prendrelemick
04-07-2012, 04:07 AM
A tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
We all know the catch lines; “the best of times, the worst of times – a far, far better thing” but between those quotes there is a tremendous book waiting to be read. I have an odd relationship with Dickens, he has written some of my favourite books, and some that I just can't get on with. This one, I liked and was impressed, he is a skilled writer and story teller he knows how to carry an audience – whether it be a Victorian one or one of the 21st century.
A Tale of Two Cities is a grown up, serious book by Charles Dickens, that is both intimate and epic. The story is set in the time immediately before the French Revolution and in the early days of the First Republic. A cruel and unjust regime is destroyed and replaced by a bloody and diabolical one. Caught up in these monstrous times are the Darnays – Charles born an Aristocrat, he has shunned his family and married Lucie, the daughter of Dr Manette, a former prisoner of the Bastille. When the family leave their settled life in London and travel to Paris they are caught up in the infamous riegn of terror. The mob is in charge, and old scores are being settled.
The plot is full of Dickensian coincidence and contrivance, it has plenty of Victorian sentimentality and many of the expected Dickensian characters make an appearance – the bullish blusterer, the comic rogue, the simple but steadfast companion. These melodramatic devices and persona don't detract from the “epic-ness” of the story, nor the intimacy, and anyway whats wrong with a bit of melodrama?
Where Dickens really shines as always is the empathy he has with the poor. The picture he paints of the destitute of Paris and their helpless hopeless lives, turns the reader into a committed revolutionary – until the terror begins. Then London, with all its injustices and squalor but with the essential connection between the classes, seems like an island of reasonableness.
The characters he draws are not all memorable or even dare I say it, well done, Charles Darnay, one of the major protagonists is particularly vague. The exception is his would-be nemesis Madam Defarge. With very few words and the lightest of touch from the author, her coldness and implacability grows and grows upon the page.
I don't know why I haven't read this before, I'll give it a 7/10
We all know the catch lines; “the best of times, the worst of times – a far, far better thing” but between those quotes there is a tremendous book waiting to be read. I have an odd relationship with Dickens, he has written some of my favourite books, and some that I just can't get on with. This one, I liked and was impressed, he is a skilled writer and story teller he knows how to carry an audience – whether it be a Victorian one or one of the 21st century.
A Tale of Two Cities is a grown up, serious book by Charles Dickens, that is both intimate and epic. The story is set in the time immediately before the French Revolution and in the early days of the First Republic. A cruel and unjust regime is destroyed and replaced by a bloody and diabolical one. Caught up in these monstrous times are the Darnays – Charles born an Aristocrat, he has shunned his family and married Lucie, the daughter of Dr Manette, a former prisoner of the Bastille. When the family leave their settled life in London and travel to Paris they are caught up in the infamous riegn of terror. The mob is in charge, and old scores are being settled.
The plot is full of Dickensian coincidence and contrivance, it has plenty of Victorian sentimentality and many of the expected Dickensian characters make an appearance – the bullish blusterer, the comic rogue, the simple but steadfast companion. These melodramatic devices and persona don't detract from the “epic-ness” of the story, nor the intimacy, and anyway whats wrong with a bit of melodrama?
Where Dickens really shines as always is the empathy he has with the poor. The picture he paints of the destitute of Paris and their helpless hopeless lives, turns the reader into a committed revolutionary – until the terror begins. Then London, with all its injustices and squalor but with the essential connection between the classes, seems like an island of reasonableness.
The characters he draws are not all memorable or even dare I say it, well done, Charles Darnay, one of the major protagonists is particularly vague. The exception is his would-be nemesis Madam Defarge. With very few words and the lightest of touch from the author, her coldness and implacability grows and grows upon the page.
I don't know why I haven't read this before, I'll give it a 7/10