Book Review

A Tale of Two Cities + Great Expectations: 2 Unabridged Classics by Charles Dickens

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A dear friend mentioned A Tale of Two Cities is her boyfriend's favorite book but she was having a hard time getting through it and asked if I'd read it. I sort of overwhelmed her with my passionate, enthusiastic response that, yes, a couple of times, it's one of my favorites.

After reassuring her that since we're not in school using SparkNotes isn't cheating, we started reading the plot summary there, discussing what she'd read so far and what I remembered. I downloaded the e-version and dug out my hardback edition to read at home. We going to have a Tale of Two Cities book club every Saturday when we work together.

Metempsychosis

me·tem·psy·cho·sis
noun
the supposed transmigration at death of the soul of a human being or animal into a new body of the same or a different species.

"A mere beast of the chase flying from hunters, he was still in his metempsychosis no other than the same Monseigneur, the preparation of whose chocolate for whose lips had once occupied three strong men besides the cook in question."

I loved this book even more upon a second reading to the point that I'm quite sad it's done. I also really enjoyed reading SparkNotes analysis as I went along. Their pointing out plot devices, symbolisms, and writing techniques gave me more appreciation for the author's art. Even though almost all of the characters are archetypes in this plot driven story, in Dickens' hands, that have crafted so many excellent character driven tales, they have three dimensions and seem like people you know.

" Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind."



View all my reviews