A Tale of Two Cities (Penny Books) Review
Mr. Jarvis Lorry of Tellson's Bank is traveling in the Dover Mail, 1775. Men from the bank frequently travel from London to Paris. He receives a message when the Dover Mail is stopped, and he learns he is to escort Lucie Manette to a reunion with her long-lost father. In Paris he encounters Monsieur Defarge and his wife, Madame Defarge. It seems that Dr. Manette has taught himself to be a shoemaker and that he doesn't remember his old banker, Jarvis Lorry. An issue arises as to whether Dr. Manette is fit enough for the journey to England.
In 1780 Tellson's Bank is still old-fashioned. Mr. Charles Darney is a defendant is a court proceeding and Mr. Lorry and Miss Manette testify to having seen him five years previously in the vicinity of Calais. He is acquitted. Dr. Manette has started to receive patients again. Jarvis Lorry spends many Sundays with Dr. Manette and Lucie. At times Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton are part of the company. Darnay and the Manettes are voluntary exiles from France. Mr. Stryver, a barrister, and Mr. Darnay seek Lucie's favor. Lorry warns Stryver he may not succeed.
There is so much color in a Dickens novel, street scenes, grotesque names, (Cruncher), so many roles assumed, (Barsad, spies), and so many droll ways of telling a story, (an officiating undertaker), a reader is overcome with admiration for the author's craft. Dickens is comparable to Shakespeare in terms of breadth of subject matter.
I don't think historical writing is Dickens's strong suit, but, in any event, Dickens is Dickens, and the momentum given to him through Carlyle's work carries him to the end. In his personal life Dickens was in a sensitive and overwrought state, and this shows through in his portrait of Dr.Manette. Manette, for reason of his incarceration, seems to be afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder.
A Tale of Two Cities (Penny Books) Overview
"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known' After finishing A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens said 'it has greatly moved and excited me in the doing'. One of his most haunting novels, it has, since its first serial publication in 1859, continued to exert a grip on the popular imagination. Set during the French revolution in a lethal, vengeful Paris and a leafy, tranquil London, the two cities of the title are only a part of the novel's stark dichotomies, which are continued as Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay - their lives touched by the same woman - are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris only to fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.
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Customer Reviews
timeless classic wrought w/ mistakes (publisher review) - genamo -
The back cover does not match "look inside" picture - I received a condensed version of Dickens' story consisting only of train/mistress story. Last line: "His affair with Nellly eventually cost his his marriage." Their typos, not mine.
Title heading on every page inside reads "A Tail of Two Cities." Once again, their mistake (spelling), not mine.
So what else is wrong with this printing? I don't know this book well enough to risk finding out...
Also there is no publishing page in the book - is this a legal copy?
Overrated "classic" - Howie - North by Northwest
Sure, the story has some twists at the end, but I find the language arcane as well as archaic. The story-telling is cumbersome and sometime confusing; there are large chunks of narratives about irrelevant details (such as the chapter "The lion and the jackal", it does little to advance the plot). The dialogues are pretentious and unnatural -- the characters speak with a lot of parenthesized texts. The actions of the people are also to some extent unexplained and unexplainable: why does Carton sacrifice himself to save Darnay? Because of his love for Lucie? At the end he is portrayed as some larger-than-life hero and martyr, but I find some hollowness and unbelievability in that.
Dickens' contemporaries and French counterparts, Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas, who also wrote a few books using the same backdrop (the French Revolution). I think they are both better writers and story-tellers.
Never read this in high school or college - Book Club Mom -
I don't think I can say anything about this book that hasn't been said. I thought the characters, the plot and the historical backdrop were terrific. I'm not sure why I never read this in school, even as an English major. This is the kind of book that will stay with me forever.
Having said that, I don't think most high schoolers could ever fully appreciate this book. I read this at the same time as my 10th grader, who did not enjoy it. I think it's a struggle for most younger readers to understand the plot and Dickens' writing style. If you have to read it for school, try to appreciate it and think about reading it again when you are older - it is very much worth the effort!
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