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Great Expectations

by Charles Dickens

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 233,023 ratings · 7,224 reviews

Timeless Classics--designed for the struggling reader and adapted to retain the integrity of the original classic. These classic novels will grab a student's attention from the first page. Audiobook for each title is paced for students to follow the text word-for-word and include two audio CDs--more help for struggling readers. Books sold separately. Pip is headed for an a...more

Paperback, 442 pages

Published 1994 by Penguin Popular Classics (first published 1860)

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Jul 14, 2008 Michael Kneeland rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My students (and some of my friends) can't ever figure out why I love this novel so much. I explain how the characters are thoroughly original and yet timeless, how the symbolism is rich and tasty, and how the narrative itself is juicy and chock-full of complexity, but they just shake their heads at me in utter amazement and say, "What's wrong with you, dude?"

What's wrong, indeed.

I give them ten or fifteen years. Perhaps they'll have to read it again in college, or maybe they'll just try reading...more My students (and some of my friends) can't ever figure out why I love this novel so much. I explain how the characters are thoroughly original and yet timeless, how the symbolism is rich and tasty, and how the narrative itself is juicy and chock-full of complexity, but they just shake their heads at me in utter amazement and say, "What's wrong with you, dude?"

What's wrong, indeed.

I give them ten or fifteen years. Perhaps they'll have to read it again in college, or maybe they'll just try reading it again as an adult to see if they can try to figure out why it's such a "classic," but after some time has passed from their initial encounter with the novel, they will find that I am not so crazy after all and that the book is in fact one of the best examples--if not the best example--of the novel. This happens to me all the time: I will re-read something I was forced to read in middle school and high school, remembering how much I hated it then, and will find that I actually love it now, as an adult. Sure, those "classics" may have taught me something about literary analysis, symbolic patterns, and the like, but I couldn't appreciate it for its complexity until I was older. I guess the rule of wine appreciation applies here, too: good taste only comes after much patience and experience.

***

Perhaps the thing I love best about this novel is the cast of characters--their names as well as their personalities. Ms. Havisham is one of my favorite characters to ever appear in all of the literature I have read. There is so much density and complexion to her character that I could literally make an entire career out of writing discourses on her characterization. She has even invaded the way I think about the world and the people I have met: I have, for instance, started referring to those instances where parents try to achieve success through their children "the Havisham effect" (unfortunately, you see this all too often in the world of teaching). Havisham's name is another exasperatingly fantastic aspect of her character: like the majority of Dickens' characters, you pretty much know what you're in for when you first read her name--she is full of lies, tricks, and deceits (or "sham"s). You don't get this sort of characterization much of anywhere else in the literary scene.

Another reason I love this novel so much is its plotting. Remember, Dickens was writing in a serialized format so he needed to keep his readers hooked so that they'd want to buy the next issue of his periodical, All the Year Round, in order to see what happens next. Thus, the plot of Great Expectations is winding, unpredictable, and quite shocking at points. Certainly, in terms of heavy action--well, what our youngsters these days would call action, fighting and big explosions and what-not--there is none, or very little at most, but that's not the thing to be looking for. Figure out the characters first, and then, once you've gotten to know and even care for them (or hate them), you will be hooked on the plot because you will want to know what happens to these people who you've invested so much feeling into. This is, of course, true of all novels, but it's what I tell my students when they read Great Expectations for the first time, and by gum, it's helped more than a few of them get through the novel successfully.

So, if you read Great Expectations in middle school, high school, or college, but haven't picked it up since, I urge you to do so. With a more patient and experienced set of eyes, you just might surprise yourself.(less)

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Feb 16, 2012 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, easton-press, audiobook, literature, classics-european, 1800s

Great Expectations…were formed...were met…and were thoroughly exceeded!

The votes have been tallied, all doubts have been answered and it is official and in the books ...I am a full-fledged, foaming fanboy of Sir Dickens and sporting a massive man-crush for literature’s master story-teller*.

