Here Is Why I Had Greater Expectations for "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

Brief Synopsis of Great Expectations from Amazon: In this unflaggingly suspenseful story of aspirations and moral redemption, humble, orphaned Pip, a ward of his short-tempered older sister and her husband, Joe, is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman. And, indeed, it seems as though that dream is destined to come to pass — because one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of "great expectations." In telling Pip's story, Dickens traces a boy's path from a hardscrabble rural life to the teeming streets of 19th-century London, unfolding a gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, and love and loss. Its compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered Miss Havisham, an eccentric jilted bride.

PLEASE BEWARE THAT THERE ARE SOME MINOR SPOILERS BELOW:

Many will claim that Great Expectations is arguably one of Charles Dickens best books ever written. I could hardly agree less. The great classics aren't always easy to read and can be very bland on occasion. However, I usually enjoy them. Unfortunately, there was something about Great Expectations that didn't strike me quite right. It was much too wordy, the plot was very mundane, and the characters felt dull and useless. I read the full, unabridged version which made me want to bang my head off of the table as soon as I was done dipping my head in ice water because the font was too small and the pages felt infinite. It was a miracle I was able to even finish.

It's a true wonder that the description that Dickens implied in the book didn't put me to sleep. For eternity, it felt that he would describe something completely irrelevant or that at least didn't require quite so much detail. I didn't know that you could describe a room with so many unnecessary adjectives. After I mentioned this to the librarian at my local library, she chuckled and then explained to me that Dickens was paid by the word, so you were guaranteed a highly unnecessary amount of adjectives and adverbs. How I didn't drift off while reading it, I'll never know.

I have only one word to describe the entirety of the plot: lifeless. Everything about it felt dull. The story was so dragged out that I had trouble following the motive of the plot and didn't even recognize that it was a love story until halfway through. I think there are plenty of other folks who would beg to differ with my opinion, but I felt that hardly anything provoking happened. The only thing I had to look forward to was discovering the identity of Pip's benefactor. Towards the end of the middle, there was some suspense, I suppose, as Pip found out he was in danger. He also never seemed to stop thinking of Estella and you would wonder if they would ever become a thing. Otherwise, it was dull, dull, dull.

Lastly, the characters were much too mundane for my liking. The most interesting individual was Mr. Jaggers, the attorney, but that was only because he took action in situations. Pip was a boring, timid man who often observed but never reached his hand in the matter. This bothered me on more than one occasion because although he was able to step up into a higher social class because of his sudden luck of coming into possession of a great wealth, he didn't do a thing! The other characters weren't much better. Mrs. Havisham was a whiny woman in despair who wore nothing but a tattered wedding dress to express how depressed (like my rhymes?) she was that her fiance double-crossed her before they married. Estella had a remotely interesting aura, I suppose, but she wasn't physically present throughout the majority of the book and was a very heartless individual on top of things. Unfortunately, Pip had an unrequited love for her. Man, Pip! You could have at least told her that you loved her before she got engaged.

In conclusion, reading this book felt like sitting through an eight-hour lecture on statistics. I understand that Pip had the same great expectations as everybody does with his dreams of wealth, true love, and total happiness. However, I just couldn't appreciate the book the same way I appreciated Pride and Prejudice or Gone With the Wind. I had much greater expectations (see what I did there) for this classic and I don't understand why so many people think its charming or original. The length between anything that even remotely sparked my interest was much too long, most of the characters couldn't think for themselves, and the plot wasn't very entertaining. Do I regret reading Great Expectations? No. I like to read things just to say that I read them but I'm not so sure I want to put myself through the torture of reading another book by Charles Dickens ever again.