Lives Up To Expectation (Great Expectations - Charles Dickens)

Member Name: Tulahoob

Product:	Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Date:	02/10/09 (55 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: well worth the read

Disadvantages: Long winded at times

This novel was one of Dickens serialised works. He would write one or two chapters at a time which would then appear in the press. The novel took little under a year to complete.
The narrator is Pip (Phillip Pirrip), whom is orphaned at a young age and taken in by his uncaring and abusive sister, Mrs Joe and her kind husband, Joe the blacksmith.
The story opens on Christmas Eve 1812 (when Pip is aged 7) on the barren marshes of Kent, and goes right up until the Winter of 1840.
In the novel we see the stages of Pip's 'Great Expectations', from his humble beginnings to upper class society. the plot details his dealings with the convict Magwitch, his love interest Estella and the famous Miss Havisham (Hav a Sham).

The key themes of this novel are the quest for social mobility, the difference between gentlemen and gentle men, and the issue of crimes and guilt. The use of winter, marshes and mist as a recurring motifs parellels what is going on in the novel. e.g. hardship, depravation and deception.

At times this book is difficult to read like most of the classics. however it is well worth the read. Upon each new reading you will find new intracacies in the plot, and parallels between characters.

Summary: One of Dickens' best social commentries