Group Buddy Read: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

[Ashley]

The group will discuss A Tale of Two Cities in this thread. Please remember to mark your spoilers. :)

[Morgan]

Bought this today, very excited to start it :)

[Nathan]

Well, I gave this a shot guys! Maybe not a fair shot but it didn't grab me in the first two-three pages and in fact just gave me a headache. haha - perhaps I'm not in the right frame of mind to read this yet. I'll read it later this year. Good luck with it everybody!

[Sonia]

I just bought this at the used book store a few days ago! I'll jump in! I'll start on it this weekend! Yea!

[Gecko]

May I join? It's an my readinglist and I can start Sunday or Monday...

[Kelsi]

Just chugging along. Kind of scared of Dickens!

[Kara]

Of course you can join, Gecko! The more, the merrier.

[Vani]

Borrowed a copy from my friend, and I'm feeling a bit anxious about it. Hopefully I get to finish it. Haha. Will squeeze it in my schedule by Tuesday!

[Morgan]

How is everyone going with this? I'm about to start and I'm feeling quite nervous about it!

[Gecko]

I will start today...

What is it, that makes everyone nervous about it?
Don't poking fun at you, just really wanting to know.

I may struggle with the language, but I have already read "Christmas Carol" and "Great Expectations". I'm not nervous... except the length of the book may give me a bit of a hard time, but I brushed my teeth extra strong this morning to bite back.

[Gecko]

I'm 50 pages in and it is quite funny so far... I love Dickens' characters. Sometimes I think he was the Terry Pratchett of the 19th century.

Eh... got a little bit scared to after the characters-list at the beginning, like a Russian novel, a lot of names, all similar. I hope I will keep up with that. It's a tricky thing if you read not in your native language.

[Kelsi]

My high school English teacher ruined Great Expectations for me. I have never hated a book as much as that one, because of the complex analysis she asked us to do. I'm hoping that now that I'm older with a different appreciation for literature I'll find him better. I also really enjoyed A Christmas Carol.

[Gecko]

The teachers, that's something I can relate to. In my whole school time I've got only one who could make an analysis without boring me to dead...

In this case it is a blessing that I was only bored with Goethe, Schiller and Max Frisch. But they all get better without dissection into atoms. Today I enjoy reading them.

Hopefully it will be the same for you.

[Kelsi]

And the consensus is....I like it so far!! I just got to Book 2, and the trial. Dicken's tone is enjoyable and some of it is just cracking me up. Like how the Tellyson bank is just this perpetual cycle of new turned old, but they aren't allowed into the front until they are old and wiry. Still a bit early to really relate to any of the characters but so far I haven't had the urge to run away screaming.

[Gecko]

That are wonderful good news, Kelsi.

I like it a lot, halfway through by now, especially how Dickens brings humor into a depressing, hard storyline.
I stick with the resemblance to Pratchett, so far it is a lot like Night Watch.
Horrible things happen, presented with funny bits, witch make you laugh... and than I have a lump in my throat because it isn't funny but utterly disgusting and sad.

[Kelsi]

I've never read Pratchett, but will have to look him up.

Blagh. Just met dear old Marquis. What an awful human being.

[Gecko]

He is despicable, I agree. The whole thing at the fountain got my blood boiling.

[Renae]

I wish to join this buddy read.

[Kelsi]

I just finished it. The last 100 pages I couldn't stop myself! And the ending was very emotional.

I love the way that Dicken's reveals his characters. He doesn't give you everything all at once and reveals small tidbits at a time. For example, Manette's letter, or Carton's past.

I also found it really fascinating that the two "heroes:" Lucie and Charles are rather one dimensional and shallow. Dicken's wants you to like them, but the good stuff is in his other characters. The ones who are struggling and in a world of terror and confusion. I also thought that while Carton is easily the "biggest" character in the book, he hardly had a starring role in terms of amount of pages. Ah! I loved this! I can't wait to re-read it in a few years and get more out of it!

[Kara]

I'm late, but I'll be starting this tonight. Wish me luck!

[Kelsi]

Kara wrote: "I'm late, but I'll be starting this tonight. Wish me luck!"

I hope you like it as much as I did. The beginning is a bit "umm what's happening" but once you get in a bit farther it all begins to make sense!

[Kara]

So it only took me a few months to finish this one. :)

Four stars altogether. I loved the last bit but found the rest of the book to kind of drag.