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Great Expectations (Bantam Classics) by…
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Great Expectations (Bantam Classics) (original 1861; edition 1982)

by Charles Dickens

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38,26443360 (3.88)3 / 1811
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

Pip is content with his simple life until a bitter gentlewoman employs him as a sometime companion to herself and her adopted daughter. Pip then aspires to become a gentleman himself, though his dreams are unrealistic until the day he mysteriously comes into a fortune and is sent to London to become refined. The story follows Pip's journey into adulthood and emotional maturity and understanding.

.… (more)
Member:knottjl
Title:Great Expectations (Bantam Classics)
Authors:Charles Dickens
Info:Bantam Classics (1982), Mass Market Paperback, 560 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861)

  1. 160
    Bleak House by Charles Dickens (Booksloth)
  2. 162
    Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (Maiasaura)
  3. 121
    Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (cbl_tn)
    cbl_tn: Mister Pip explores the reading and interpretation of Great Expectations in a late 20th century South Sea island culture in the midst of a civil war.
  4. 70
    The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (Bcteagirl)
    Bcteagirl: Thursday Next is a Literary Detective who helps to keep people from changing plots in books, keep book characters from escaping etc. When she goes in for training, who should she be apprenticed to but Miss Havisham who is more than happy to get out of her dreary rooms once and a while. What larks!… (more)
  5. 50
    Adam Bede by George Eliot (Bcteagirl)
    Bcteagirl: If you enjoyed the 'good hard working pastoral theme' of his uncle and their 'Larks' you may enjoy Adam Bede which has many of the same themes.
  6. 30
    Jack Maggs by Peter Carey (suzanney, KayCliff)
  7. 53
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (Johanna11)
    Johanna11: Both books write about people with expectations for their future, both are very well written at the end of the nineteenth century.
  8. 20
    Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (Booksloth)
  9. 20
    Page 1: Great Expectations - Seventy Graphic Solutions by Lucienne Roberts (bluepiano)
    bluepiano: Dozens of ways of seeing and reading the first page of Dickens' book.
  10. 98
    Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (krizia_lazaro)
  11. 43
    The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe (lucyknows)
    lucyknows: Great Expectations and Bonfire of the Vanities can be successfully tied together in that both the authors explore the themes of ostentation, ambition and morality
  12. 10
    The Princess Casamassima by Henry James (suniru)
  13. 22
    An Unofficial Rose by Iris Murdoch (JuliaMaria)
    JuliaMaria: In der Einleitung zu "an unofficial rose" von Anthony D. Nuttall wird Dickens als Vergleich herangezogen: "An Unofficial Rose is indeed a surprisingly Dickensian novel, crowded, superabundant."
  14. 11
    Pip by Comedy Central (SnootyBaronet)
  15. 00
    Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde (Cecrow)
    Cecrow: Also featuring Miss Havisham.
  16. 23
    Drood by Dan Simmons (caittilynn)
  17. 02
    Hard Times by Charles Dickens (Anonymous user)
AP Lit (15)
Read (22)
1860s (10)
100 (9)
Romans (16)
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» See also 1811 mentions

English (406)  Spanish (9)  Swedish (3)  French (2)  Italian (2)  Czech (1)  Portuguese (Brazil) (1)  Portuguese (Portugal) (1)  Danish (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (427)
Showing 1-5 of 406 (next | show all)
This is my favorite classic. EVER. ( )
  happykreg | Mar 21, 2024 |
Things That Made Me Love This Book with Spoilers:
Some things I loved about Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (with spoilers)
The thrilling start! A convict on the run! A boy helps him!
Miss Haversham and the descriptions of her creepy Grey Gardens-style home.
Joe.
John Wemmick and his hobby castle complete with a small cannon and moat.
Any time Wemmick and the Aged appeared in the book.
The Hamlet scene.
Magwitch's death had me crying. ( )
  auldhouse | Jan 7, 2024 |
It felt like it took me ages to get through this, but I'm glad I did. I appreciate the way this story made me think about classism, elitism, and money. Pip's longing to be a gentleman versus his love of Joe and Biddy broke my heart a little.

The edition I read included both the published ending (the happy-ish one) and Dickens' original ending (more of a bummer). I think I prefer the sadder ending because it better drives home the meaning I took away from the story. Pip is a decent person and as a reader I want him to be happy, but I don't think he'd actually be happy married to Estella.

The random thing about this book that sticks with me is Mr. Wemmick's mouth being a post office. What a strange, funny metaphor. I laughed every time. ( )
  LibrarianDest | Jan 3, 2024 |
I don't know if I can say anything about this book that hasn't already been said. It's the Dickens book that is supposed to be most accessible for high school students. It certainly starts off that way, but as Pip gets older, his narrative voice shifts to that of an adult (even though the whole story is told in retrospect) and it is a bit more complex. Perhaps strong native English speakers/readers will be okay with it, but I'm reading it with two Korean-born students, and they're struggling to keep up with the story.

Pip is a likable character, even when he lets his expectations go to his head. I think his friendship with Herbert and Wemmick assist in keeping him in the reader's good graces. I do wish he wasn't so extravagant with his money, though. And that he was more loving to Joe throughout the novel, not just on its ends. Favourite characters? Miss Havisham is such a curiousity, I like her. Ditto for Wemmick. And how can you not love Herbert? He's all goodness. (too flat? too unwaveringly loyal to Pip? I don't think so -- Dickens begins their friendship appropriately to show how they are two wonderous people who just "click".) Joe is also endearing.