*Quick Aside: My good friend Richard who despises “Chuckles the Dick” is no doubt having a conniption as he reads this…deep breaths, Richard, deep breaths.

After love, love, loving A Tale of Two Cities, I wen...more

115 likes · like · see review

Nov 16, 2009 Laurel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics

I think this book may have made it official for me: I'm just not much of a Dickens fan.

My first introduction to Dickens was A Tale of Two Cities, which we were required to read in HS. It was also my first introduction to Cliff's Notes. :)

I tried Dickens again with Oliver Twist last year. It was abridged. I still could barely get through it, and ended up skipping ahead to the end -- something I almost never do.

It's not that Dickens' storylines aren't interesting to me, because they are. His cha...more

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Apr 18, 2008 Tiza rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

Whew, it took me an incredibly long time to finish this book. Actually, this book kind of fell somewhere between 3 and 4 stars but I rounded it up because I liked it better than David Copperfield. While it's true that this book can be somewhat tiresome and contrived at parts, Dickens' dry humour, beautifully haunting descriptions and unforgettable characters made it a really fun read for me. One approach that best be adopted in reading Great Expectations (and Dickens' novels in general) is not t...more Whew, it took me an incredibly long time to finish this book. Actually, this book kind of fell somewhere between 3 and 4 stars but I rounded it up because I liked it better than David Copperfield. While it's true that this book can be somewhat tiresome and contrived at parts, Dickens' dry humour, beautifully haunting descriptions and unforgettable characters made it a really fun read for me. One approach that best be adopted in reading Great Expectations (and Dickens' novels in general) is not to plunge and go looking for the plot. The plot will find you somewhere between the pages, but it sure takes its own sweet time doing it. Meanwhile, just sit back and enjoy the carefully unfolding narrative that is Pip's life.

Like David Copperfield, Great Expectations is a tale of self-discovery, a record of one's life from childhood to adulthood told in first person. However, this book has a more brooding tone and penetrating insight to its main character's motives and psychological state than its predecessor. As prompted by the title, the main story of this book is about Pip, an orphaned boy, who suddenly comes to a great fortune and is being made a gentleman. He later finds, though, that his fortune and social status bring him more misery than joy. They don't improve his relationship with Estella and damage his friendship with his uncle Joe. Moreover, what he learns behind the mystery about his benefactor turns out to be not at all what he had expected.

It's fascinating to see how Pip's elevated status and his love for Estella influence the decisions he makes and his personality, and not necessarily for the better. Somehow, at a certain stage of his narration, he becomes someone who is conceited and self-centered. Though this might put Pip in a less sympathetic light, it also makes him more relatable and complex as a human being who has human's weaknesses and commits mistakes. I also loved how this book describes some of life's many ironies--of how we are sometimes not being honest with ourselves, how we sometimes try hard to impress people who don't care about us rather than treasure those who really do.

Since there are two versions of ending in this book, people tend to compare one version to the other. Either is fine for me, but if I really have to choose, I'll prefer the original ending to the revised one because it's more relevant to the message that this book is trying to impart, in my opinion.

Anyway, I heartily recommend this book, especially to three Goodreads friends who had so kindly coerc--*coughcough* encouraged me to write this review. (less)

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Nov 29, 2011 Chiara Pagliochini rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classici-inglesi

Presi la sua mano nella mia, e ci allontanammo da quelle rovine

Caro signor Charles,
noi ci siamo appena conosciuti. L’ho incontrata ieri sera, si ricorda? Ci hanno presentati, ci siamo stretti la mano. Lei ha fatto una battuta spiritosa e subito l’abbiamo vista prendere in mano la conversazione e animare la serata.
Come con tutte le persone che si conoscono da poco, io non ho poi capito se lei mi piaccia - se mi sia simpatico. Certo, è stato disinvolto e ha detto tante di quelle belle frasi. Ma...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Noce rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa-inglese

Recensione per i frivoli.

