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Great Expectations (Oxford World's Classics)
 
 

Great Expectations (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

by Charles Dickens (Author), Kate Flint (Contributor), Margaret Cardwell (Editor) "MY FATHER'S family name being Pirrip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than..." (more)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 544 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (5 Mar 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0192833596
  • ISBN-13: 978-0192833594
  • Product Dimensions: 19 x 12.7 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 125,618 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #8 in  Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism > Key Critics > Flint, Kate
    #99 in  Books > Fiction > The Classics > Dickens, Charles
  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

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 the Paperback edition.

Product Description
I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.' Great Expectations charts the progress of Pip from childhood through often painful experiences to adulthood, as he moves from the Kent marshes to busy, commercial London, encoutering a variety of extraordinary characters ranging from Magwitch, the excaped convict, to Miss Havisham, locked up with her unhappy past and living with her ward, the arrogant, beautiful Estella. In this compelling story, Dickens shows the dangers of being driven by desire for wealth and social status. Pip must establish his own sense of self against the plans which others seem to have for him, and thus discover a firm set of values and priorities. Whether such values will allow one to prosper in the complex world of early Victorian England is, however, the major question posed by Great Expectations, one of Dicken's most fascinating, and disturbing, novels. This edition use the text of the Clarendon edition, with a new Introduction and Explanatory Notes. The Appendices give the original, discarded ending, Dicken's brief working notes, and the serial instalments and chapter divisions in different editions.

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MY FATHER'S family name being Pirrip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
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 (15)
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Addictive, 20 Jan 2006
By A Customer
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.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Sources of Goodness, 16 Jul 2004
By Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)      
Great Expectations succeeds beyond almost all novels of its time in exploring the roots of character and moral behavior. Charles Dickens makes the case for there being the potential for good in everyone. Evil and sin follow from a combination of being self-absorbed and selfish. What is remarkable about the way these themes are handled is that they are clearly based on an assessment of human psychology, long before that field was established.

The book is also remarkable for its many indelibly memorable and complex characters. Miss Havisham, Pip, Magwitch, Mr. Jaggers, and Estella are characters you will think about again and again in years to come.

The book also surrounds you with a powerful sense of place. Although the England described here is long gone, it becomes as immediate as a nightmare or a dream that you have just awakened from.

For a book about moral questions, Great Expectations also abounds in action. The scenes involving Pip and Magwitch are especially notable for way action expresses character and thought.

Great Expectations also reeks of irony, something that is seldom noticed in more modern novels. Overstatements are created to draw the irony out into the open, where it is unmistakable. Yet the overstatements attract, rather than repel. The overstatements are like the theatrical make up which makes actors and actresses look strange in the dressing room, but more real on the stage when seen from the audience.

At the same time, the plot is deliciously complex in establishing and solving mysteries before that genre had been born. As you read Great Expectations, raise your expectations to assume that you will receive answers to any dangling details. By reading the book this way, you will appreciate the craft that Mr. Dickens employed much more.

This is the third time that I have read Great Expectations over the last 40 years. I found the third reading to be by far the most rewarding. If you like the book, I encourage you to read it again in the future as well. You will find that the passage of time will change your perspective so that more nooks and crannies of the story will reveal themselves to you.

If this is to be your first reading of the book, do be patient with the book's middle third. It may seem to you that the book is drifting off into a sleep-inducing torpor. Yet, important foundations are being lain for your eventual delight.

Mr. Dickens wrote two endings for Great Expectations. Be sure to read both of them. Which one do you prefer? I find myself changing my mind.

Give love with an open heart, without expectations!

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Sources of Goodness, 7 Jul 2004
By Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)      
Great Expectations succeeds beyond almost all novels of its time in exploring the roots of character and moral behavior. Charles Dickens makes the case for there being the potential for good in everyone. Evil and sin follow from a combination of being self-absorbed and selfish. What is remarkable about the way these themes are handled is that they are clearly based on an assessment of human psychology, long before that field was established.

The book is also remarkable for its many indelibly memorable and complex characters. Miss Havisham, Pip, Magwitch, Mr. Jaggers, and Estella are characters you will think about again and again in years to come.

The book also surrounds you with a powerful sense of place. Although the England described here is long gone, it becomes as immediate as a nightmare or a dream that you have just awakened from.

For a book about moral questions, Great Expectations also abounds in action. The scenes involving Pip and Magwitch are especially notable for way action expresses character and thought.

Great Expectations also reeks of irony, something that is seldom noticed in more modern novels. Overstatements are created to draw the irony out into the open, where it is unmistakable. Yet the overstatements attract, rather than repel. The overstatements are like the theatrical make up which makes actors and actresses look strange in the dressing room, but more real on the stage when seen from the audience.

At the same time, the plot is deliciously complex in establishing and solving mysteries before that genre had been born. As you read Great Expectations, raise your expectations to assume that you will receive answers to any dangling details. By reading the book this way, you will appreciate the craft that Mr. Dickens employed much more.

This is the third time that I have read Great Expectations over the last 40 years. I found the third reading to be by far the most rewarding. If you like the book, I encourage you to read it again in the future as well. You will find that the passage of time will change your perspective so that more nooks and crannies of the story will reveal themselves to you.

If this is to be your first reading of the book, do be patient with the book's middle third. It may seem to you that the book is drifting off into a sleep-inducing torpor. Yet, important foundations are being lain for your eventual delight.

Mr. Dickens wrote two endings for Great Expectations. Be sure to read both of them. Which one do you prefer? I find myself changing my mind.

Give love with an open heart, without expectations!

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An almost eternal resonance
I read this novel about a decade ago and it still resonates like the memory of a fine wine or a classic malt. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Aquinas

4.0 out of 5 stars My first Dickens
I have to admit that this is the first book by Charles Dickens that I have read. Of course, I know all the stories but have never read one, even at school. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mrs. S. Payne

5.0 out of 5 stars Rapturous Moments in Dickens!
We all need our dreams. We have all fallen in love. Dickens's susceptible hero Pip believes that the 'star' of his dream is the beautiful Estella, because she had been granted to... Read more
Published 19 months ago by J. S. Lewison

5.0 out of 5 stars read it!
Finished re-reading this today. I'd forgotten just how fantastically playful and engaging Dickens' prose is: blink and you'll miss a delightful description of a chair, house or... Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2006 by A reader

4.0 out of 5 stars a diamond in the rough.
I am not much of a Dickens fan. I think he tells a good story and they in turn make excellent tv but as for reading material they fail to impress me. Read more
Published on 15 May 2006 by Mrs. D. L. Cox

5.0 out of 5 stars Tragi-comic masterpiece
At it's heart Great Expectations is a very bleak novel, with Pip's mysterious inheritance leading to nothing but misery, and his hopeless unrequited love for Estella the cause of... Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2005 by dogbarkssome

5.0 out of 5 stars The Sources of Goodness
Great Expectations succeeds beyond almost all novels of its time in exploring the roots of character and moral behavior. Read more
Published on 7 May 2004 by Professor Donald Mitchell

4.0 out of 5 stars Dickens + radio =great listening!
This is a must for everyone who likes radiodrama. The BBC has done a great job. Acting, sound effects, everything is top notch. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars The Sources of Goodness
Great Expectations succeeds beyond almost all novels of its time in exploring the roots of character and moral behavior. Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2001 by Professor Donald Mitchell

4.0 out of 5 stars From a little boy to a big snob and back!
I was really impressed with the introduction of the novel! The way Dickens makes use of adjectives and sentance stucture to brnig about the suspense of Pip meeting the convict in... Read more
Published on 23 Nov 2000

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