A Tale of Two Cities (Vintage Classics)

by Charles Dickens

book data

109,868 ratings, 3.69 average rating, 2,866 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		29%
4		30%
3		25%
2		10%
1		5%

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published

September 4th 2008 by Vintage Classics (first published 1859)

details

Paperback, 448 pages

characters

Sydney Carton, Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette …more

isbn

0099511851 (isbn13: 9780099511854)

description

<DIV>Lucie Manette has been separated from her father for 18 years while he languished in Paris’s most feared prison, the Bastille. Finally r…more

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Jan 23, 2008

Elissa Reiter rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

bookshelves: teach-it

Read in May, 2009

My primary goal when I'm teaching A Tale of Two Cities to my sophomores is to make them realize that Charles Dickens didn't write creaky, dusty long novels that teachers embraced as a twisted rite of passage for teenagers. Instead, I want them them to understand why Dickens was ~~one of~~ the most popular writers in England and America during his time. I want them to see the book as the suspenseful, comedic, and sentimental piece of entertainment that it is. Because, while A Tale of Two Cities is...more My primary goal when I'm teaching A Tale of Two Cities to my sophomores is to make them realize that Charles Dickens didn't write creaky, dusty long novels that teachers embraced as a twisted rite of passage for teenagers. Instead, I want them them to understand why Dickens was ~~one of~~ the most popular writers in England and America during his time. I want them to see the book as the suspenseful, comedic, and sentimental piece of entertainment that it is. Because, while A Tale of Two Cities is masterfully written with sly humor, densely meaningful descriptions, a cast of quirky characters only Dickens could create, an endless series of telling binaries and foils, and relevant social commentary about the French Revolution as well as Dickens' time, it is also simply a damn good story. By a damn good storyteller.

I have a difficult time writing reviews about books that I adore because, when I'm not reading them, I hug them too closely to be very critical. (BTW - I frequently hug A Tale of Two Cities in front of my students... and write Charles Dickens' name with hearts around it... They think I'm crazy, but it intrigues some of them just enough to make them doubt the derisive comments of upperclassmen.) I reluctantly admit that Dickens does oversimplify the causes of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror; however, in doing so, he successfully captures the spirit of a tumultuous period and helps readers sympathize with characters on every side of the developing conflict. I also think that the characters of Roger Cly and John Barsad get a bit messy and may have worked better as a single character. Perhaps the confusion is a result of serialization restructuring. But, really, I read A Tale of Two Cities like a costumed Lord of the Rings fan at a movie premier. I cheer when my favorite characters enter scenes and I knowingly laugh when Dickens cleverly foreshadows future events.

Though I don't think that A Tale of Two Cities is Dickens' best novel--that title I would reserve for either Bleak House or David Copperfield--I do agree with Dickens, who claims that it was his best story. It is artfully written. Dickens introduces a cast of characters, sprawled across two nations and spanning varied social classes and political affiliations, and then effortlessly weaves their stories and secrets together in a masterful way. The Modernist movement painstakingly forced literature to reflect the ambiguities and uncertainties of the real world and that's great, but sometimes it is a real joy to read a story that ends with such magnificent closure. All mysteries are solved and everything makes sense. It is beautiful.

(I have to admit that I was overjoyed when a group of my fifth period girls persistently voiced their disdain for Dickens' angel in the house Lucie and backed Madame Defarge. I think they may have created a Madame Defarge myspace, actually. Oh how the times have changed.)

"Ms. R--, you got me." "What?" "At the beginning of this book, you said you would get some of us. And that we would love it. You got me." I didn't get you G--. Charles Dickens did. I just introduced you.

Quote:

"A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other."(less)

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5 comments

Feb 09, 2008

Leslie rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

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 hi...more

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1 comment

Jun 12, 2008

Laura rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

bookshelves: classic, perennial-favorite

Years of teaching this novel to teenagers never dimmed my thrill in reading it — if anything, I grew to love it more every time I watched kids gasp aloud at the revelations! Critics are divided on its place in the Dickens canon, but the ones who think it an inferior work are simply deranged. It has everything: dark deeds, revolution, madness, love, thwarted love, forgiveness, revenge, and a stunning act of self-sacrifice. And melodrama! Oh, how Dickens loved melodrama, but in A Tale of Two Cit...more

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3 comments

Dec 02, 2007

Banzai rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

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 Ma...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)

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

1 comment

Jun 01, 2007

Kelly rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

bookshelves: 18th-century, brit-lit, fiction, owned, victorian

Read in December, 2005

recommends it for: Brit lit dorks, history geeks

Say what you want about this book. Overdone, overblown, overly dramatic. Yes. He drops anvils like Wylde E. Coyote. He's about as subtle as my dog when he needs to pee. Yes. But I love this book anyway. I just adore it, and you can't talk me out of it! It is my favorite Dickens novel.

