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Great Expectations
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Manufacturer: Pendulum Pr
Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher: Pendulum Pr
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Our Price:
You Save: $ 7.50 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: Pendulum Pr
Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher: Pendulum Pr
Average Customer Rating:
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Great Expectations Description
Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780883014004
ISBN: 0883014009
Label: Pendulum Pr
Manufacturer: Pendulum Pr
Publication Date: 1979-06
Publisher: Pendulum Pr
Studio: Pendulum Pr
EAN: 9780883014004
ISBN: 0883014009
Label: Pendulum Pr
Manufacturer: Pendulum Pr
Publication Date: 1979-06
Publisher: Pendulum Pr
Studio: Pendulum Pr
Editorial Review of Great Expectations
Dickens considered Great Expectations one of his "little pieces," and indeed, it is slim compared to such weighty novels as David Copperfield or Nicholas Nickleby. But what this cautionary tale of a young man raised high above his station by a mysterious benefactor lacks in length, it more than makes up for in its remarkable characters and compelling story. The novel begins with young orphaned Philip Pirrip--Pip--running afoul of an escaped convict in a cemetery. This terrifying personage bullies Pip into stealing food and a file for him, threatening that if he tells a soul "your heart and your liver shall be tore out, roasted and ate." The boy does as he's asked, but the convict is captured anyway, and transported to the penal colonies in Australia. Having started his novel in a cemetery, Dickens then ups the stakes and introduces his hero into the decaying household of Miss Havisham, a wealthy, half-mad woman who was jilted on her wedding day many years before and has never recovered. Pip is brought there to play with Miss Havisham's ward, Estella, a little girl who delights in tormenting Pip about his rough hands and future as a blacksmith's apprentice.
I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair. Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.It is an infection that Pip never quite recovers from; as he spends more time with Miss Havisham and the tantalizing Estella, he becomes more and more discontented with his guardian, the kindhearted blacksmith, Joe, and his childhood friend Biddy. When, after several years, Pip becomes the heir of an unknown benefactor, he leaps at the chance to leave his home and friends behind to go to London and become a gentleman. But having expectations, as Pip soon learns, is a two-edged sword, and nothing is as he thought it would be. Like that other "little piece," A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations is different from the usual Dickensian fare: the story is dark, almost surreal at times, and you'll find few of the author's patented comic characters and no comic set pieces. And yet this is arguably the most compelling of Dickens's novels for, unlike David Copperfield or Martin Chuzzlewit, the reader can never be sure that things will work out for Pip. Even Dickens apparently had his doubts--he wrote two endings for this novel. --Alix Wilber
Customer Reviews of Great Expectations
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Dourly illustrated, it accurately represents the situation in London in the mid ninteenth century
Review: "Great Expectations" is one of the few works by Charles Dickens that I had neither read nor had any contact with. Other than knowing title and author, I had no knowledge of the work before reading this book. After reading it, I can say that the effect was what one would hope the Classics Illustrated works would have on people. The contact generated a desire in me to read the original work.
The artwork is generally dour, reflecting the reality of London in Dickens' time. While there were pockets of great wealth, there were enormous sections of grinding poverty and struggle. The lot of orphans was especially hard, with no social safety net of any kind, they were at the mercy of whatever benefactors they happened to encounter.
In many ways, the best way to learn about the social conditions of England in the mid nineteenth century is to read the novels of Charles Dickens. He tells it like it is, a place of great social consciousness, where the upper classes could do no wrong and the lower classes were expected to know their place. There is no better indicator of that than when working class Joe Gargery nurses the now gentleman Pip back to health and then after his recovery, Joe leaves Pip and goes back to his social station.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Love is...beautiful and heartbreaking.
Review: Philip Pirrip, otherwise known as Pip, has great expectations. Given the opportunity to become 'a gentleman', his life becomes a quest fueled by his misguided and false hopes and dreams. And most of all: of unrequited love. All of which unravels.
There is something there for everyone: mystery, thriller, drama, comedy, social commentary, romance (in a twisted sort of way). GE is about human nature and love, forgiveness and hope; a perfect blending of all these gritty elements that make up Life.
I'm not going to go into the plot, others have done it, and much better than I ever could. What I will say is that Great Expectations is a book that everyone should try to read. Don't rush, but peruse, read slowly, savor it, appreciate it. The characters are vivid and heart-breaking, the personal growth of Pip from young boy to man, emotional and dramatic. You will feel for all the characters that will stay with you long after you've finished it.