Orbene, chi pensate potrebbe essere Dickens, se vivesse ai nostri tempi?
Probabilmente un mix tra il regista di Beautiful, e il regista di una qualunque telenovela sudamericana.

I personaggi ci sono tutti. C’è quel paio di nuclei familiari attorno al quale la vicenda si muove, la contrapposizione tra il Bene e il Male, e l’effetto cliff-hanging, che ti tiene incollato alla vicenda grazie a rivelazioni spettacolari, (in cui si scopre che il figlio di Pilar, in realtà era...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Simona Bartolotta rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ottocento

"...le nebbie della sera si alzarono ora, e in tutta l'ampia distesa di placida luce che mi mostrarono, non vidi nessuna parvenza di un'altra separazione da lei."

Mio Dio, che immensità. La completezza, l'interezza delle opere di Dickens è incommensurabile. E' un autore a trecentosessanta gradi; nei suoi libri c'è tutto: amicizia, amore, odio, rabbia, per poi andare alle sfumature, dalla gratitudine all' ingratitudine, e poi rimorso, tenerezza, umorismo, simpatia, pentimento. E speranza, of cours...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Michela rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Grandi Speranze”- Charles Dickens (1860)

Si astengano dalla lettura di questa recensione tutti gli amanti di Dickens o chiunque abbia sinceramente apprezzato “Grandi Speranze”, vi avverto, non vi piacerà quello che scriverò.

Ho impiegato un mese a leggere questo libro, e quando ho bisogno di cosi tanto tempo le cause sono due, o sono impegnata in un'opera di 1200 pagine, oppure il libro non mi piace.

Per “Grandi Speranze”, purtroppo e a malincuore, è la seconda opzione:non mi è piaciuto,per nient...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Admittedly, I can be a bit dismissive of the classics. By which I mean that many of my reviews resemble a drive-by shooting. This annoys some people, if measured by the responses I’m still getting to my torching of Moby Dick.

Even though I should expect some blowback, I still get a little defensive. I mean, no one wants to be called a “horrendous” person just because he or she didn’t like an overlong, self-indulgent, self-important “epic” about a douche-y peg leg and a stupid whale.

I’m no phili...more

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Oct 08, 2007 Mercedes rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

Q: Pip, what's you're real name?
A: Philip Pirrip

Q: Who did you live with at the begining of the story?
A: My sister and her husband, Mrs. and Mr. Joe Gragery

Q: Where were your parents?
A: Both my mother and father were dead, alone with my seven younger brothers.

Q: What do you think of your sister and brother-in-law?
A: My sister usually smacked me whenever I got out of line. She usually cleaned or stomped around the house. Mr. Joe is nice and very friendly.

Q: How does the convict...more

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Aug 20, 2007 Chicklet rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: classics

Boring, dull, lifeless, and flat. This is so drawn out and boring I kept having to remind myself what the plot was.
Best to get someone else to sum up the story rather than undergo the torture of reading it.

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Dec 29, 2012 midnightfaerie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

Click here for Charles Dickens Disclaimer

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a wonderful story with many characters rich in diversity and complexity. From our lowly poor Pip who comes into money, to the quintessential tease, Estella, to the jilted bride Miss Havisham, and many others. Romance, love, betrayal, murder, and suspense are just a few of the aspects of this story, but are not even needed to draw you in. Dickens has created here a tapestry of a multitude of storylines, all touchin...more Click here for Charles Dickens Disclaimer

