; Dickens is one of my favorite authors. This book, however, nearly defeated even me. The entire first half of the book is nothing but backstory. However, I would also say that A Tale of Two Cities contains some of Dickens's best writing. When the story finally gets going, it really is brilliant. It is one of the only treatments of the Fren...more

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Peggy rated it:

11/04/07

Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: people who want to know about the French Revolution

"A Tale of Two Cities" is a story set during the French Revolution about one family whose happiness is threatened by the events of the past. First there is Doctor Manette, who is wrongly imprisoned for eighteen years for a crime that is unknown, and reunited with his daughter, Lucie, after his release. She then falls in love with Charles Darnay, who is secretly a French aristocrat who renounced his title. Years go by and soon Charles learns of the troubles one of his old family serva...more

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Vanessa rated it:

04/24/08

Read in January, 1996

recommends it for: French Revolution, 19th Cent. British Lit, Human Nature, Pyschology, Literary Devices

Great Expectations, my first venture into Dickens, left much to be desired, so naturally I was apprehensive about reading A Tale of Two Cities for my junior honors English class. Ah HAH! - I was too quick to judge, I actually loved it.

Wonderful parallels and contrasts between the cities (London and Paris), classes, and characters, and an exciting read (for 19th Century Literature!).

Mme DeFarge was my favorite character, a rather dynamic villainesse/tricoteuse who seeks revenge agains...more

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Susan rated it:

03/14/07

Read in January, 2005

recommends it for: everyone

FABULOUS book. I couldn't put it down. Historical, and I think very a possible plot (but fiction really). Oppression certainly does happen. We live in a complete bubble if we don't recognize the atrocities that have happened and really still do. (I think). Anyways, you learn a get a taste of history. So descriptive. And of course a wonderful romance. A sad and happy ending. Redemption and spiritual. The gospel proclaimed. True suffering for a believer and yet also true peace admist i...more

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Doug rated it:

02/14/08

This book is one of the very best that I have ever read. I found in it great and moving principles that are very meaningful to me.

Lucie Manette shows a deep and unconditional love for her father, Dr. Manette. Her love for him pulls him from his unstable mental state so that he can live and function again in the world after being imprisoned for so long.

It is also a great love story between Charles Darnay and Lucie Manette.

However, a surprise to me was the tremendous love that Sydney...more

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