Great Expectations
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Amazon.co.uk Review
An absorbing mystery as well as a morality tale, the story of Pip, a poor village lad, and his expectations of wealth is Dickens at his most deliciously readable. The cast of characters includes kindly Joe Gargery, the loyal convict Abel Magwitch and the haunting Miss Havisham. If you have heartstrings, count on them being tugged.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
Anton Lesser reads with magnificent virtuosity. --Christina Hardyment, The Times
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Addictive,
By A Customer
This review is from: Great Expectations (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
I spent most of my 45 years since leaving school doing my best to avoid anything by Charles Dickens, quite why, I'm not sure. A recent illness and enforced idleness had me rummaging around some books I had come by and there was Great Expectations. I thought I'd try just the first chapter, but was hooked from the first page. This is one helluva book! The pace, the characterisation, the plot, the atmosphere, the everything are masterly. But it isn't all misery as there are frequent moments of irony and typically English gallows humour. Outstanding, but it'll make you cry.
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great expectations......................for the book,
By A Customer
This review is from: Great Expectations (Collector's Library) (Hardcover)
Charles Dickens's acknowledged masterpiece, Great Expectations, is rightly considered one of the greatest novels of all-time. It depth and breadth are staggering, as it follows its protagonist, Pip, from his early childhood through his later life. During the course of his life, we encounter a vast catalog of raw human emotions: love, hate, jealousy, hope, sadness, despair, anger, pity, empathy, sympathy -- and on and on. The story is treasured and revered for many reasons. One of its main strengths is its plot: after a somewhat slow introductory section, Dickens puts his story in fifth gear and delivers a fast-paced and exciting story that gallops along without ever losing interest or clarity. The incredibly complex plotline, full of separate stories and incidents that seem totally unrelated to each other, but are then all harnessed together as the book heads straight toward its denouement, is also full of constant plot twists, which continue up until, literally, the last paragraph. But, of course, as with all of Dickens's major works, it is the characters that make the book. Like Shakespeare, Dickens preferred to have the story develop through the characters, rather than having the characters be mere set pieces inside of an overriding story. And what great characters they are: the perennially paradoxical but essentially human Pip; the bitter and mysterious Miss Havisham; the beautiful and haughty Estella; the simple and saint-like Joe; the kind and benevolent Herbert; the very human convict, Magwitch -- and all of the other wonderful characters. Dickens excelled in creating well-rounded, very human characters who harbored very real and very complex emotions -- that is, human emotions. We identify with Pip as he winds through his life, because we have been there, too -- the disappointments, the surprises, the loves, the anger, the sadness. In whatever way his story may differ from our own, it is still essentially human, as is ours. For all of his complex and paradoxical emotions and sentiments, Pip is a recognizably human character -- and that is why we love him and this book. A masterpiece for the ages, which will endure for years yet to come, Great Expectations is a great book that can be loved by one and all, for, at its heart, is that grain of simple truth that says so much about what is human in all of us -- whether we have great expectations or not.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It does it for me everytime........,
By Jen "jay214" (West Yorks) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Great Expectations (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
I have a handful of books I can read over and again and this is top of the list, it may even be my desert island choice. The descriptive passages are wonderful and the characters are so richly painted. Pip and Joe is the best relationship - some funny moments, sad moments and some really heartbreaking moments. Every time I get to the part where Pip thinks he is too good for Joe and Joe irritates him it makes my skin crawl. Estella is a wonderful character, cruel, cold and twisted but not her fault and she ends up in a sad situation. Miss Havisham - a truly creepy lady, what an excellent creation. The story is fabulous with such a great ending - who would have thought? This book is absolutely fantastic. Brilliant characters, described so well that the most unimaginative reader will have vivid mental images of them all and you won't forgot them or this book. Ever.
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