Book Review: Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

A poor little orphan comes into money, grows to become a gentleman, and never gets over his first kiss.



Published 1860, Approximately 186,000 words. Available for free at Project Gutenberg.

Considered by many to be Charles Dickens's finest novel, Great Expectations traces the growth of the book's narrator, the orphan Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams to a man with depth of character.

From its famous dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story abounds with some of Dickens's most memorable characters. Among them are the kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and her beautiful ward Estella, Pip's good-hearted roommate Herbert Pocket, and the pompous Pumblechook.

As Pip unravels the truth behind his own "great expectations" in his quest to become a gentleman, the mysteries of the past and the convolutions of fate through a series of thrilling adventures serve to steer him toward maturity and his most important discovery of all - the truth about himself.

( My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip. )

Verdict: This isn't my favorite Dickens novel, but I haven't read one yet that I didn't like. Great Expectations is creepy in places, which is probably why so many people like it, and the bittersweet ending (Dickens actually wrote two endings) is perfectly consistent with the story. This book is a good "starter" Dickens, and also perfectly satisfying for Dickens fans.

Also by Charles Dickens: My reviews of David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities.

Great Expectations is one of the 1001 books you must read before you die, but I did not read it for the books1001 challenge; it has already been assigned to someone else. (Waves at books_n_cats. ;))

Book Review: Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

A poor little orphan comes into money, grows to become a gentleman, and never gets over his first kiss.



Published 1860, Approximately 186,000 words. Available for free at Project Gutenberg.

Considered by many to be Charles Dickens's finest novel, Great Expectations traces the growth of the book's narrator, the orphan Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams to a man with depth of character.

From its famous dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story abounds with some of Dickens's most memorable characters. Among them are the kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and her beautiful ward Estella, Pip's good-hearted roommate Herbert Pocket, and the pompous Pumblechook.

As Pip unravels the truth behind his own "great expectations" in his quest to become a gentleman, the mysteries of the past and the convolutions of fate through a series of thrilling adventures serve to steer him toward maturity and his most important discovery of all - the truth about himself.

( My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip. )

Verdict: This isn't my favorite Dickens novel, but I haven't read one yet that I didn't like. Great Expectations is creepy in places, which is probably why so many people like it, and the bittersweet ending (Dickens actually wrote two endings) is perfectly consistent with the story. This book is a good "starter" Dickens, and also perfectly satisfying for Dickens fans.

Also by Charles Dickens: My reviews of David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities.

Great Expectations is one of the 1001 books you must read before you die, but I did not read it for the books1001 challenge; it has already been assigned to someone else. (Waves at books_n_cats. ;))