Great Expectations

My mother once read aloud an abriged version of Great Expectations to my sisters and me. (My writing curriculum told me to start a book review with a startling statement, so there you have it.) All I could remember of the storyline was that it was rather dark and weird, in the truest sense of the word. I just went back and read the un-adulterated original by Dickens himself. It was absolutely incredible.

The story is about a young boy named Pip Pirrip who is living with his older sister, and her husband, Joe Gargery, a blacksmith. Pip lives a content life until one day when he is seven or eight, a convict sets in motion a string of events that promise--or threaten--to change his life forever. In front of a setting of fog, marshes and London, Pip meets with many individuals who open doors for him into a land which he thinks he wishes to enter; the land of wealth and influence; the land of the untouchable. He desires to be a man of Great Expectations.

The beginning and middle of the book are wonderful and enthralling: they seem to promise of an epic and renewing ending. But me and my sensibilities found the ending to be rather sad and disappointing, although it was anything but over-used. That being said, I implore you to read the book solely for the storyline and to prepare yourself to be content with the end.