Great Expectations for 2012
by Charlotte Reads Classics
Happy New Year!
With Clarissa being my bedtime book, as it is too heavy to carry around, I’ve been reading Great Expectations in the daytime. I have read it once before at University about six years ago and didn’t like it. In fact it put me off Dickens for six years straight, as I deemed him too dour and bleak. If you’ve read any of my posts semi-recently, you will know I am a Dickens convert, through Bleak House and then A Christmas Carol.
The BBC adaptation of Great Expectations over Christmas was so good that I thought it was time to try again. I’m still quite near the beginning but there is so much to think about already.
In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong. I had had no intercourse with the world at that time, and I imitated none of its many inhabitants who act in this manner. Quite an untaught genius, I made the discovery of the line of action for myself.
Yes, I’m reading about Pip’s moral dilemma about helping the convict out on the marshes. This, for me, is such a big part of Dickens’ genius: The book turns out to be a series of events spiraling from this one moment, and Dickens manages to believably completely define one human being from his reactions to events as a child. He completely captures what it is like to be a child:
Since that time, which is far enough away now, I have often thought that few people know what secrecy there is in the young, under terror.
I love the image this conjures up. Remember how many secrets you had as a child? And the trade you did with other people for their secrets? I can vaguely remember not liking Great Expectations the first time around because as Pip grew up I didn’t like how he treats his family and the people from his humble origins. After thinking about this early incident on the marshes I think I will appreciate Pip’s progress more this time around.
Charlotte Reads Classics 
I read Great Expectations for college too, and quite disliked it. But I’ve been thinking, lately that I ought to give it another try. It’s supposed to be the book most unlike any of Dickens’ other works. However, while A Tale of Two Cities now ranks among my absolute favourites, I generally don’t care much for Dickens. He is way too sentimental for me!
Anyway, am glad this second time round with GE is proving be a good one for you. 😀
It seems to be unlike the others I have read (albeit only a couple) in the writing being quite straightforward. I started A Tale of Two Cities but got confused at the beginning about what was happening, which was about when I decided to try Great Expectations instead. A Tale of Two Cities gets such good recommendations that I’ll come back to it when I’m more focused!
It’s been ages since I read Great Expectations and I can barely remember it, although I vaguely remember enjoying it. I’ve been looking forward to the BBC adaptation (it’s supposed to show in the US in April), so I’m excited to hear that it’s good!
It is definitely worth watching!
I haven’t read Great Expectations yet but I’m planning to start it soon. I watched the BBC adaptation over Christmas too and thought it was time I read the book! I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying it more the second time round.
Oh it was good, wasn’t it? Read it and let me know what you think!
I found Dickens a rough go when I read Oliver Twist in 2011. I’m deermined to like him and have this novel on my list for next month. He is quite dour at times; it’s hard to slog through it. But I’m beginning to see it’s always worth it — and that Dickens might be one that improves on reread…
I’d recommend Bleak House because although long, less of a slog than you might expect. I think Great Expectations definitely improves the second time.