Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

To date, this is the only dickens book that I have read, probably because it?s the only one that I haven?t seen on TV and I have heard that famous first line so often. It?s set during the beginning of the French revolution and flits back and forth between England and France. Initially I found the book slightly off-putting due to it archaic grammar and vocabulary, but after the first few pages it was a joy to read. I especially enjoyed all the various (archaic) dialects employed in the book; it made it all the more real and colourful. Prior to reading this book I had very little knowledge of that period and found it enlightening and also entertaining. I ...  Read the complete review

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’’ This opening line has been quoted innumerable times. It has been repeated in other books, on television, in movies. I have run across it everywhere, but had not read the book. So I finally read it, and am glad I did. I knew the basic story. Dickens is not one of my favorite authors, but to teach my school going cousin I took this book. I enjoyed the book although it’s not an exceptional one. The story of Sydney Carton shows how even the most unexpected person can change. The characters were not well fleshed out, in my opinion. Lucie, her father, and Charles Darnay are two ...  Read the complete review

This is the first Dickens book that i have ever read (yeah, i know, it took me 21 years to get round to it) and I'm sorry, but it doesn't particularly inspire me to read any more of his work. I found the topic of a tale of two cities really interesting because it is a period of history about which i know nothing at all but the story wasn't as dramatically romanti c as i had been led to believe. the story is about two guys who fancy a french bird and very tragically, one of them gets sentenced to death. Nice. The romance behind this is very subtle and the gore behind the story isn't any where near gruseome enough. I had ...  Read the complete review