All of the aforementioned may be completely true, but I think that with the subject and time period that Dickens is dealing with, he can get away with it. Was there anything subtle or restrained about t...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

21 comments

Jan 25, 2008

Tammy rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

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.
(less)

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Nov 14, 2007

Sarah Beth rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

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 mov...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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Jun 25, 2007

Brad rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

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 inequ...more

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Nov 08, 2009

Michelle rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

Read in November, 2009

First of all, I'd like to give this book 4.5 stars. (Why is it so hard to be confined by the one-star increments?) It is a great book, I just can't give it my very highest rating. I wonder if it is suffering somewhat in comparison to The Count of Monte Cristo, which I read right before A Tale of Two Cities, and I loved that one SO much.

In any case, I'm just thrilled that I finally read this book! I have been suffering for some time now as the result of not having read it. I have felt...more

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Sep 22, 2008

Lori Anderson rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

Read in October, 2008

***** SPOILER ALERT -- IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK, GO NO FURTHER! ******

"A Tale of Two Cities" is one of those books that a lot of people THINK they've read, but never have, because it has an ending that nearly everyone knows -- one man trades his life for another under the guillitine. I knew how it ended, but also knew I'd never read the book, and felt it was high time to get on with it.

There's a lot more to it than just swapping Man A with Man B. Th...more

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Mar 25, 2008

Brad rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

bookshelves: classic, most-hated

A painful beast of a book. It took me five attempts to get past page one hundred, and when I finally did break that barrier I pressed on until the very end so that I didn't have to suffer ever again.

Dickens is a problem for me. I admit it freely.

There was a time, many years ago, when I was a fan. I read Great Expectations for the first time in grade four, and I was in love with the book and Dickens. And I imagine that some part of my social consciousness, which wasn't a g...more A painful beast of a book. It took me five attempts to get past page one hundred, and when I finally did break that barrier I pressed on until the very end so that I didn't have to suffer ever again.

Dickens is a problem for me. I admit it freely.

There was a time, many years ago, when I was a fan. I read Great Expectations for the first time in grade four, and I was in love with the book and Dickens. And I imagine that some part of my social consciousness, which wasn't a gift from my parents, was planted with the seeds of Dickens.

Over the years, though, Dickens and I have grown apart.

I don't mean that I have "outgrown" him in any sort of condescending manner. It's not the sort of thing I expect anyone else to do, nor is it something that I blame fully on Dickens. No, we've grown apart as many couples do when one person changes through life and experience and the other remains constant.

I have become a radical over the years, and Dickens...well, he's still as bourgeois left as ever, and we're not compatible any more. He venerates the comforts of the middle class; he expounds the virtues of law and order and charity; he attacks the indignities of the abuses of power but only offers imaginary methods for overcoming them, mythologizing the bourgeoisie's ability to overthrow the things that ail us; he vilifies those who seek more radical solutions; and, whether he admits it or not, he still believes in the superiority of nobility and noble blood.

So when he starts to attack the revolutionaries in Paris and uses it to illustrate the "superiority" of civilized English behavior, when Dickens' moral soapbox weighs heavier than his plot, I begin to tune out of his lecture, and A Tale of Two Cities makes me increasingly angry from page to page.

I recognize Dickens' talent. I still love his prose. And I get why people love this book, and maybe even why you do, kind reader, but I can't stand it (and I am finding it increasingly difficult to like any of his work anymore).

I may burn this someday. But I have fully annotated the version I own and while I can burn the words of others (it's the radical in me), my lovely inner narcissist simply can't burn words of my own (unless it is for catharsis). So A Tale of Two Cities will likely survive on my shelf until I die, mocking me from its high perch in my office, whispering that a catharsis that may never come just may be necessary.(less)

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Mar 02, 2008

Werner rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

bookshelves: classics, historical-fiction

Read in January, 1996

recommends it for: Fans of 19th century fiction

Most of Dickens' novels were set in his own time; this was one of only two forays he made into historical fiction (both of which are set in the time of the generation immediately before his own, for which he could still draw on the impressions of living witnesses) but in it, he managed to produce one of the genre's timeless classics. All of the best traits of his writing are here: his unequaled characterizations, his mastery of plotting, his passionate sense of justice, his ability to evoke the...more Most of Dickens' novels were set in his own time; this was one of only two forays he made into historical fiction (both of which are set in the time of the generation immediately before his own, for which he could still draw on the impressions of living witnesses) but in it, he managed to produce one of the genre's timeless classics. All of the best traits of his writing are here: his unequaled characterizations, his mastery of plotting, his passionate sense of justice, his ability to evoke the atmosphere of his settings, and his capacity, as one critic has said, "to make us care about the things that matter." This is also probably the one novel, besides A Christmas Carol, that most clearly reflects his nondenominational but heartfelt Christian convictions --not so much because of the one passing narrative mention of Christ as "our Saviour," though that type of reference is rare in his writing, as because of the unmistakable Christian symbolism of the novel's climax, which is all the more powerful because its implications are left clear but unstated.

A Tale of Two Cities is also the Dickens novel most charged with socio-political relevance for today, because the present-day hard-core, totalitarian Left was born in the French Revolution (it's not at all surprising that Arthur Koestler's Stalinist characters in Darkness at Noon frequently make comparisons between themselves and the architects of the Terror!) Whole volumes could be written about the connections; but those wouldn't be strictly relevant to a review of a novel by Dickens, whose own perspective was circumscribed by the 19th century. What is relevant, though, is to note that he pegged and delineated the "humanitarian with a guillotine" mindset perfectly, in all of its stark, nauseating ugliness: its vicious self-righteousness, its utter absence of anything resembling compassion or human decency, its mindless group-think, its messianic zeal to create hell on earth in the chimerical pursuit of an imagined heaven on earth, and above all its fundamental moral springs of unbridled psychopathic hate and envy. A reading of this novel could furnish a better understanding of 20th and early 21st century political forces than most "standard" textbooks! (less)

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Oct 01, 2007

Meghan Davison rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

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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Jun 25, 2007

Erin rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

Read in October, 2007

recommended to Erin by: Dad

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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Oct 18, 2008

Pcames rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

Admittedly, I'm not much of Dickens fan. Talk about getting a ton of mileage out of a bad childhood...BUT this book, to me, was riveting. One of the greatest opening lines in ANY novel, one of the greatest anti-heroes of all time, Sydney Carton, and one of the greatest villianesses of all time, Madame LeFarge. And, there have been excellent film adaptatations of this book which is not something I have said more than two or three times in my life. Also, 5 stars automatically to the author that pe...more

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May 31, 2008

LitMom rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

Read in August, 2008

I'm not positive, but am pretty sure that Dickens was living in Venezuela for this past decade when he wrote the book. Apart from that, what memorable characters he created! Who can forget the "honest tradesman" with his spiky hair, rusty fingers, and "flopping" wife? Or dear, dry, dusty Mr. Lorry, still with a twinkle lurking in his eyes in spite of all the years tucked away in dry, dusty Tellons? And the question, "I hope you care to be recalled to life?" O.K.,...more

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May 14, 2008

Jessica rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

Read in June, 2008

recommended to Jessica by: the canon

Um. Wow. The last six chapters were especially amazing. I ride (and read on) the bus every day, and I don't think I've ever missed my stop - until today, deep into the conclusion of this tremendous work. I really like Dickens as a suspense writer. The whole book was very well done, but it was the second half that really did it for me. The way he portrayed the barbarism and perverted law of the French Revolution will stick with me; he made the Guillotine a character.

Plus, there is a w...more

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May 30, 2008

Sean O'Hare rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

Yeah, I know we all had to read Dickens when we were too young and it scarred us for life. Get over it. The guy had mad skills and this is his best (imo) work. Another of the books that I've read more than twice (4 times and counting). If you don't know the story then you have no idea what anyone is talking about when they mention Madame Defarge or Sidney Carton and that's a shame.

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Jan 11, 2009

Fiona rated it:

(review of isbn 0141031743)

bookshelves: books-i-own, classics, not-worth-the-time, setting-england, setting-france

Read in September, 2009

Okay, so technically I haven't finished reading it but as far as I am concerned I have. Let's not be pedantic about this - I read over half and found it so excruciatingly tiresome that I couldn't force myself through the remaining pages. I looked up what happened next on wikipedia and concluded that nothing much happened next that would validate me wasting more hours or days dragging myself through a book I did not like.

