Charles Dickens - Great Expectations -

[Kris Brass]

Hopefully the community does not get upset over my opinion regarding this classic novel. I found it extremely well written -perhaps better written than any novel that I have previously read, but I found the story somewhat boring. The most intriguing part of the story was Pip and Estella, but for some reason, she disappears almost immediately from the story. That was when I burnt out. Without the connection involved within the opening of Part II, I couldn't bring myself to finishing it.

Does anybody else agree with me here?

[fajfall]

I found the movie very boring, so boring I don't even remember what happens in it. I hope the book's better. Having said that, when I force myself to finish a book I'm usually glad that I did as everything falls into place thereafter.

[Polliwog]

Great Expectations was my first Dickens experience. After reading it I understood why he is lauded, but I didn't really enjoy reading it. It was the vivid characters that bade me try his other works. I went on to A Tale of Two Cities with almost the same result until the last third of the book. The last two chapters got me hooked. My favorite work of his is David Copperfield. Through different characters Dickens sure knows how to show us at our best and worst. He's so good at illustrating innocence and the loss of it - in my opinion anyway. I'm so glad I went back to him. He's now in my top 10 favorite authors. I hope you try another of his works at some point.

[Danik 2016]

I enjoy reading Dickens very much, but some of the Vitorian Novels may seem much to extensive to modern readers. Much of this is due to the editorial contracts, which demanded volumes. I think the classical lenght was three tomes for the book form.
In Dickens case it turned him into maybe the first great urban writer and a master of setting atmosphere..His descriptions of London are so intense and detailed that two centuries or so later it helped me to go around the city and remember the otherwise complicated names of the tube stations.
"Great Expectations" is for me the story of the failure of what might be called the "British Dream".

[OrphanPip]

I took my username from the book.

I had a fondness for Great Expectations when I was 15-16 being a pretentious lonesome boy coming from a working class family that lived pay cheque to pay cheque. There wasn't an Estella or Magwitch in my life but I still identified greatly with Pip despite him being a not so great person all things considered.

[kev67]

I liked Great Expectations and I sympathised with Pip, although, it is true, he was hardly a great man.

[AndyRoo]

"Great Expectations" is for me the story of the failure of what might be called the "British Dream".

Hi Danik,

What do you think the "British Dream" is/was?

Cheers,
Andy

[milagros]

Hello:

I think the same Kris Brass. When I read “Great expection”, the book hooked me in the first chapters (especially the tender scenes between Pip and Estella), I like the way as Dickens described Pip´s feellings. But when Estella is out of the plane, the story becomes monotomo and tiresome; for one minute I thought close the book forever. However, it is so well written that fill chapters cease to matter.

[biblophile]

I like Great Expectations, however it is probably one of my least favorites. I like his late novels best. Our Mutual Friend, Little Dorrit, And Bleak House. My favorite Early work would be David Copperfield, or perhaps Martin Chuzzeiwit. I have a soft spot for old Tom Pinch.

[Eiseabhal]

Pip was not intended to be a great human being. Dickens shows us flaws as well as qualities. The fact that the reader finds him both sympathetic and unsympathetic is one of the ways that the novel is a triumph of the imagination. It's also very funny in many places.

[prendrelemick]

I've just called my new sheepdog Pip.

Isn't that just Dickens - some wonderful stuff and some I can't finish. I liked Great Expectations, there are some absolute classic unforgettable moments in it.

[Red Terror]

Dickens does enlarge your vocabulary I.Q

I read only two Dickens novels: Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. The Twist novel was very good in its opening chapters but then gets bogged down in cheap sentimentality, which drove me crazy. The Expectations novel was solid but I didn't think it was great. The most interesting character is the eccentrically mad Miss Havisham. Pip and Estella bore me.