Great Expectations Author:Charles Dickens My father?s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip. — I give Pirrip as my father?s family name, on the authority of his tombstone and my sister,?Mrs. Joe Gargery, who married the blacksmith. As I ... more »never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father?s, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the inscription, "Also Georgiana Wife of the Above," I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly. To five little stone lozenges, each about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of mine,?who gave up trying to get a living, exceedingly early in that universal struggle,?I am indebted for a belief I religiously entertained that they had all been born on their backs with their hands in their trousers-pockets, and had never taken them out in this state of existence.
Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dikes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.
"Hold your noise!" cried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. "Keep still, you little devil, or I?ll cut your throat!"
A fearful man, all in coarse gray, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared, and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.« less
I loved this book. We had to read it for AP English and I wasn't looking forward to reading ANOTHER boring classics. To Me all classics are very boring and depressing. THIS book on the otherhand kept me guessing. I never knew what was going to happen. It was a definite page turner, ore so than anyother classic book I've ever read.
I highly recommend this unabridged 14-CD edition of "Great Expectations." You will be enthralled by Frank Muller, the reader, who adds layers of dimension to one of the world's greatest literary achievements with his many distinct voices.
Pip, a poor orphan being raised by a cruel sister, does not have much in the way of great expectations between his terrifying experience in a graveyard with a convict named Magwitch and his humiliating visits with the eccentric Miss Havisham's beautiful but manipulative niece, Estella, who torments him until he is elevated to wealth by an anonymous benefactor. Full of unforgettable characters, Great Expectations is a tale of intrigue, unattainable love, and all of the happiness money can't buy. Great Expectations has the most wonderful and most perfectly worked-out plot for a novel in the English language, according to John Irving, and J. Hillis Miller declares, Great Expectations is the most unified and concentrated expression of Dickens's abiding sense of the world, and Pip might be called the archetypal Dickens hero.
This is far and above, my favorite book of all I've read so far. I enjoy Dickens, personally, though. The read was long, getting it in audiobook from the library,as well, help me finish the book and stay focused on the story. Dickens has an amazing writing style.
I first read this in my 9th grade English class. I would probably have never chosen to read it on my own, but I really enjoyed it. My teacher was amazing and he made the book bearable for the class and really made me appreciate it more than I think I would have on my own.
This is a kid style treatment of Great Expectations. It is a large format picture book by Gallery Books. It is a good abbreviated version for those who enjoy exposing young children to classical works.
After watching a great movie that portrayed a modernized version of this book, and knowing that it was considered a real classic, I had great expectations for the original novel by Charles Dickens. The old-fashioned style of writing was annoying, especially at first, but after reading through the first few chapters I got a bit used to it. As it turned out to my great suprize, the plot of the original story by Dickens was totally different from the movie and no where near as good. As I got further and further into the book, MY great expectations for it quickly turned into great disappointments.
Pip is an orphan, alone in the world. Then his path crossed with that of an escapted convict, and his life is never the same again. From the decaying mansion of Miss Havisham and her cold, beautiful ward, Estella, to a new world of unexpected wealth, Pip must struggle to find his way. Mysterious forces are at work, shaping his life in a conspiracy of love, fear, fate, and chance. Pip knows the kind of life he was meant to lead. What he doesn't know is whether life will lead him in an altogether different -- and startling -- direction.
One of Dicken's most popular stories, this book takes us through a young boy's life as he finds out about firvigeness, love and forbearance. But most important, Pip learns that life is not without hope.