Great Expectations is written in the first person and is virtually a fictional autobiography of “Pip” from his childhood, through often painful experiences, to adulthood. It charts his progress as he moves from the Kent marshes - his social status radically changed having gained an unknown benefactor - to busy commercial London. The book is richly populated with a variety of extraordinary characters many of whom, unbeknownst to them, have lives that are inextricably linked to the others. It is all there, love, hate, passion, humour, rejection, duplicity, betrayal, a whole gamut of emotions and human strengths and weaknesses . This is one of Dickens most fascinating, and disturbing novels. (Summary by Peter Keeble)
The book has just been a drag to read... and never hooked me enough on its premise
I had forgotten a lot in the years since the last time I read this book, and now I am reading it to understand what I can about character depiction and story construction. A lot of it is not to modern tastes, I can see now, but it is good to see how Dickens contrives to create such well-loved characters out of what are to all appearances unlikeable people, setting them in a narrative which is simply crazy.
