BOOK REVIEW: A Tale of Two Cities

For people who are:

Feeling: nervous about trying Dickens for the first time, that they have a short attention span

Going to: Paris, London

Wanting: a small portable book to quickly read instead of checking Facebook

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Reading this book was like watching Game of Thrones. The movement back and forth between London and Paris is similar to the many story lines of the TV show, and the book I suppose. The short chapters are like episodes making it a great read to dip in and out of, something which is usually hard with classics. It also gives you a sense of progress, as there is nothing worse than reading for hours and realising you've only read two chapters. If you want to try Dickens but length or language discourages you, you might try this one. 

The movement between the two sides gives you an insight in to the point of view of the villains as well as the heroes of the story. The characters, Madame and Monsieur Defarge, are not all bad though their role in the revolution endangers our heroes. Only Dickens could make a woman who spends most of the novel knitting also seem scary and ominous, Madame Defarge, though cruel and unforgiving, is admirably strong. I cannot help but admire her loyalty to her cause incited from the cruelty she suffered as a young girl. Like the others, her personal aims are just swept up into the wider national revolution. 

On the other hand, Lucie Manette, the golden thread is too good and sickly sweet for my liking.

Much more interesting was Mrs Pross, the scene between her and Madame Defarge being my favourite. (no spoilers)

This novel gave me the impression that Dickens was placing the blame for all the unfortunate turns that the Manette family faced on the situation rather than individuals and alludes to the long history which led up to these events. You get the sense of a world which can never be universally fair and which individuals just get caught up in. Dickens manages to write about a wider historical revolution as well as individual revenge, love, mental illness and redemption. 

HERE BE SPOILERS

The novel must end cheerfully though, so despite the many hundreds and thousands of people who die within a paragraph here and there, our hero succeeds and survives. As is the case with novels, because we have got to know this character and the Manette family more closely than all the other poor souls, their survival counteracts thousands of deaths to leave us not completely depressed about the French Revolution. 

ITS SAFE NO MORE SPOILERS

I would argue that this is so far my favourite Dickens, A Christmas Carol being my number one. And the book itself, I will be looking for more classics in this series as it is perfect size, not much bigger than a phone, to slip in a bag and take everywhere.