I Liked Pip in the End

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this novel does some amazing things. I understand why some people would rank this so high.

But it's less pleasant to read (IMO, always) than most of his other novels, at least until near the end. Splitting the difference between how much I liked it and how I felt about the themes and character development, I feel it deserves about 4/5 stars.

The main problem for me is that Pip is pretty much a jerk for most of the novel. It's not entirely his fault, of course, but it doesn't make him a great protagonist. That's the same for Estella, to an even greater degree, and it's kinda the point of the novel: wealth, real or in the offing, is bad for people. The wealth Pip is expecting damages him, warps the people around him, and hurts his relationships. This makes him a drag to follow around as a reader. (Do I have to say "In my opinion"?) When he starts to see things more clearly, when he starts to have some moral intuitions that push him a new way, I like it more. I really prefer him when he is more sympathetic.

I like the ending of the novel in general and the very very end specifically, though Dickens originally had a different ending that I definitely would have liked less. Now I sorta wish I knew what the "real" ending was, whatever that means when speaking of fictional characters in a fictional tale...

Anyway, still worth reading, even if only to be able to know what people are talking about when they say stuff about Miss Havisham. :)

Recommended.



View all my reviews