I like books, but not this book

[bluosean]

Yes. He writes good books. I just didn't like this one. The subject to me was extremely interisting. I still found the way that he wrote it boring. I am glad that you liked it though.

[Insane4Twain]

Dickens is an absolute genius based solely on this book when it comes to his writing, but his story, plot and characters are much too bland. The entire plot, the whole thing all you people rave about, is based purely on coincidence: if Carton didn't look like Darnay, the book would be horrible. Of course, Carton does look like Darnay, but good books should not have to rely on a very improbable coincidence to be good. Darnay and Lucy are very weak and underdeveloped, I could make more developed and deep characters, as for Carton, he alone doesn't make up for the utter lack of depth in the other characters, and even he isn't that amazing. He seemed very superficial and predictable to me, like a soap opera.

I just finished rereading this masterful book for the second, possibly the third, time. I don't like to slow myself down by taking too many notes, but I bracketed some passages that I thought were particularly insightful and memorable.

I took your criticism to heart, but I have to disagree with your contention that the characters in this book are weaker than in other works by Dickens.

I found Sydney Carton quite well-developed. He undergoes a great deal of personal turmoil throughout the novel.

Waste forces within him, and a desert all around, this man stood still on his way across a silent terrace, and saw for a moment, lying in the wilderness before him, a mirage of honourable ambition, self-denial, and perseverance. In the fair city of this vision, there were airy galleries from which the loves and graces looked upon him, gardens in which the fruits of life hung ripening, waters of Hope that sparkled in his sight. A moment, and it was gone. Climbing to a high chamber in a well of houses, he threw himself down in his clothes on a neglected bed, and its pillow was wet with wasted tears.

Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning himself to let it eat him away (Book the Second/V).

Quite contrary to your assessment, I believe this is Dickens's greatest triumph. The characters are vividly portrayed and the plot has many twists and turns that keep the reader guessing what will happen next. The ending stands as one of the most astounding in all world literature. A reader who doesn't shed a tear reading the last thoughts of Carton as he nears the guillotine must have the soul of a stone.

That Carton and Darnay look alike is not to say they look identical. The revolutionaries are in and out, so it doesn't seem impossible to pull off the ruse, especially after switching clothes.