Great Expectations

by Charles Dickens | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0140623167 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingcluricaunewing of Armagh, Co. Armagh United Kingdom on 12/17/2018
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Journal Entry 1 by wingcluricaunewing from Armagh, Co. Armagh United Kingdom on Monday, December 17, 2018
Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812. A hugely popular author during his own lifetime, and still rated highly by today's academics, his characters and books remain widely known. (I would suspect, though, that the movies or tv adaptations are a little more popular than his books are today). Dickens died in 1870, and is buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. "Great Expectations" was his thirteenth novel, and is widely blurbed as his most popular. It was first published as a serial, before being published as a novel in 1861.

"Great Expectations" is told by Philip Pirrip, who is generally known as Pip throughout the book. We first meet him in the early 1800s, standing at his parents' grave, when he's roughly seven years old. He doesn't remember his parents at all and is being raised by his sister and her husband, Joe Gargery. Pip's sister treats him dreadfully, but Joe is a good, kind man who looks after Pip as best he can. The family live in the marsh area of Kent, within comfortable travelling distance of London - though, as Joe is "only" a blacksmith, they'd only be of a limited social standing. (Miss Haversham, who lives locally, would be a different matter entirely - though a higher standing in society doesn't necessarily make you a better person). Standing at his parents' grave, Pip meets an escaped convict called Abel Magwitch; the meeting is to have a profound effect on the course of Pip's life.

When I was at school, we did "The Woodlanders" by Thomas Hardy as part of our English Literature class. I hated every last page of it and, as a result, I avoided a certain "type" of the classics for years. Hardy, obviously, for one - I'm still not sure I'd be willing to try one of his books again. Perhaps unfairly, I also avoided the Brontes, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens too - guilt by association, I'm afraid. (For the record, I wasn't a total heathen. We'd also done "Animal Farm" as part of that class and I'd thought that was fantastic). Anyhow, in recent years I've seen "Great Expectations" being mentioned more and more as an influence on several (modern day) authors I've enjoyed reading. Eventually, I decided to give it a chance. Overall, I enjoyed it an awful lot more than "The Woodlanders," though some parts...irked me. Pumblechook, in particular, was nothing but a nuisance; he added nothing at all to the book. Other characters, I felt, could have featured a little more - Joe and Biddy especially, but even Estella. (How the Estella we'd seen growing up became the Estella we meet on the book's final pages was really only skimmed over). Overall though ? I know it's highly rated, but I'm really not sure. Maybe I need a little time to digest it. On the other hand, I might just prefer my literature a little less Victorian.

Journal Entry 2 by wingcluricaunewing at Belfast, Co. Antrim United Kingdom on Monday, December 17, 2018
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Journal Entry 3 by wingcluricaunewing at Lurgan Park 🌳 in Lurgan, Co. Armagh United Kingdom on Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Released 5 yrs ago (1/23/2019 UTC) at Lurgan Park 🌳 in Lurgan, Co. Armagh United Kingdom

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