Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

41 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I decided to read this book because I bought a poster with 100 books to read in your life. This is book twenty-five on the poster. As with most classics, I kind of struggled with this, but I understood the storyline this time.  

After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the ageing Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. These are the lives of two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, becomes enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror, and they soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.  

I enjoyed how this book was split into three stories with one side being in France, one being in England and then book three being where all hell breaks loose. I enjoyed the humour and the side characters within this book. They were all so interesting and managed to keep me hooked. Even though it’s got a lot of dark themes, I was also intrigued into the mystery whether the characters were going to survive. The character development between the main characters was another strong point, I went from questioning if these two were even going to be able to get out of the town and by the end they were so badass. I have read two books from Charles Dickens, he seems to have this way of making a journey from start to finish, there was no questions for me to ask, everything was wrapped up in a bow.  

Even though this book was under 300 pages, it felt like it was 900 pages. I am going to assume it’s because of the language and the classic feel to it, but it felt like pulling teeth to get this book finished. Plus, with the obvious political tone and the representation of all female characters being in the kitchen or just staying at home, was driving me nuts but again it was the time when the book was written. 

Overall, I was surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did due to how I do with classics, however I'm not going to have my hopes up because the next one on the list is Crime and Punishment.
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justinenoon82's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Despite its literary merits, the complexity of the story and writing style can make it challenging to fully engage with in audiobook format.
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abiofpellinor's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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philosopher_kj's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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alice666's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wonderful, simply stunning. 

Charles Dickens has crafted a story with heroic but not faultless characters that manages to be elegiac, timeless and heart-wrenching, but more so than that speaks to our collective humanity - what we long for, as well as what we would be willing to give up for the ones we love. 

I will say there are some passages that dragged on. But, when all is said and done, I’m probably going to be thinking about this for a long time to come. 

“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.” - Sydney Carton
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art_books_chemistry's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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asourceoffiction's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is a masterpiece. It was my favourite Dickens when I first read it in 2007, and I'm so glad I picked it up again. The characters are brilliant, the relationships messy, good and evil changing sides and coming from places you wouldn't expect. But despite being one of his heaviest novels emotionally, the classic humour is still there, and doesn't let up at even the bleakest moments. There's also a real sensitivity to mental health for a Victorian novel, in Manette and the way his friends and family support him.

La Guillotine is a spectre that hangs over the final part of the book - a character in herself, devoid of mercy and a constant ominous presence. I see her as an extension of Madame Defarge (who is so complicated, but who I can't help but love in her malevolent knitting righteousness).

The lines are blurred during the Revolution, and what starts as workers' revenge descends into barely justified murder, so you just can't tell whose side you even want to be on by the end. But it's a terrifying example of what brutal class divides can lead to.

This book has one of the greatest endings in literature, as well as some of the greatest opening and closing lines. But I still believe the end is far more complicated than it seems. The tension and emotion are brilliantly built up, and the whole thing lives rent free in my head.
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benegesserwitch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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soph_mills's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

At first, the regular repetition of phrases was a bit jarring, but then it grew on me.  There was also a lull in the middle where it dragged but the last third of the book was positively action packed with everything coming to fruition.

Cry count: 2
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