Your opinion on the book?

[BellaMarieSwan]

Hello.
I just had to read Great Expectations for my English class and personally.. I thought it was boring up until the last few chapters.
After the first few chapters it just seemed to drag on and on and throwing in even more characters to try and add some kind of twist to the book. Pip isn't a very likeable character either for a main one, if you ask me.
I thought it got interesting towards the end, though, after Pip finds out who Estella's parents are.

Your opinions?

[The Nights Wing]

I personally agree with everything except I don't think it ever got interesting. None of the characters had real personalities, Pip just annoyed me, and Joe was TOO nice! I think that the whole part with Estella's parents just happening to be a convict and a maid and the fact that Pip just happened to meet both, just by chance, seems very unrealistic. Too many things just happened by chance.

Sorry Dickens, but it's thumbs down for me.

[Cass]

I am reading the book right now in my Pre-Ap English class and so far I agree that it is boring and quite hard for me to understand. Every night I am assigned a chapter along with a study guide. So I read the chapter, a summary online, and I still struggle with the questions over them. The only thing my teacher says to do is read with someone, but I do afterschool sports so its very hard to set aside time to read with someone;do you have any suggestions for me?

[Charles Darnay]

The biggest problem with reading Dickens today is that he did not write for us, he wrote for the people living in England during the industrial age. There is a lot in his works (especially Great Expectations) that reflect HIS time, and unfortunately without an understanding of the context, a lot of the novel becomes lost on a modern audience.

I know it's just my opinion, but Great Expectations is a great novel and I truly believe that if you understood more of its subtleties you might enjoy it more....once again, jsut a thought.

[manolia]

I recently read "Great expectations" for the first time and i thought that it was very interesting and well written though a bit sad. The thing that strikes me with this book is its plot with its twists and turns and also the fact that scarcely a sentence is lost. Everything that is written has a reason to be there!

[Charles Darnay]

scarcely a sentence is lost. Everything that is written has a reason to be there!

I don't think I've ever heard that said about a Dickens' book....most people believe the exact opposite: but in the case of Great Expectations, I would have to agree with you there.

[Skye Rave 4eva]

I just read Great Expectations in my past time (like I never even read books in my past time, let alone something from Charles Dickens) but I remember having to do something in AP when I was a freshamn with David Copperfield and I decided, what the heck, why not give it a shot?

Great Expectations is an interesting book. The whole plot in the story can be summed up in perhaps only a page if one was good enough. But what can be told in one page, Dickens expands into about 500 (at least according to my version). So yeah, a lot of people would be like "what's the point of describing every single detail" or "why the heck do I need to know three pages of the history of something that's never going to be mentioned of again".

But you see, that's the thing about it, it makes everything seem so real. Aside from the ending, you get the impression that you're reading somebody's biography. All the emotions that Pip expresses are like a real persons, and even though he's not the coolest protagonist, he's just like any ordinary person.

The most interesting part about this story is the Satis House, of course, and Miss Havisham and Estella. If you don't ever fall in love with that place, you'll never fall in love with the book. If you never give a damn about Estella, then you'll never give a damn about the main character.

Ever single chapter that edges on seems to bring the reader, as well as Pip, closer and closer to something intangible which is the "great expectations". What exactly are this Great Expectations? What is his purpose in it, what exactly is he supposed to do? Does it deal with Estella? Does it deal with inheriting the Satis house?

We must remember that it was Estella that was the main spark that set Pip off to want to become a gentleman. He was always looked down on by her, and when he gets the chance to become her equal, you can't help but wonder exactly what he's going to do. How does he become a gentleman, does he even really change at all? And plus, is there ever a way he can match up to Estella?

The journey to Estella's heart is a long one, and there's always a long gap in intervals before he can meet up with her again. Sometimes she can say only a few words, sometimes we get a glimpse of her in only a few paragraphs, but those moments stand out the most and sharply contrast with the rest of the book, making the reader wonder what will happen next.

There's a bunch of friendly characters, different characters of different class, that are always there and they all seem to have their different traits. Mr. Wemmick, Herbert, and Mr. Jaggers, are unique figures in Pip's life, where all the other characters are minor installments (sometimes interesting, sometimes not) that are there for the sake of simply existing as backdrop characters in the atmosphere.

Joe, Miss Havisham, and Provis are the only real major characters in the story. They appear always randomly, and make a huge impact on Pip whenever they come across him. Everytime they come to visit (or whenever Pip visits) there's always something to look forward to on the development of himself and his character.

Of course, beyond them all, lies the Holy Grail that Pip calls "Estella". And in the very rare times that we get to have a glimpse of her, it's followed with Pips feelings of dissapointment and pain. He keeps trying though, and near the end we really feel that his efforts are totally hopeless, he loses a main purpose for living.

Spoilers Ahead

At about the same time that Estella rejects him, Provis appears to Pip and he tells him that he really didn't have any Great Expectations, all he was meant to do was live off of his money and become a gentleman. Knowing this, Pip becomes very distraught and has no idea where to go in life, because he thought that everything was taken care of already. He even thought he would be married to Estella.

But he doesn't, and Estella marries someone else. Before Pip is even given time to rethink what he wants to do with his life, he is forced to stash away Provis and take him out of the country before he is caught. Provis dies in the process, and Pip is left with no more of his inheritance.

The next 11 years or so skips by so quickly in the book that we realize that there's nothing more important in Pip's life after that. But in the end, when he finally returns back, and comes across two weddings, and then meets Estella in the garden of Satis house alone and in remorse, we know after such a long and painful road, he'll get what he always wished for. And I guess the question that I still have is: was it worth it?

[sugscott]

My feeling is that the start of the book was great, especially the descriptions. However i then felt it started to drag during the middle section of the book, with not much progression being made. Towards the end I feel that it picks up its pace again, drawing the reader in, and making them feel attached to the characters, and included in the story.

I felt that Pip was a likable main character, I felt that he wanted to do good, but was constrained by his peers in his upper class surrounds. I didn't find him annoying or irritable, I thought he was a good narrator for the story