The introduction by Irving should be read. But AFTERWARDS. He gives an interesting biosketch on Dickens, the story arch and influences of GE. I was definitely enriched for having read it. The back also has the Original Ending of GE that Dicken's wrote, a list of works and a short but concise bibliography about Dicken's the man and his works.
This was my first read of Dicken's and I was expecting a book bogged down and heavy with prose or overtly poetic speeches, and a book that would make me want to go to sleep: I was pleasantly surprised. While the style can be difficult & you will have to re-read parts of it, it's manageable, though, it's a good idea to have a dictionary on hand. There are parts that do go on and chapters that seem static, but the language and rendering of 19th century England and the characters make it all the worth while. Only then, will you understand why this book a true Classic.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Slow Read
Review: Great Expectations didn't meet my expectations. I was a little bored throughout the begining and middle of the story. I think what kept me reading on was the desire to read a "classic" (I usually read biography or history).
I continued reading because I wanted to find out if Magwitch would meet his daughter. In addition, I was interested in Pip's strong desire to be a gentleman. Other than help his friend in business and dawdle about thinking about an emotionally deadweight chic, Pip didn't seem interested in obtaining a job or taking real advantage of his opportunities. I'll give Pip credit for helping his friend attain stature in business, and eventually going on to operate with his friend after losing his unearned wealth. But the lazy part is 19th century gentleman, huh?
Maybe Dicken's purpose was to show the benefits of wealth and the slothfullness of one who didn't have to work himself to attain it. Maybe it hit me at the wrong time, as my fiancee just took a hike and left me after I just sold my house (and now have no place to go). Trust you me, I won't be wasting my life away like Ms. Havisham though. I haven't reached gentlemanly status and need to continue working . . . .
I've only read Charles Dicken's Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist in addition to "Great Expectations". Of these, I thoroughly enjoyed Nicholas Nickleby. In the future, I'll look for Kates and Madellines and not Estellas. Great Expectations was a tougher read for me as these characters just simply didn't entice my interest too much. Of course, maybe I needed a brighter read . . .
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Delightful Read
Review: Many people scoffed this book back in my freshman English class, because it was Dickens, and Dickens meant "boring" to them. However, shrug off the normal tendencies to stereotype an old-time classic to be a bore, one can find a true delight in this beautiful story of a young man struggling with an impossible love, the pressures of money and society, and, of course, himself. It is an excellent, absolutely enriching read.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The twists and turns of life
Review: Great works of English literature from the 1700s and 1800s shared one thing in common; twists and turns in the plot lines that are never fully exposed until the last lines of the book. Chief among these twists are reversals of fortune both good and bad. So goes this work of literature. Though read by many as children, I would consider it more worthy of young adults, as the text can be quite boring for anyone below their teens. Basically, the plot revolves around Pip, a boy who grows up poor in the care of his sister and apprenticed to a blacksmith; a blue collar job by any standard. But he comes into an inheritance which he gladly accepts, leaving behind his previous life. A second theme of this story is his awe and obsession over Estella, a pretty girl who he meets first when young and poor when she does not even see him, and later one when he is rich when she cannot look past him. This is the probably the part of the book best remembered; a boy infatuated with what he cannot get, only to re-encounter it on later on in life as something he might not want anymore.
As a book, it is shorter than most of Dickens' work, and much easier to read. But it has less historical meaning, and to me, less exploration of social ills than his other works such as Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. The book focuses more on personal travails, and how relationships between individuals all depend on the where the individuals came from. The book is interesting enough, but not that exciting, and I would not consider it as a mandatory work for all students to read.
Review Summary: Dourly illustrated, it accurately represents the situation in London in the mid ninteenth century
Review: "Great Expectations" is one of the few works by Charles Dickens that I had neither read nor had any contact with. Other than knowing title and author, I had no knowledge of the work before reading this book. After reading it, I can say that the effect was what one would hope the Classics Illustrated works would have on people. The contact generated a desire in me to read the original work.
The artwork is generally dour, reflecting the reality of London in Dickens' time. While there were pockets of great wealth, there were enormous sections of grinding poverty and struggle. The lot of orphans was especially hard, with no social safety net of any kind, they were at the mercy of whatever benefactors they happened to encounter.
In many ways, the best way to learn about the social conditions of England in the mid nineteenth century is to read the novels of Charles Dickens. He tells it like it is, a place of great social consciousness, where the upper classes could do no wrong and the lower classes were expected to know their place. There is no better indicator of that than when working class Joe Gargery nurses the now gentleman Pip back to health and then after his recovery, Joe leaves Pip and goes back to his social station.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Love is...beautiful and heartbreaking.