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a wonderful story with many characters rich in diversity and complexity. From our lowly poor Pip who comes into money, to the quintessential tease, Estella, to the jilted bride Miss Havisham, and many others. Romance, love, betrayal, murder, and suspense are just a few of the aspects of this story, but are not even needed to draw you in. Dickens has created here a tapestry of a multitude of storylines, all touching upon one another, and making it impossible for you to not want to turn the page. This was an extraordinary book, that I will treasure for years to come. Many are probably like me and only knew the Gywenth Paltrow/Ethan Hawke version of this story, but there is so much more in the book! Many twists and turns that particular movie version never addressed! I know it's heard a lot, but this is definitely a book that needs to be read before watching any film. It is worth all that it entails, and it's length only becomes a disappointment as you near the end and find yourself wanting to keep reading. I won't go into the plot, a quick google search will give you what you need in that arena, but I will say that I've heard of another version of this coming out this year with Helena Boham Carter playing Miss Havisham and I, for one, can't wait! The only other thing I'll say about this is that many don't know there were two endings to this. Dickens wrote the first one and was told by a friend that his fans wouldn't like it, so he changed it. Whether it's happier, is up for you to decide. I really think he left it a little more open, so we can surmise the possibilities of Pip's future for years to come, or apply the ending we wish for him. In either case, it's a brilliant piece of work, and definitely a classic.

The first movie adaptation I saw was the one starring Ethan Hawke. While a nice version, that's a little more modern, now that I've read the book, it really is lacking in detail and depth. I still enjoyed it, and loved some of the small liberties the director and actors took in their interpretations of the story, such as how Miss Havisham looked and dressed, the fact that Pip was an artist, the additional Pip putting Miss Havisham's hand over his heart later in the movie saying it was broken, and of course, the water fountain kiss. I really miss the sleek elegance that we used to get from Gwenyth Paltrow as in this movie, whereas nowadays, you see her more as white trash. She does very well in this movie and plays the part of Estella perfectly. And of course, Anne Bancroft as Ms. Dinsmoor/Miss Havisham does an excellent job as well. Enjoyable and worth the viewing.

The next version I saw was the 1999 black and white movie starring John Mills. While more accurate plot-wise, not as enjoyable an adaptation. I was bored in spots. And Estella looked years older than Pip, as did Bitty, and I always thought they were all a little closer in age. At least that's the impression I got. It was weird when Estella had to bend over for Pip to kiss her. Overall a decent representation but I don't know if I'd recommend it, or ever see it again.

Next the adaptation that would probably have been my favorite, had I gotten to see the whole of it. The one starring Ioan Gruffudd, I got from the library and halfway through, it just ends. I looked at the disk, the case, etc. and all it said was, "The second half coming tomorrow night on PBS". So apparently the library is loaning out half of movies now. In any case, I plan on going back there to see if they have it. It was a very good adaptation, and I really like Ioan Gruffudd. I've seen him in several things, most recently he played Mr. Darcy in one of my favorite versions of Pride & Prejudice. Great actors, and (so far) pretty close to the storyline.

Then I picked up another one labeled Great Expectations for Discovery Education and realized it was just a 90 minute video on the book. A lot of it was about the history of Charles Dickens but there were a few neat tidbits about the story that were interesting. They even showed some of the actual locations of the places that were inspirations for the book. Enjoyable and I recommend it.

ClassicsDefined.com
(less)

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Jan 21, 2008 Debbie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of wordy prose

Shelves: fiction, classics, 1001-to-read-before-you-die

It's the book that turned me off of Dickens. I still shudder when I think of being forced to read it in high school. The descriptions just go on forever...make it stop!

Pip, an orphan, meets an escaped convict and treats him kindly. This simple action will change Pip's life forever. Pip falls in love with Estella, a cold-hearted girl, who, thanks to bitter Miss Havisham, has been well-trained as a heartbreaker. She is wealthy and looks down on Pip, a poor boy with no expectations.

When a mysterio...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, books-whose-movies-i-have-seen

It's hard to review a classic. People have been reviewing Great Expectations for 150 years. I found out not all the original reviews were positive but sometimes time is in your favor when it comes to reviews.