Sometimes I wish our culture was more like Dickens', so that we could read through each chapter slowly, repeatedly, to drink in the story as slowly as he first readers would have to fully appreciate all the characters and Pip's Great Journey. ( )
  LDVoorberg | Dec 24, 2023 |
This is the third of Dickens' books that I've read and is, so far, my favorite. Pip was as likable as Estella was hateable...and I just adore Miss Havisham---in all her freaky glory. I love the journey of character that Pip takes---as well as Estella, actually---and I definitely want to believe that, in the end, they both get just exactly what they want. After reading this, I watched a film version with Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham. (Love her!) I liked it just as well as the book and definitely liked the character of Estella better. She seemed to have some compassion in the film and it was easy to empathize with her. ( )
  classyhomemaker | Dec 11, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 406 (next | show all)
...prick of meretricious excitement...
added by vibesandall | editBlackwood, Margaret Oliphant
 
The idea of an innocent boy establishing unconsciously an immense influence over the mind of a hunted felon … haunted Dickens’s imagination until he gathered round it a whole new world of characters and incidents
added by danielx | editThe Atlantic, EP Whipple (Jan 11, 1877)
 

» Add other authors (88 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Charles Dickensprimary authorall editionscalculated
Ardizzone, EdwardIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bickford-Smith, CoralieIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Calder, AngusEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cardwell, MargaretEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Charbonneau, EileenForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Chesterton, Gilbert KeithIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Davidson, FrederickNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Flint, KateIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Green, CharlesIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hayens, KennethIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jarvis, MartinNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jones, RadhikaIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jung-Grell, UlrikeTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Law, GrahamEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lesser, AntonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Leyris, PierreTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lieck, PeterNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lloyd, HarryNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Meyer, MargitTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mitchell, CharlotteEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Muller, FrankNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Page, FrederickIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Page, MichaelNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pailthorpe, Frederic W.Illustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pinching, DavidAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pinnington, AdrianEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Prebble, SimonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rhys, ErnestEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sève, Peter deCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Searle, RonaldIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Shaw, BernardIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Slater, MichaelIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Smith, Mark F.Narratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stone, MarcusIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Symons, JulianIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Threapleton, Mary M.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Trapiello, AndrésIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Trotter, DavidIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vallve, ManuelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vance, SimonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Weintraub, StanleyIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wilson, AngusAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wilson, MeganCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Winterich, John T.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Chauncy Hare Townshend
First words
My father's family name being Pirrip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.
Quotations
Neither were my notions of the theological positions to which my Catechism bound me, at all accurate; for, I have a lively remembrance that I supposed my declaration that I was to "walk in the same all the days of my life," laid me under an obligation always to go through the village from our house in one particular direction, and never to vary it by turning down by the wheelwright's or up by the mill.
...a money-box was kept on the kitchen mantel-shelf, in to which it was publicly made known that all my earnings were dropped. I have an impression that they were to be contributed eventually towards the liquidation of the National Debt, but I know I had no hope of any personal participation in the treasure.
Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt kept an evening school in the village; that is to say, she was a ridiculous old woman of limited means and unlimited infirmity, who used to go to sleep from six to seven every evening, in the society of youth who paid two pence per week each, for the improving opportunity of seeing her do it.
I had little objection to his being seen by Herbert or his father, for both of whom I had a respect; but I had the sharpest sensitiveness as to his being seen by Drummle, whom I held in contempt. So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise.  (Chapter XXVII)
"Oh! I have a heart to be stabbed in or shot in, I have no doubt," said Estella, "and of course if it ceased to beat I should cease to be. But you know what I mean. I have no softness there, no--sympathy--sentiment--nonsense."
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This is the main work for Great Expectations. It should not be combined with any adaptation, abridgement, etc. If this is your book but it is an abridged or adapted version, consider changing the isbn to match your version so that it can be combined with the correct abridgement or adaptation.
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Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

Pip is content with his simple life until a bitter gentlewoman employs him as a sometime companion to herself and her adopted daughter. Pip then aspires to become a gentleman himself, though his dreams are unrealistic until the day he mysteriously comes into a fortune and is sent to London to become refined. The story follows Pip's journey into adulthood and emotional maturity and understanding.

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Book description
One of the finest novels by iconic British author Charles Dickens, this Victorian tale follows the good-natured orphan Pip as he makes his way through life. As a boy, Pip crosses paths with a convict named Magwitch, a man who will heavily influence Pip’s adulthood. Meanwhile, the earnest young man falls for the beautiful Estella, the adoptive daughter of the affluent and eccentric Miss Havisham. Widely considered to be Dickens's last great book, the story is steeped in romance and features the writer's familiar themes of crime, punishment, and societal struggle. 384
In what may be Dickens's best novel, humble, orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman — and one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of "great expectations." In this gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, the compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered Miss Havisham, an eccentric jilted bride
Haiku summary
Characters stick in
my memory: Estella,
Joe, Miss H. And yours?
(ed.pendragon)

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Penguin Australia

8 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0141439564, 0141023538, 0451531183, 014104036X, 0143106279, 0141198893, 0141392592, 0143123793

Coffeetown Press

An edition of this book was published by Coffeetown Press.

» Publisher information page

Tantor Media

An edition of this book was published by Tantor Media.

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Urban Romantics

2 editions of this book were published by Urban Romantics.

Editions: 190783253X, 1907832513

Recorded Books

2 editions of this book were published by Recorded Books.

Editions: 1449875327, 1449875335

 

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