Expectations Excelled (Great Expectations - Charles Dickens)

Member Name: scotia1949

Product:	Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Date:	19/05/01 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A classic, very well observed, authentic

Disadvantages: none

This was the first ever Dickens novel I read and I must admit it is a hard act to follow. Dickens books were all originally written to be serialised in weekly parts, rather like the soap operas of today. Like soap operas he also had to put in little cliff-hangers at the end of each edition and this is one of the strengths of the book. You do not want to put it down. What is going to happen next.

Dickens is the master of the subtle clue but it would take a very astute observer indeed to anticipate the shock which is awaiting young Pip when he finds out who his real benefactor is.

Dickens is a very descriptive and evocative writer. Much of this book is set on the Kentish Marshes and even today, 150 years later, you can see what Dickens was on about. The atmosphere of what it must have been like living in the wild desolate countryside of Pip's childhood is easy to envisage.

Like one of the other opinion writers on this book I too read it for A level English. It was useful to have certain things pointed out and elaborated on, which leaves me at a bit of an advantage from the casual recreational reader. However, having said that, it is undoubtedly a classic and fully deserves to be rated as such.

Summary: