I have to confess that I kept putting off snapping the binding on this book because it started to feel like I had a college assignment that I truly didn't want to read. However, I am glad that I read "Great Expectations." It was actually my second time through as I realized when I started reading...I discovered that this book was one of the classics that I read in between college and dental school when I was bound and determined to read as many of the classics as possible. I have to confess that it was definitely a different experience reading as a seasoned adult versus a naive 20 year old. "Great Expectations" follows the classic Dickensian plot of an orphan who comes of age and learns valuable life lessons along the way. Written in the first person by Pip, you are constantly coming in contact with characters that you love or hate with very little in between gray. There are definite high points in the story...love the scenes with Miss Haversham and low points...did not enjoy the years when Pip is an apprentice with his brother-in-law Joe. ( )

Pontificating, proselytizing protagonist surrounded by brainless supporting characters, all written by an author who is full of himself. After this, I have no respect for Dickens and all the "masterpieces" he believes himself to have created. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's self-important authors who write stories in which their condescension shines through. ( )

TERRIBLE!!!!! The book was about a poor man who had a benificiary. it was very boring and i would not recomend this book at all. ( )

Look I have tried and I will try again sometime, but Dickens is so linearly plotted, so mind ploddingly literal, so taken with tiresome detailed descriptions of candlesticks and cobwebs and cobblestones. You know I can read Shakespeare and the Russians but, as yet, apart from the joyfully short Christmas Carol, enjoying Dickens has eluded me. I'm afraid he's parked with Thomas Hardy. Sorry... sorry.

I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed this book when I read it as a Freshman. The characters and the plot are fascinating, and as the main character develops his priorities with all of the expectations that society places on him, one really thinks hard about what a 'gentleman' is essentially. ( )