Classic Novel Review : A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859)

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Image : Taken of the cover page of the unabridged version. So some time last year(almost a year now), we purchased this unabridged version of the classical Novel: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, written in 1859. Perhaps many of you would have heard of this quote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...." I have seen this quote being used in many places. Not only this, I have heard this Novel as among one of the most famous works of Charles Dickens. So we were very excited to get our hands on this Novel. Yet wait : An unabridged version? The Initial shock and the coping up part ________________________________ Some months back, I decided to take out some time and start this novel. Well, for the first 20 odd pages, I was totally out of sorts. Or totally lost! Whatever you might call it. It was a totally different style of writing than what I have been reading or used to. May be in case of other classicals, it was a simplified language. If you know of the game of cricket, or follow it especially the Test Cricket, my situation was like Batsmen facing a torrid fast bowling spell for initial 1 to 2 hours on a bouncy wicket. In short, uncomfortable and out of sorts. Yet somehow I persisted. After 20 odd pages, may be Charles Dickens was himself tired or got some feedback and the language was simpler and easier to follow. Overall, the language remained moderate to high complexity with sudden spurts in between. I have learnt over the years to try to keep English simple. To avoid very long sentences. Or repetitive words. Yet this work has some sentences long enough to be labeled a paragraph. In some cases, the words seem to be forming a rambling puzzle. Kind of the reverse of what I had learnt as "Good Practices" ! Slowly one starts deciphering but after some persistence. What the Plot is about ___________________ The story is about families and individuals who share homes between France and England just before and during the French Revolution (1789 and the subsequent years). The monarchs, One unlucky and wrongly accused Prisoner, a banker, other rich people, A French Wine shop owner and later lead of the Revolution, some commoners and more. It tells of the miserable condition of the peasants, common people, workers and many others as compared to the nobles and the King, who often trampled (sometimes literally) on the bodies and wants of the other people. A terrible revolt was necessary yet what followed was even worse. Facade of court hearings, Thousands and even more of death sentences and beheading, often just on suspicion. France was also part of external wars and this caused terrible instability. A French noble person who had denounced cruel ways of other nobility was falsely accused of doing wrong. Story revolves around what happens therein. Personal Verdict _______________ No doubt it is literature of some class and the story by itself is remrkable and on later reading of Wikipedia, depicts the harsh reality of Post French Revolution. "Barbaric" and "Savage" would perhaps not suffice. Personally it taught me not to try out "unabridged" versions, especially of the Classics. You might disagree with that. Yet unless you have been reading a lot of classical works or have any secondary or first degree in literature, do not pick such versions which can put your brain to a serious test and forget about the "joy" of reading. All in all, after a few chapters, the story has some thrills and one feels a longing to catch up what happens next. The author could perhaps have tried to write in a simpler language but he could have personal reasons not to do so.