Charles Dickens' Great Expectations published 150 years ago this month

First posted 6/25/2020; updated 11/2/2020.

Great Expectations Charles Dickens

First Publication: July 1861 Category: novel about redemption Sales: ?

Accolades (click on badges to see full lists):

About the Book: “Richly comic and immensely readable,” BN Great Expectations is a “timeless masterpiece, teeming with…unexpected plot twists,” AZ “moral maelstroms and the sorrow and pity of love.” BN This was Dickens’ “last great novel, and many critics believe it to be his finest. Readers and critics alike praised it for its masterful plot, which rises above the melodrama of some of his earlier works, and for its three-dimensional, psychologically realistic characters – characters much deeper and more interesting than the one-note caricatures of earlier novels.” AZ “In this unflaggingly suspenseful story of aspirations and moral redemption,” AZ Dickens traces the path of the “humble, orphaned Pip” AZ “from a hardscrabble rural life to the teeming streets of 19th-century London, unfolding a gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, and love and loss.” AZ “Dickens’ vivid rendering of the vast tapestry of mid-Victorian England” AZ reveal his “dark attitudes toward Victorian society, its inherent class structure, and its materialism.” BN Pip “is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman.” AZ “After a secret benefactor gives him a fortune, Pip moves to London, where he cultivates great expectations for a life which would allow him to discard his impoverished beginnings and socialize with the idle upper class. As Pip struggles to become a gentleman and is tormented endlessly by the beautiful Estella, he slowly learns the truth about himself and his illusions.” BN Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon BN Barnes & Noble

In July 2018, I became the organizer of the Classic Novels Book Club. Check out the Book Club tab here or Meetup for more information. This is our January 2021 book.