The only other Dickens novel I have read is A Christmas Carol. I have read that book a million times. I have started, but not finished, other books by Dickens. I was hesitant to start this and I wondered if I could finish it. For some reason, Dickens has always intimidated me and I'm not sur...more

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Sep 29, 2009 Laurele rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2009, dickens-novels, audible

I see more in this book each time I read it. Class distinctions, friendships, character development, sin, repentance, forgiveness, redemption--all are explored and charted in this thirteenth novel of Dickens.

My favorite characters are Joe Gargery, the gentle and loving blacksmith; the faithful Herbert Pocket; and the helpful Mr. Wemmick and his Aged P.

I've been seeing a recurring theme in several of Dickens' novels--a degrading reliance on hopes of the future to the detriment of the duties and...more

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Dec 10, 2008 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 2008

Even if you haven't read this or seen any of the many movie or tv adaptations, you would know something of the story. This is the one about Pip, an escaped convict, a beautiful but cruel girl called Estella, and the corpse-like Miss Havisham. It's about a little boy called Pip who was raised by his much older sister, Mrs Joe, and her husband, Joe, the village blacksmith. Joe is a role model and father figure as well as Pip's best friend, while Mrs Joe is sharp-tongued and aggressive - between he...more Even if you haven't read this or seen any of the many movie or tv adaptations, you would know something of the story. This is the one about Pip, an escaped convict, a beautiful but cruel girl called Estella, and the corpse-like Miss Havisham. It's about a little boy called Pip who was raised by his much older sister, Mrs Joe, and her husband, Joe, the village blacksmith. Joe is a role model and father figure as well as Pip's best friend, while Mrs Joe is sharp-tongued and aggressive - between her and Joe's uncle, Mr Pumblechook, Pip is made to feel worthless and one step away from becoming the most ungrateful wretch on the face of the Earth.

A chance encounter as a boy of about 8 with a convict who has escaped from a Hulk (an old un-seaworthy ship used as a prison while Britain dithered over where to send the convicts) sees Pip do an act of kindness - mostly out of fear - and keep his first secret from Joe.

The reclusive Miss Havisham - who was jilted at the altar at a quarter to nine and lives in suspended time, still wearing her decaying wedding dress, with one shoe on, the clocks all stopped and her mansion falling down around her - sends for Pip to be a playmate for her adopted daughter Estella, Pip is made to feel ashamed of his rough hands and coarse boots, his ignorance and weakness, by Estella's cruel remarks. Despite her blatant cruelty, Pip falls in love with her and torments himself with wanting her. When, after about four years as an apprentice blacksmith, Pip learns from a London lawyer, Mr Jaggers, that he has a patron who will pay his way into society but who insists on keeping their identity secret, Pip is sure it must be Miss Havisham and that she plans to raise him up so he can have Estella.

The truth about the matter is probably quite predictable - I guessed it, though I couldn't figure out the logistics of it - but I don't want to say anything just in case. What I can talk about instead is Dickens' prose, language, diction, style, whatever you want to call it, and the reluctance of people like me to read him. (This is the first Dickens book I've read.) It is true that authors at the time were paid by the word, and it is quite true that Dickens is pretty wordy. Don't let that put you off though. He's no more wordy than a lot of other authors - George Eliot, for example, or Tolstoy or Thackeray. But every word is carefully chosen, and while a few times the diction was alien to me because the language is now disused, you can still get the meaning from the context. The story is in the details, though, so try to avoid the temptation of skimming long passages: a great deal is told and revealed in very few words and you need to read every sentence to fully understand and appreciate the story. Impressions are gained through clever structure, repetition and other stylistic devices - it's a "show", not "tell", kind of book.

It's interesting, while reading volume 1, to note that you have an older, wiser Pip narrating the story of a much younger, more naive Pip - at times our perception is coloured by the older Pip's derisiveness; you get the sense that he's shaking his head in bewilderment or rueful amusement. It's quite clever, what he reveals and what he keeps mum about in order for the story to maintain a level of suspense and excitement. You know he's stringing you along but he does such a good job of it, you can't hold it against him. One of the things this book really succeeds at is the positing of a younger Pip and an older Pip, presented at the same time, the same character and yet different, and showing how Pip changes over the years and why, until the two finally merge. It takes talent to manipulate the dual Pips that way, and keep a handle on their emotional maturation.

