About this title: Dickens's one serious, un-comic novel, A TALE OF TWO CITIES, is set during the French Revolution and tells a story of unselfish devotion. The beautiful Lucy Manette marries Charles Darnay, the descendant of an aristocratic French family denounced by the revolutionaries, among whom are the memorably evil fanatic Mme. Defarge. When Darnay is arrested and condemned to death, his place is taken at the guillotine by Sidney Carton, who loves Lucy himself and is willing to die to secure her happiness (and who happens to resemble Darnay). His last words--"'Tis a far, far better thing that I do than I ...
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Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780553211764ISBN:0553211765
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover has minor wear, pages are unmarked. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 416 p. Bantam Classic. Audience: General/trade. read more
"It is amazing, it is powerful, it is beautiful. It is daunting, it is worth it. It is incredible. From Sydney to Lucie, the charactres shine. The plot is occasionally difficult to follow, but not in a I Am So Lost sort of way. A definite need-to-read."
"Okay, so technically I haven't finished reading it but as far as I am concerned I have. Let's not be pedantic about this - I read over half and found it so excruciatingly tiresome that I couldn't force myself through the remaining pages. I looked up what happened next on wikipedia and concluded that nothing much happened next that would validate me wasting more hours or days dragging myself through a book I did not like.
For a book that is "One of the most beloved of Dickens' stories" according to the quote on the front cover or "The greatest of his historical novels" I feel very cheated and rather sad too.
This book starts with the famous opener: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
That is fantastic! Reading that I thought I was going to be onto a good 'un! However, just shows that you can't judge a book by its opening paragraph.
I have loved Bleak House, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol so it's a shame I find myself giving two stars to an author I have loved in the past. I'm glad this was not my first Dickens as I do not think I would have read any others. I am very disappointed in this book as well as in part, myself for not finishing it.
This would have made a much better short story I believe. There was not a plot worth speaking of and the characters were all very thin and one dimensional. Much of the French revolution was described in metaphors and complex symbolism unravelling it all was a bit like trying to find your way through a maze.
I have loved Dicken's writing style, it is beautiful, humorous and full of heart, soul and humanity. However, this time it felt like digging my way through a lot of surplus words which had lost their effect long before I could appreciate them.
I don't know what got into Dickens when writing this book. It felt very empty and devoid of his usual humour and interesting characters. I can't wait to read another one of his and put this one firmly at the back of my memory so that I can once again hold a high opinion of Charles Dickens."
"The book I read was called A Tale of Two Cities. It was written by Charles Dickens who has written stories such as Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and David Copperfield. He was born in the 1800's and bases most of his books on society's failures such as poverty. This novel is about the French Revolution which was a time where France changed from a monarchy and aristocracy to a country with nationalism, citizenship, and inalienable rights. There is a complex love triangle of Charles Darnay, Lucie Mannette, and Sydney Carton throughout the book and at the end Carton sacrifices for Charles Darnay to be with Lucie Mannette. What was interesting in this novel was the complexity and how it all comes together at the end. The book seemed confusing at the start but it began to piece together and make sense toward the end. At the beginning it switched from England to France to England to France and so on. At the end there was one main portion in France where Charles Darnay was going to be executed but Sydney Carton sacrifices himself to feel that his life was meaning something and so that Darnay and Lucie Mannette could be together. That was the best part that I liked in the book. Overall, the second half of the plot and the characters' complexity were interesting. One of the weaknesses that I found in the novel was its language. Charles Dickens' language is a 19th century English which can be a little bit hard to understand. Although it was a little bit of a struggle to read, I managed to get through it. Not only was the language difficult, but Charles Dickens' plot in the beginning was boring, long and drawn out. The beginning is when Jarvis Lorry gets a message saying "Recalled to Life". He is told to meet a woman who is Lucie Mannette and they go to her father who has been in jail for 18 years. He was a doctor who was imprisoned for no good reason. Jarvis Lorry says that he can be recalled to life with a little help. From here on it gets a little long. So again the weaknesses of the book are its tough language, and boredom at some points. Despite the novel's strong points it was an overall disappointment to read. This is only because I had to struggle for a little trying to keep up with the story and the language. Anyone who likes reading Dickens books would enjoy this because they could see the resemblance in his other stories. They could better understand the book. Also if you like historical fiction you can read any on Dickens books because they all relate to things that have happened historically."
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