Great Expectations – Deckle Edge, January 10, 2012 Author: Visit Amazon's Charles Dickens Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0307947165 | Format: EPUB
Great Expectations – Deckle Edge, January 10, 2012 Description
Amazon.com Review
An absorbing mystery as well as a morality tale, the story of Pip, a poor village lad, and his expectations of wealth is Dickens at his most deliciously readable. The cast of characters includes kindly Joe Gargery, the loyal convict Abel Magwitch and the haunting Miss Havisham. If you have heartstrings, count on them being tugged.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up—A young man's burning desire to fulfill his "great expectations" of fame and fortune is presented in Charles Dickens's classic tale of love, madness, forgiveness, and redemption. Simon Vance's masterful narration brings to life such diverse personalities as Miss Havisham, the old woman who was abandoned on her wedding day and is determined to wreak revenge through her beautiful adopted daughter Estella; Joe, Pip's lumbering and slow-witted, but emotionally wise and faithful friend; the mysterious Magwitch, a convict who turns out to be Pip's financial benefactor; and Pip, the boy who longs for a destiny greater than that of living out his days as a blacksmith's apprentice. The companion ebook features automatic start-up, keyword searching, PDF printable format, and table of contents. An exceptionally skilled rendering of this classic.—
Cindy Lombardo, Cleveland Public Library, OHCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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- Series: Vintage Classics
- Paperback: 464 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (January 10, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0307947165
- ISBN-13: 978-0307947161
- Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This review refers to the audio(CD - Brilliance Audio) edition of "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens, read by Michael Page
This unabridged audio edition of Dickens' classic superb chronology of "Pip's' journey through life going from a poor boy to becoming a man with "expectations" is simply marvelous. As Pip comes into a small fortune, and becomes a "gentleman" he learns the value and true meaning of friendships and life. But the journey is a long one, with many lessons to be learned along the way before he can find his true self. Dickens has given us a wonderful story, with rich details of the setting and characters that grow and are among the most interesting and magnetic to be found in literature.
I don't need to go on and on about the book itself(although I could easily go over my allotted word count here), if you haven't read it yet ,just know you are in for one heck of a literary treat. It is a story that will transport you to another time and place, and you may not want to come back. I will however, talk about this marvelous audio edition. Michael Page is the reader, and what a reading he gives. Just curl up and listen to this master storyteller. Every voice, every nuance is captured. There is no doubt who is speaking as he gives each character the personality and cultural characteristics as Dickens intended. He even does the women wonderfully, without going over the top. In my mind Miss Havisham has always sounded just the way Page portrayed her, Estella as uppity as ever,the humble Joe, along with all the rest.
The book is an unabridged reading on 16 discs. each discs has 90 very short tracks(about 45 seconds each), I had no trouble starting up where I left off(when I absolutely had to leave off).
I've never read any Dickens of my own free will. I was forced to read "A Tale of Two Cities" in high school and I thought that was enough for me. However, one day, on a whim, I bought a copy of Great Expectations. I'm not sure what I expected, but I certainly didn't expect to love it as much as I did.
Dickens is not a writer to read at a swift pace. Indeed, this novel was written in weekly episodes from December 1860 to August 1861 and, as it was created to be a serial, each installment is full of varied characters, great descriptions and a lot of action which moves the plot along and leaves the reader yearning for more. Therefore, unlike some books which are easily forgotten if I put them down for a few days, Great Expectations seemed to stick around, absorbing my thoughts in a way that I looked forward to picking it up again. It took me more than a month to read and I savored every morsel.
Basically the story is of the self-development of Pip, an orphan boy being raised by his sister and her blacksmith husband in the marshlands of England in 1820.
Every one of the characters were so deeply developed that I felt I was personally acquainted with each one of them. There was Pip's roommate, Herbert Pocket, the lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, and his clerk, Mr. Wemmick. And then there was the wicked Orlick. The dialogues were wonderful. The characters often didn't actually say what they meant but spoke in a way that even though the words might be obtuse, there was no mistaking their meaning. I found myself smiling at all these verbal contortions.
Dickens' work is richly detailed and he explores the nuances of human behavior. I enjoyed wallowing in the long sentences and letting myself travel backwards in time to a different world.
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