Review: Philip Pirrip, otherwise known as Pip, has great expectations. Given the opportunity to become 'a gentleman', his life becomes a quest fueled by his misguided and false hopes and dreams. And most of all: of unrequited love. All of which unravels.
There is something there for everyone: mystery, thriller, drama, comedy, social commentary, romance (in a twisted sort of way). GE is about human nature and love, forgiveness and hope; a perfect blending of all these gritty elements that make up Life.
I'm not going to go into the plot, others have done it, and much better than I ever could. What I will say is that Great Expectations is a book that everyone should try to read. Don't rush, but peruse, read slowly, savor it, appreciate it. The characters are vivid and heart-breaking, the personal growth of Pip from young boy to man, emotional and dramatic. You will feel for all the characters that will stay with you long after you've finished it.
The introduction by Irving should be read. But AFTERWARDS. He gives an interesting biosketch on Dickens, the story arch and influences of GE. I was definitely enriched for having read it. The back also has the Original Ending of GE that Dicken's wrote, a list of works and a short but concise bibliography about Dicken's the man and his works.
This was my first read of Dicken's and I was expecting a book bogged down and heavy with prose or overtly poetic speeches, and a book that would make me want to go to sleep: I was pleasantly surprised. While the style can be difficult & you will have to re-read parts of it, it's manageable, though, it's a good idea to have a dictionary on hand. There are parts that do go on and chapters that seem static, but the language and rendering of 19th century England and the characters make it all the worth while. Only then, will you understand why this book a true Classic.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Slow Read
Review: Great Expectations didn't meet my expectations. I was a little bored throughout the begining and middle of the story. I think what kept me reading on was the desire to read a "classic" (I usually read biography or history).
I continued reading because I wanted to find out if Magwitch would meet his daughter. In addition, I was interested in Pip's strong desire to be a gentleman. Other than help his friend in business and dawdle about thinking about an emotionally deadweight chic, Pip didn't seem interested in obtaining a job or taking real advantage of his opportunities. I'll give Pip credit for helping his friend attain stature in business, and eventually going on to operate with his friend after losing his unearned wealth. But the lazy part is 19th century gentleman, huh?
Maybe Dicken's purpose was to show the benefits of wealth and the slothfullness of one who didn't have to work himself to attain it. Maybe it hit me at the wrong time, as my fiancee just took a hike and left me after I just sold my house (and now have no place to go). Trust you me, I won't be wasting my life away like Ms. Havisham though. I haven't reached gentlemanly status and need to continue working . . . .
I've only read Charles Dicken's Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist in addition to "Great Expectations". Of these, I thoroughly enjoyed Nicholas Nickleby. In the future, I'll look for Kates and Madellines and not Estellas. Great Expectations was a tougher read for me as these characters just simply didn't entice my interest too much. Of course, maybe I needed a brighter read . . .
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Delightful Read
Review: Many people scoffed this book back in my freshman English class, because it was Dickens, and Dickens meant "boring" to them. However, shrug off the normal tendencies to stereotype an old-time classic to be a bore, one can find a true delight in this beautiful story of a young man struggling with an impossible love, the pressures of money and society, and, of course, himself. It is an excellent, absolutely enriching read.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The twists and turns of life
Review: Great works of English literature from the 1700s and 1800s shared one thing in common; twists and turns in the plot lines that are never fully exposed until the last lines of the book. Chief among these twists are reversals of fortune both good and bad. So goes this work of literature. Though read by many as children, I would consider it more worthy of young adults, as the text can be quite boring for anyone below their teens. Basically, the plot revolves around Pip, a boy who grows up poor in the care of his sister and apprenticed to a blacksmith; a blue collar job by any standard. But he comes into an inheritance which he gladly accepts, leaving behind his previous life. A second theme of this story is his awe and obsession over Estella, a pretty girl who he meets first when young and poor when she does not even see him, and later one when he is rich when she cannot look past him. This is the probably the part of the book best remembered; a boy infatuated with what he cannot get, only to re-encounter it on later on in life as something he might not want anymore.
As a book, it is shorter than most of Dickens' work, and much easier to read. But it has less historical meaning, and to me, less exploration of social ills than his other works such as Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. The book focuses more on personal travails, and how relationships between individuals all depend on the where the individuals came from. The book is interesting enough, but not that exciting, and I would not consider it as a mandatory work for all students to read.