"A Christmas Carol" is Charles Dickens' greatest work. I have not changed my opinion on this after reading "Great Expectations".
Pip, Miss Havisham, Joe, Mrs. Joe, Estella and Biddy are a decent group of characters. Miss Havisham and Pip are still occasionally referred to. Abel Magwitch was not well-defined enough for me. He wasn't entirely a villain, but nor was he a persecuted hero either. Perhaps this was how the author wanted it- deliberate ambiguity. It was a little annoying for me though, given how inherently black and white the other characters were presented
This was a hard slog of a book for me. The slang is very much outdated and hard to follow in places. If there is humor, I think I missed most of it. The book is also long-winded, which when you consider that it was originally released as a serial in a magazine does makes sense.
I am glad that I read it, simply because it is considered to be a classic. My final verdict, with all apologies to Charles Dickens, is that the movie was probably better than the book.
Book 2/52 for this upcoming week: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I loved this book as a young girl, so I am excited to revisit it this week.
Great Expectations is not my favourite Dickens either I have to admit, for me Bleak House really stands out but then I havn't read all of his books, oneday I may actually catch up on those classics.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of 52 weeks and 52 books!
I'll have to put Bleak House on the list, perhaps for next year. :) Thanks for visiting and commenting!
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