Each instalment of it in All the Year Round contained two chapters, and was written in a way to keep readers interested from week to week, while still satisfying the need for resolution at the end of each instalment.

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Was there ever a novelist who created more memorable characters than Dickens? Here, we meet perhaps his most intriguing - Miss Havisham. For anyone unfamiliar with the story, I will not spoil it by describing her. The story is similar to parable about the prodigal son - good Pip inexplicably comes into some money and goes off to the corrupting city.

AN IMPORTANT THING TO NOTE: Dickens wrote two ending for this book. His friends thought that the original ending was too downbeat and they asked him to come up with a different one. It is the upbeat ending that is the official ending of the novel. However, most critics agree that the original unpublished ending is better. Most modern editions feature the unpublished ending in an appendix. MAKE SURE YOU BUY A COPY THAT CONTAINS THE ORIGINAL ENDING!


Dark, brooding, profound   April 22, 2005
 65 out of 76 found this review helpful

Great Expectations is one of Dickens's later novels, a work of his artistic maturity. The narrative is symbolic rather than realistic. Although, as in most of Dickens and in Victorian literature in general, the plot relies heavily on coincidence, it is acceptable here because the events are true to the internal, psychological, logic of the story.

After writing A Tale of Two Cities, which was unique among his novels in that it had none of his trademark humor, Dickens set out to make Great Expectations rich in comic elements. This despite, or perhaps because of, being in a depressed state of mind himself at the time. The conventional critical view is that he largely failed in this attempt, but I strongly disagree. The book is hilariously funny in parts and the main character, Pip, exhibits a characteristically British humour-in-adversity throughout his adventures. There is also the host of minor comic characters that we expect from Dickens. And he for once manages pathos without spilling over into bathos, so there are tears as well as laughter here, sometimes both at once.

If you have not yet read any Dickens, this is not a bad book with which to start, although for younger readers (teens) I would recommend Hard Times or A Tale of Two Cities as their first. Great Expectations demands a mature sensibility to appreciate its symbolism and psychological depth. Perhaps because it chiefly concerns the childhood and youth of the protagonist, it is often given to young people to read and is a set text in some High School classes. This is a pity because, in its dark complexity, it is more likely to turn youngsters off, rather than onto, Dickens.





You Must Be 21 or Older to Read this Book   October 31, 2003
 36 out of 47 found this review helpful

Why, in God's name, do high school teachers insist on stuffing this complex novel down the throats of their teen-aged students? Because the initial chapters are narrated by, Pip, a little boy we watch become a young man? Because there are pirates and bad guys in it? Because there's a sort of love story? I'm sure some high schoolers understand GREAT EXPECTATIONS but the majority of them... I don't think so.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS contains many complicated, adult themes and issues that adults will surely appreciate. A virtual encyclopedia of human emotions--fear, child abuse, anticipation, disappointment, love, jealousy, manipulation--this greatest of all of Dickens' novels has everything. And all these ingredients are woven into an incredibly entangled plot, full of twists and turns. On top of all that, the novel is also a virtual encyclopedia of the layout and attitudes of Victorian London.

Holding it all together is Pip's incredible perceptions into his world and his emotions. Never before had there been a character so aware of his feelings and, still, because he is human, he allows these emotions to sometimes compel him to do the opposite of what is right and best. Pip does sometimes behave like the child and young adult he is, but that doesn't mean this novel is suitable for anyone of that age.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points


Very good, but not for everyone   December 8, 2005
 21 out of 22 found this review helpful

"Great Expectations" tells the story of Pip, a boy who starts as an orphan who moves on to apprenticeship in the business world of nineteenth-century England. Along the way, he falls in love with a girl from a wealthy family, and gains a mysterious patron. The book is heavy on character development and descriptive detail, but relatively light on action and suspense.

"Great Expectations" is often on a teacher's list in literature class, and I hope it's listed as a choice, instead of required reading. Most students who read it will like it, and be able to identify with the characters, but impatient readers will drown in the details, extended descriptions and explanations, and deep characterizations.

If you do enjoy the depth and detail of "Great Expectations," Herman Melville's challenging masterpiece, "Moby Dick," might be for you. If you like the story of the boy, fighting adversity, to rise through the business world of older times, try "Anthony Adverse."


True Confessions of a High School Teacher   April 27, 2006
 15 out of 18 found this review helpful

I've taught this book in 9th grade for years because it is a curriculum requirement. During that time, I have raved about the incredible abilities of Dickens to create memorable characters, plot fascinating fiction, make the lives of ordinary people in England memorable, write incredibly descriptive passages . . . .

The time has come to tell the truth. While it may be a great *work of literature*, Great Expectations is a tough book to like.

There is much to appreciate - in the intellectual sense of the word - about GE, from carefully drawn characters to an infinitely detailed plot. Without exception, students love to play *connect the characters* as the novel progresses. They discuss the unrequited love between Pip and Estella, Biddy and Pip - they love the relationship between Joe and Pip. They are fascinated and repulsed by Miss Havisham and her house. They are shocked by Magwitch, and enthralled by his sacrifice. Truly, this has all the makings of a 9th grade *hit*! So what's the problem? Language,length, and format.

The language is off-putting. So much is colloquial to the time and difficult to bring current. Joe's dialect (along with the convict's) is VERY difficult for my deep south students to imitate when reading aloud, and sometimes even difficult for them to decipher at all. Sentences can go on (and on and on and on and on) so that the end hardly seems connected to the beginning. While common when Dickens was writing, these patterns are a bit difficult for a modern audience.

Length and format are a problem that go together. Originally published as a serial, this novel was presented a chapter or two at a time, with a wait between installments. That allowed a reader to digest the events in a chapter, contemplate the relationships, discuss them with friends and build up anticipation for the next installment. By virtue of that style, many side-stories are included that have little bearing on the overall plot. Likewise, there is much detail included that seems almost irrelevant when one is reading the novel in full. Those are the very things that fostered interest in the serial, and yet in a novel, they seem extraneous and confusing. At the end, the novel seems (just a bit) overwritten (and perhaps that is because it wasn't originally a novel).

In summary, my feelings about this novel are mixed. The story itself is fascinating, but I find myself eternally dreading that time of year when I will yet again introduce it to another crop of unsuspecting students . . .