Mike’s Reviews > Great Expectations > Status Update
Mike
is 16% done
I don't like judging writing from before the 1900's, because I know so little about how people talked back then. But this is really well written.
— Oct 06, 2013 02:01PM
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Mike’s Previous Updates
Mike
is 99% done
Well, only a single chapter left. Overall, this book wasn't bad - certainly better than The Good Earth. Dickens is a phenomenal writer, and although I'm not very interested in the plot, I'm glad I read this book.
— Nov 09, 2013 06:49PM
Mike
is 83% done
That was a really, really big coincidence. I know coincidences are kind of Dickens's thing, but that was big, even for him.
— Nov 03, 2013 05:26PM
Mike
is 81% done
Y'know? I think I'll read A Christmas Carol after this. Dickens is a great writer, and he writes interesting characters, but this plot is so uninteresting to me; ACC is a lot more interesting.
— Nov 02, 2013 07:02PM
Mike
is 78% done
And now I'm bored again. Dickens can't consistently engage me.
— Nov 01, 2013 07:25PM
Mike
is 75% done
This is a lot more engaging than it was before. Maybe it's just part 2 that was really slow.
— Oct 31, 2013 06:57PM
Mike
is 72% done
That was actually really, really interersting. I can suddenly see why this is a classic.
— Oct 30, 2013 06:36PM
Mike
is 64% done
"For, I cannot adequately express what pain it gave me to think that Estella should show any favor to a contemptible, clumsy, sulky booby, so very far bellow the average."
Oh, Dickens. You make it so easy to make dirty jokes about your books. Almost as much as Shakespeare.
— Oct 26, 2013 07:01PM
Oh, Dickens. You make it so easy to make dirty jokes about your books. Almost as much as Shakespeare.
Mike
is 60% done
The plot seems to be coming in short, fleeting bursts rather than being spread throughout the novel. Man, I really wish Dickens was better at this, because other than his really terrible plotting, this is great.
— Oct 25, 2013 07:00PM
Mike
is 57% done
Aww, my favorite character died. I'm surprised I wasn't warned, although to be fair, I knew nothing about the plot going in.
— Oct 24, 2013 06:00PM
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rated it 4 stars
Oct 06, 2013 03:52PM
I have to believe that people really talked back then like they do in books. I wish people spoke like that now. It's so much more eloquent than some of the things you hear people say now.
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Eh, slang from previous centuries becomes formal in modern times, because older people used the slang, and the things older people say sound formal to younger people. That's why Shakespeare sounds flowery and poetic to us now, even though he was writing in the slang of his time. So it's hard to tell.
True, true. But I'd love it if everyone spoke with such beautiful language as Shakespeare uses. (Though, the more I think about it, the more I'm wondering if this would become tedious and wordy.) It's so much more effective to, say, insult someone by saying "I'd challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed!" versus "Yo mama's so fat, bla bla bla..."
It would also be far easier to use dirty jokes if we talked like him. It's far funnier to ask whether to cut off the maiden's heads or their maidenheads than to talk about bags of dicks.
And it would often be one of those cases where a person doesn't realize they've been insulted until it's too late to do anything about it.
That's so true, you... you... gah, nothing.