Miss Havisham is one of those larger-than-life characters who becomes famous in their own right: the bizarre, gothic spinster, embittered by her personal tragedy, warping the mind of Estella to make her into a woman who will hurt men the way Miss H was hurt. The frozen-in-time, decaying mansion - the room with the rotting wedding cake on the table, everything covered in cobwebs and bugs, with mice crawling in the walls. It's incredibly vivid and grotesque, and it's these highly exaggerated scenes and characters that make Dickens such a memorable writer.

I suppose the moral of the story centres around Pip and how, when he comes into money and a better position in society, he becomes snobbish and unlikeable, looking down on Joe and his childhood friend, Biddy, and becoming class conscious in the worst way. He puts social position and class, etiquette and learning, gentility and leisure, above his friends - such misplaced value, and an inability to appreciate what's really worth appreciating, are fairly common themes but are dealt with with surprising subtlety here - I think because Pip is narrating, and he doesn't really come out and say "I was selfish and unthinking and thought myself better than the man who raised me, but I repent." He doesn't need to - it's quite clear. And, naturally, he learns from his mistakes.(less)

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Jul 09, 2007 Jason Pettus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Credited by many as the inventor of the modern novel, there are actually a number of books by Dickens I've read and enjoyed over the years; this one, however, is the latest I've re-read, which is why I'm doing a review of it and not the others. A master storyteller of the Victorian Age, someone imminently readable today as well (unlike so many of those 'olden' authors), Dickens had a magical ability to scoop up every detail of his time's zeitgeist, and spit it back out in a series of thrilling c...more

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Nov 30, 2012 kaelan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: for-school

This review contains very general spoilers; and as a precaution, I've hid the entire thing.

(view spoiler)...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Ðɑηηɑ rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Sensitive Dicknes fans

Shelves: classics, historical-fiction, 3-stars, england, pub-1860s, male-authors, male-protagonist, readable-on-gr, rgc-finished, my-rating-matches-avgr, british-author

Really nice book.
Unfortunately, I read it at the age of 11 so it was quite a trauma for me, a story of a boy who indirectly lives on his own and have this creepy monster as a sister and I felt so sorry for him and wanted to stop because it made me too depressed (still, 11 year old) but I continued anyway, that's when I read about the dark house of M. (this time I mean Monster or MareBride) and its picture scared the he'll outta me, again, I wanted to stop reading, but I decide to give it a last...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Nahiyan Asadullah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a masterpiece, as great as it gets!

This is the first novel I ever read, and how is that for a start? :|

It has a storyline with which I can relate to in its fullest sense, I laugh with Pip and I cry with him. It is almost as if his emotions are mine.

I travel with him to London and when I come back home I hear the death news of my elder sister. SubhanAllah I literally feel my sister has passed away!

All in all, it is a novel to have in possession. The re...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Hayes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gutenberg, read-in-2011, favorites, read-prior-to-2009, to-read-again

First read in high school.
Second read at University.
Might have to try again.

I remember hating it the first time. Really enjoying it the second time. I have the suspicion that at school they have us read things too early.

= = = = = = =

Aug 2011: Third time as an audio book, courtesy of Librivox: here

I love the way the perceptions change. Pip as a young man sees things in one way; Pip as an adolescent, then as a young man in another way. All captured so perfectly.

Favorite characters: Mr Wemmick...more

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Feb 23, 2008 Gr8grendel added it · review of another edition

Is there a way to give negative stars?

