Product Description

Pip doesn't expect much from life...His sister makes it clear that her orphaned little brother is nothing but a burden on her. But suddenly things begin to change. Pip's narrow existence is blown apart when he finds an escaped criminal, is summoned to visit a mysterious old woman and meets the icy beauty Estella. Most astoundingly of all, an anonymous person gives him money to begin a new life in London. Are these events as random as they seem? Or does Pip's fate hang on a series of coincidences he could never have expected?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #488 in Books
• Published on: 1994-01-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Synopsis
Pip doesn't expect much from life...His sister makes it clear that her orphaned little brother is nothing but a burden on her. But suddenly things begin to change. Pip's narrow existence is blown apart when he finds an escaped criminal, is summoned to visit a mysterious old woman and meets the icy beauty Estella. Most astoundingly of all, an anonymous person gives him money to begin a new life in London. Are these events as random as they seem? Or does Pip's fate hang on a series of coincidences he could never have expected?

From the Publisher
Great Expectations opens unforgettably in a twilit and overgrown churchyard on the eerie Kent marshes.

There the orphan Pip is disturbed to meet an escaped convict, Magwitch, but gives him food, in an encounter that is to haunt both their lives. How Pip receives riches from a mysterious benefactor, snobbishly abandons his friends for London society and 'great expectations', and grows through misfortune and suffering to maturity is the theme of one of Dicken's best-loved novels.

In Great Expectations Dickens blends gripping drama with penetrating satire to give a compelling story rich in comedy and pathos: he has also created two of his finest, most haunting characters in Pip and Miss Havisham.

About the Author
Charles Dickens was born at Portsmouth on 7 February 1812. He received little formal education, but taught himself shorthand and became a reporter of parliamentary debates for the Morning Chronicle. He began to publish sketches in various periodicals, which were subsequently republished as Sketches by Boz. The Pickwick Papers were published in 1836--7 and after a slow start became a publishing phenomenon and Dickens's characters the centre of a popular cult. He began Oliver Twist in 1837, followed by Nicholas Nickleby (1838) and The Old Curiosity Shop (1840--41).After finishing Barnaby Rudge (1841) Dickens set off for America; he went full of enthusiasm for the young republic but, in spite of a triumphant reception, he returned disillusioned. His experiences are recorded in American Notes (1842). Martin Chuzzlewit (1843--4) did not repeat its predecessors' success but this was quickly redressed by the huge popularity of the Christmas Books, of which the first, A Christmas Carol, appeared in 1843. During 1844--6 Dickens travelled abroad and he began Dombey and Son while in Switzerland. This and David Copperfield (1849--50) were more serious in theme and more carefully planned than his early novels. In later works, such as Bleak House (1853) and Little Dorrit (1857), Dickens's social criticism became more radical and his comedy more savage. Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870.

Customer Reviews

A joy to read
I first read this (actually that should say I was first forced to read this) in school over 20 years ago. I hated it. It was disected to within an inch of its life and I came to dread those lessons with a passion. What a shame that school can manage to put off even the most ardent of readers. Isn't reading supposed to be about enjoyment?

I picked this up a couple of weeks ago out of curiosity and read the first page while standing in the bookshop. Before I knew it I had read the entire first chapter and loved it. There is such humour in Dicken's books that would have been totally wasted on me as a 15 year old.

It took me a few weeks to read (hence the 4 stars as I had to concentrate more than with other books) but I thought it was just wonderful. I remembered so little of the story from the first time around that it was like reading a new book. What a fantastic array of characters I came to know. Just loved it.

Simply a Classic
That I came to the novel fully aware of the storyline (through numerous TV and film adaptations) and still raced through the novel is an indication of the quality of the story and its characters.
What did surprise me, which having subsequently watched David Lean's adaptation may be down to selective memory, was what an awful individual Pip became during the course of the novel.
I would also have preferred Dickens originally conceived ending to the novel which appears much more in keeping with the general tone than the revised ending.

Expectations met
I am not fan of Dickens' novels or his prose, but recognise that his body of work is accepted as hugely impressive and influential.

The plot and principal characters of Great Expectations are well known. The introduction to the penguin paperback made much of Pip's sense of guilt at the fate that befell his sister and his neglect of Joe and Biddy. I was left mostly with the impression however, that one of the defining characteristics of Pip is that he feels a sense of self worthlessness. I attribute this to the fact of his being an orphan. Pip clings to Joe and even in the end, Magwitch, as something like father figures.

What is remarkable about the narrative is Pip's honesty with himself - he is really quite flawed and weak in many ways and does not shirk responsibility for how things turn out. But that he is also possessed of immense goodness and kindness, there is no doubt. The ending is intriguingly left slightly open, but on balance, you have to think that Pip will end up with his beloved Estella after all. Great Expectations is a dark novel and the characters are drawn by an author who like Shakespeare, had a deep insight in to human psychology. Great Expectations is not only unforgettable because of its basic story, but also because of its wonderful characters: the flawed hero Pip, the deranged and bitter Miss Havisham and the extraordinary creation that is Jaggers the solicitor.