Great Expectations in Reading the Classics

Feb 12, 2013 Emily rated it really liked it

What can I possibly say? I don't think there is an accurate description of how much I love this book. Mr. Charles Dickens, you enchanted me once again.

Let's just get to the point here. I can never get enough of Mr. Dickens' lofty description of his characters (for any of his books, basically). I now fully understand why my AP English teacher when she said, "he is truly the master of description". He not only presented vivid physical descriptions of the characters, but aso through their actions. What can I possibly say? I don't think there is an accurate description of how much I love this book. Mr. Charles Dickens, you enchanted me once again.

Let's just get to the point here. I can never get enough of Mr. Dickens' lofty description of his characters (for any of his books, basically). I now fully understand why my AP English teacher when she said, "he is truly the master of description". He not only presented vivid physical descriptions of the characters, but aso through their actions. In other words, he sculpted every single character in a way that resembles how a real human is. Whether through their emotions, feelings, or thoughts, everything is in a neat package. There are too many quotes I want to submit here to show how Mr. Dickens' style is like. However, I will allow the readers to enjoy that for themselves (hopefully).

When a reader reads this novel, keep in mind that each chapter is concluded as a cliffhanger. Why? Think about it. The novel was written around the 17th century. This means that newspapers are still highly popular (unlike today's society where the Internet seems to be the news baron of all). Since newspapers were high in demand, Mr. Dickens released every single one of his chapter in a section of a newspaper. This helped create suspense and high sense of anticiption among his subscribers/readers. Ultimately, it became the trend to look forward to Mr. Dicken's latest chapter release each week. In a way that TV dramas/shows are in this century, anticipating stories from authors in newspapers back in the days is the exact equivalence. All right, since I've dedicated a whole paragraph just to elaborate on why Mr. Dickens ended his novels the way he did, one can assume that I enjoyed this style very much throughout the novel, and I am pretty sure the next reader will too!

To make sure I do not spoil any part of the novel, I shall say that this book has lot of twists and turns near the last 10 chapters. If a reader likes these types of stories, then I will highly encourage him or her to read this book whether or not it is a well-known classic. The readers will be able to find answers to unresolved portions of the novel that were conjured up during the reading experience. Mr. Dickens truly knocks one out with his unraveling of Estella's mysterious origins and Miss Havisham unfortunate past.

Finalizing everything, classics are dfficult to review. Since there is a plethora of people who have read this book before (or perhaps multiple times), there isn't really "the best" review because each one of us likes the novel in a different way. My review is to not insist that a reader must read this book, but rather, I hope that it will introduce the novel in a pleasant way. I guess that applies to every review here. Overall, I know one will not regret reading this novel. So, enjoy!

- Some high school student ...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Casey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book. A bunch of twists hidden in the plot...some more obvious than others. I really enjoyed the coming of age motif and for my essay (for the class I read this for) I think I am going to focus on how "hands" emphasized Pip's journey. ...more

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