Let's see, hmmmm, boy is poor. Boy falls in love with well-to-do girl. Boy reforms well. Girl is manipulated to dump boy in a predictable fashion. Lot's of words in between. Boy is chopped up by a meat cleaver and his cadaver is launched into space by hot aire balloon. Space chimps reconstruct boy and send him back to Earth. He lands on miss Havisham. Her toes curl up like a wicked witch... admit it this review is already better than the book.

Why is Charles...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Jon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I hadn't read this in at least 30 years, and I decided to try an experiment: I'd read it as it's very first readers did--in 36 weekly installments. I looked up on the interweb where the breaks were, and marked them in my copy. (I'll admit I cheated towards the end as the story picked up speed--but I still always quit at a break.) It was fascinating to watch how Dickens would maintain interest in each installment, either by adding a new character or a new location, or adding a new difficulty, and...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Dirk Baranek rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: uk-literatur

Ganz großartig. Unglaublich, wie er die Geschichte entwickelt und welch überraschend abstruse Wendungen diese immer wieder nimmt.
[Update] Inzwischen in das letzte Drittel vorgedrungen. Weiter sehr angetan. Auf der Metaebene find ich persönlich interessant: so viele Verben ...
[Update nach Ende] Sehr guter Anhang! Insgesamt absolut empfehlenswert. Wer immer schon mal wissen wollte, was es mit diesem Dickens auf sich hat, der nehme diese Ausgabe zur Hand.

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Nov 18, 2008 Hannah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fiction

'Great Expectations' was a strange read, and I'm not sure if I enjoyed it or not. The writing I loved - the narrative is full of sinister comedy, witty dialogue and striking imagery and observations from the word go, and the majority of characters (from the ridiculous to terrifying) are hard not to adore and leave undoubtedly impressioned marks. The pacing, however was extremely unbalanced. Normally, the middle part of a novel would be expected to be the most exciting, yet in this case it was so...more

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Nov 23, 2010 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I readly did like this book it took me a mounth couse it was very long it had a lot of pages. I dont remember how many but to read this you have to have a lot of time on your hands. It was a little hard to understand at first but in the end it all makes sence. I read it beacause I was told that with my vocabulay I could understand it. I did understand but there were a few words I had to ask about. This book is old and in old books alot of the times there is big words but if you are and advied re...more

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Aug 29, 2008 Sneha rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: nobody who likes easy reads

Recommended to Sneha by: my high school

alright, well i'm still reading this.... but one thing i'd have to say is that this book would be so much better if Dickens wasnt paid by the word, and if we didnt have to read it for school.

the plot, if you read it, is actually interesting.. just the giganto amount of words that are unneeded make the book extremely confusing.

6 likes · like · see review

Mar 20, 2009 Adam rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

5 likes · like · see review

Dec 06, 2012 Paul Brogan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

I'd never read this book—really I hadn't; I'd have remembered—so why, from the first page, did it feel so familiar? Finally, as I proceeded, I realized that I'd seen the modern adaptation, set in New York, starring Ethan Hawke as 'Pip' (the movie had changed the names, as well), Gwyneth Paltrow as Estella, and Robert de Niro as Abel Magwitch. It was a memorable movie, but the part I'd remembered best was the ending, where Pip and Estella eventually shed the expectations imposed on them by well-m...more

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Mar 19, 2009 Anne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Anne by: me

I finished! it's really good, a lot more humorous than I expected. I loved the story, and many of the characters are unforgettable, like Miss Havisham and Aged P. and Wemmick. And it confirms my philosophy of life, which I can't put into words, but Dickens has.

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miss Havisham, realistic or unrealistic?	16	127	Jun 16, 2013 06:52am
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About Charles Dickens

A prolific 19th Century author of short stories, plays, novellas, novels, fiction and non-fiction; during his lifetime Dickens became known the world over for his remarkable characters, his mastery of prose in the telling of their lives, and his depictions of the social classes, morals and values of his times. Some considered him the spokesman for the poor, for he definitely brought much awarenes...more

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“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.” — 1,195 people liked it

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.” — 1,078 people liked it

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