I have a problem with Great Expectations. The problem is, I believe I haven't read it. I have, three or four times, but the very first time, I didn't finish it (we were reading it aloud on a class trip, and the trip ended) and somehow, no matter how often I read it, I think I've never finished it. It's been my secret shame.

So I'm writing this review to remind me. I have read Great Expectations. The parts of it I cherish are the sidelights: Magwitch, Wemmick and his Aged Parent. Even the Pockets tumbling up. In the introduction to this edition, John Irving mentions that the language shifts when the plot takes off. Perhaps that's why I stop remembering it: the sidelights fade. I've never had too much use for Mr. Pip (as opposed to young Pip, who is rather charming) -- none of his repentance and retrospective self-deprecation was enough for me.

While I see the craft in this book, and the rich imagery that makes it so beloved of English teachers, it is not my favorite Boz. It's well worth reading though, if only for the images -- the ruined wedding feast, the clerk 'posting' bits of toast through his mail-slot mouth, the family of gravestones by the marshes -- that will stick with you, even if the denouement insists on fading. ( )

A timeless classic, adapted to film, about an orphaned boy, Pip, reared by my sister and her husband, only to come into a large fortune by an unknown donor. Pip leaves his family behind on a quest to become a true gentleman and learn everything one of money needs to know. He falls in love with Estella only to have his heart broken over and over by the cold hearted woman.

Dickens writes dark and lonely well, and nothing is left out in this tale of fortune, forgiveness, and finding out the truth.

Though the story focuses on Pip and his life before and after money, it takes a turn into telling the story of all characters and how Pip was throw into this life without even realizing the knowledge he held, key secrets to his love’s real life and those around him.

‘Great Expectations’ has been somewhat of a literary journey of discovery. I started with a mild dislike of Dickens as Pip finds himself contemplating the gravestones of his parents. This stemmed from my one abortive attempt at reading ‘The Pickwick Papers’
My dislike gently fades as Pip embarks on achieving his great expectations introducing some marvellous characters, in particular, Miss Havisham and Wemmick with his Aged P. By the time I find myself reading the chapter entirely devoted to Pip’s exploration of his feeling for Estella I found myself, thoroughly enjoying, the language, the plot and the characterisations involved.
This book is a delight and will be remembered more so as the highway that led to my final understanding and appreciation of 19th Century language and Dickens' work in particular. ( )

The basic plot of this book was interesting, and I can see why it's a classic. However, Dickens is extremely wordy. He goes on and on about things that are completely irrelevant to the plot. ( )

Great Expectations is one of the Dickens books I never read because I was sure I had read it. I knew all about spooky Miss Havisham in her wedding dress with her moldy, spider-filled wedding cake, so I must have read it, right? No, I must have watched the dreary 1970s movie version somewhere along the line and missed out on the real thing.

Too bad it took so long to get around to this one because Great Expectations is a whale of a good read. It is chock-o-block full of Dickens’s extraordinary characters, it is clever and funny, and there are exciting adventures, like prison breaks, murders, and a kidnapping. Orphan Pip goes from helping escaped convicts on the moors to keeping Miss Havisham company before being taken up by an unknown benefactor and taught to be a London gentleman. All goes awry before adult Pip can win the heart of his beloved Estella, but he learns important lessons and all comes right in the end.

As it turns out, all came more right in the end of the version I read than originally planned by Dickens. He changed the original melancholy ending in subsequent editions and mine used the later, happier ending. Having gone back and compared the two, the original seems more integral to the story. Either way, what a wonderful book. I wish I had read it 25 years ago, like I thought I had.

Also posted on Rose City Reader. ( )