A much beloved book by everyone... except anyone I have spoken to. My first foray into Dickens was for my Victorian Literature class, and was our first book of the semester (additionally, I think it is the longest book, but our next novel may beat it). It did not surprise me that every time I mentioned to any of my friends or peers that I was reading Great Expectations, they would cringe. "I hate that book, I had to read it in high school," was their common chorus. Now, this did not leave me with particularly high hopes for the book.
Or, rather, it did not leave me with great expectations for it. (Hah! See what I did there?)
I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the book, which I finally finished earlier today. I loved Dickens' language, the overall arc of the story, and I appreciated the humor of the time. I did not find the language particularly difficult to understand (compared to, say, Jane Austen. This is to be expected, however - Dickens is 150 or so years later than Austen, and so his language would be more contemporary,) instead, I found it very densely packed. No words were wasted, nothing was unimportant.
No doubt, I did struggle with it at times, but only because I could not spend the time I wanted to with the book. I wanted to soak in the beautiful language of the mid-19th century, not skim quickly through so I could get to my next massive reading assignment for my other classes. Unfortunately, I had to do just that, and so at the end I feel like I got a sense of the story, but at the cost of enjoying the novel as a whole.
That said, I look forward to someday rereading it, and giving it the treatment it deserves. Perhaps when I get a chance, I will try my hand at reading more Dickens. I'd like to see what else I've been missing out on!
-----
For anyone who has to read the book for a class, I have provided a helpful summary, breadbox style, just for you:
Pip: Man, I wish I were a gentleman!
Mr Jaggers: What a coincidence! You have great expectations!
Pip: Wow! That's the title of the novel!
Estella: I will haunt your dreams...
-----
I'll be uploading book reviews on Fridays, I think. As I have so many books to read, it'll be nice to unload my thoughts and opinions about them on the blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment