| Great Expectations (Penguin Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher: Longman
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 3509
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 544
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0141439564
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN: 9780141439563
ASIN: 0141439564
Publication Date: February 16, 2004
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| Customer Reviews:
 Probably his best August 13, 2003
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
There are many things to dislike about Dickens. He has a tendency to go for novels of overblown length (one review on this website of his shortest novel ‘Hard Times’ seems to think that bigger means better, which I am inclined to disagree with). His characters (especially the women) are either innocent virtue or wholly malevolent. And then of course there’s the lachrymose sentimentality…
With ‘Great Expectations’ all this gets reined in. It tells the story of Pip, apprenticed to kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery, who is provided with an unexpected opportunity to become a gentleman. He shuns his working class roots and goes off to fulfil his ambitions in London, the primary motivation presumably being his desire to impress the beautiful but cold-hearted Estella.
From this premise, Dickens weaves a simple but hugely effective yarn that contains an important moral lesson. In true Dickens style it is exercised in a preachy manner; but considering the time Dickens wrote it in, it was the only way to get across his radical social criticism. ‘Great Expectations’ has all the positive aspects of the ‘later’ Dickens novels, whilst managing to dispense with the usual criticisms applied to his writings. It is tightly and deftly plotted, but doesn’t take time to flourish into something gripping (hello ‘Bleak House’). There are complex characters too – such as Pip, who is subject to a voyage of self-discovery, and Jaggers, who isn’t as sinister as he seems. Even some of the female characters are interesting, like Biddy, who is sweet-tempered and pious, but not afraid to stand up for herself either. And when Dickens goes for the emotional jugular he genuinely moves you – the chapter in which Joe (the novel’s true gentleman) visits Pip for the first time in London, and behaves awkwardly but manages to emerge with dignity, is absolutely heartbreaking.
‘Great Expectations’ is a novel with acute social commentary, populated with a cast of unforgettable characters and featuring a plot that gets all the more exciting as it reaches its denouement. It is a typical Dickens novel, but one that neutralises the factors that so often blight his writing, thus elevating it above the rest of his (mostly excellent) works.
A classic novel May 21, 2003
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is obviously a classic novel and one that I have now read several times. It is an excellent story, beautifully written, with a host of truly memorable characters. The introduction to this edition contains an interesting analysis of the predominant issues in the book and the notes are helpful without being too copious. It also includes a map of Kent in the early C19th, as well as Dickens's original ending and some of his working notes, which make interesting reading.
sad as a Thames twilight February 27, 2003
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Having just read G E for the first time, what strikes me is its infinite sadness and sense of melancholia. While there is much of Dickens`s customary wit and punning humour in the writing, the
impression is of a man in the grip of an atypical desire to express some deep pain, a sadness inconsolable, exemplified in the self-torturing central figure of Pip, growing up in a household dominated by a much elder sister/mother who is forever `on the Rampage` and a long-suffering, seemingly ineffectual uncle/father, Joe, who is nevertheless virtually the one constant source of hope in the novel - a thoroughly good, unlettered yet deeply human man (an almost Hardyesque figure; and it is in G E that Dickens perhaps foreshadows such works as Tess and The Mayor of Casterbridge) who is nevertheless far more dignified and, in his way, proud than he at first appears. He, Joe, refuses to outstay his welcome both times he visits Pip in London, not only from a sense of incongruity, but also a strong feeling of self-preservation,a gentle pride in his own realness - something Pip himself nearly loses.
Dickens`s final, tentatively hopeful chapter, Pip and Estella in the ruins of Miss Havisham`s garden, is suitably downbeat, refusing to allow the saddened reader too much sunlight, even as we are gladdened by the catharsis of self-knowledge so hard-won by Pip over the course of the previous 500 pages.
This is, like Wuthering Heights, The Mayor of Casterbridge or Jane Eyre, one of the timeless, lightning-struck landmarks of 19th century literature, if anything the most regretfully sombre of all of them.
A mature, autumnally beautiful book.
Funny, touching, dramatic, unexpected. February 3, 2002
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
Don't bother reading this if you are immature. When I tried to read it at the age of 15 with the desire of becoming 'intelligent', I lacked the insight to appreciate its humour. I thought it was 'boring' didn't get beyond the first 100 pages and would probably have given it 1 star at that age.However, 11 years on, having exhausted all of Wilkie Collins' novels, I decided to give his friend a second chance. I'm so glad I did. His dark sense of humour comes through the description and interaction of the characters. His dramatic timing is simply perfect and the props he uses sets the reader up for shocks and surprises. He shows us that most of us, like Pip, don't fall into the category of good and evil, but that we are flawed human beings, capable of doing good deeds or making terrible mistakes. The characters cover a vast spectrum, by degrees, from the purely innocent, to likable villains, down to cold-hearted individuals. It's beautifully written, very atmospheric... from the misty marshes to the dusty, dirty claustrophobic London. I laughed. I was moved. I was intrigued. I read with wide-eyed surprise at the unfolding of events. And I defy anyone who reads this story to forget Miss.Havisham. If you understand the English language and have a pulse you should enjoy this immensely.
Excellent read- thoroughly recommended, did it for A Level July 25, 2001
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I read this book for A Level English and thought it would be as dull as anything. in fact i was pleasantly surprised- the characters are varied- some 'flat' and some so 'rounded' you feel as though you know them. There are really small details which can escape unnoticed and the irony is really dramatic. Look out for references to hands- Jaggers, Mollys, Estellas- these are really crucial to the plot.....
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