Book Review

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is considered one of the top classic books to read. Many readers agree you should read it at least once in your lifetime. I, on the other hand, completely disagree. The overall idea of the book is nice: a commoner boy falls in love with the wrong woman, gets involved in drama with convicts, is mistreated by his guardian, his sister, and is anonymously granted a fortune, using it to become a gentleman and win that woman over. It's an interesting idea- nothing out of the ordinary. It could be a great read for me, but what kills me most is the length of it: 490 pages. To me that's insane, considering how long I think it should be- 200 pages, MAYBE 250 at the very most. I got lost many times- not knowing who was speaking, or, not knowing what was going on- and that sure did not help the fact that I did not like it. Another part I did not like was the unnecessary prose. It was very wordy, too much for my liking. It seemed like Dickens was just writing to make it longer- shorten it and maybe I will give it another chance.