For a book that is "One of the most beloved of Dickens' sto...more Okay, so technically I haven't finished reading it but as far as I am concerned I have. Let's not be pedantic about this - I read over half and found it so excruciatingly tiresome that I couldn't force myself through the remaining pages. I looked up what happened next on wikipedia and concluded that nothing much happened next that would validate me wasting more hours or days dragging myself through a book I did not like.

For a book that is "One of the most beloved of Dickens' stories" according to the quote on the front cover or "The greatest of his historical novels" I feel very cheated and rather sad too.

This book starts with the famous opener: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

That is fantastic! Reading that I thought I was going to be onto a good 'un! However, just shows that you can't judge a book by its opening paragraph.

I have loved Bleak House, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol so it's a shame I find myself giving two stars to an author I have loved in the past. I'm glad this was not my first Dickens as I do not think I would have read any others. I am very disappointed in this book as well as in part, myself for not finishing it.

This would have made a much better short story I believe. There was not a plot worth speaking of and the characters were all very thin and one dimensional. Much of the French revolution was described in metaphors and complex symbolism unravelling it all was a bit like trying to find your way through a maze.

I have loved Dicken's writing style, it is beautiful, humorous and full of heart, soul and humanity. However, this time it felt like digging my way through a lot of surplus words which had lost their effect long before I could appreciate them.

I don't know what got into Dickens when writing this book. It felt very empty and devoid of his usual humour and interesting characters. I can't wait to read another one of his and put this one firmly at the back of my memory so that I can once again hold a high opinion of Charles Dickens.(less)

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Nov 04, 2008

Mike rated it:

(review of isbn 0141439602)

Read in October, 2008

The book I read was called A Tale of Two Cities. It was written by Charles Dickens who has written stories such as Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and David Copperfield. He was born in the 1800’s and bases most of his books on society’s failures such as poverty. This novel is about the French Revolution which was a time where France changed from a monarchy and aristocracy to a country with nationalism, citizenship, and inalienable rights. There is a complex love triangle of Charles Darnay,...more The book I read was called A Tale of Two Cities. It was written by Charles Dickens who has written stories such as Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and David Copperfield. He was born in the 1800’s and bases most of his books on society’s failures such as poverty. This novel is about the French Revolution which was a time where France changed from a monarchy and aristocracy to a country with nationalism, citizenship, and inalienable rights. There is a complex love triangle of Charles Darnay, Lucie Mannette, and Sydney Carton throughout the book and at the end Carton sacrifices for Charles Darnay to be with Lucie Mannette.
What was interesting in this novel was the complexity and how it all comes together at the end. The book seemed confusing at the start but it began to piece together and make sense toward the end. At the beginning it switched from England to France to England to France and so on. At the end there was one main portion in France where Charles Darnay was going to be executed but Sydney Carton sacrifices himself to feel that his life was meaning something and so that Darnay and Lucie Mannette could be together. That was the best part that I liked in the book. Overall, the second half of the plot and the characters’ complexity were interesting.
One of the weaknesses that I found in the novel was its language. Charles Dickens’ language is a 19th century English which can be a little bit hard to understand. Although it was a little bit of a struggle to read, I managed to get through it. Not only was the language difficult, but Charles Dickens’ plot in the beginning was boring, long and drawn out. The beginning is when Jarvis Lorry gets a message saying “Recalled to Life”. He is told to meet a woman who is Lucie Mannette and they go to her father who has been in jail for 18 years. He was a doctor who was imprisoned for no good reason. Jarvis Lorry says that he can be recalled to life with a little help. From here on it gets a little long. So again the weaknesses of the book are its tough language, and boredom at some points.
Despite the novel’s strong points it was an overall disappointment to read. This is only because I had to struggle for a little trying to keep up with the story and the language. Anyone who likes reading Dickens books would enjoy this because they could see the resemblance in his other stories. They could better understand the book. Also if you like historical fiction you can read any on Dickens books because they all relate to things that have happened historically.
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Which opening line do you like the most?

I'd never given much thought to how I would die--though I'd had reason enough in the last few months-but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.

Twilight

9 votes, 47.4%

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

A Tale of Two Cities

7 votes, 36.8%

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?"

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

3 votes, 15.8%

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