The French Revolution comes to vivid life in Charles Dickens’s famous novel about the best of times and the worst of times…The storming of the Bastille…the death carts with their doomed human cargo…the swift drop of the guillotine blade—this is the French Revolution that Charles Dickens vividly captures in his famous work A Tale of Two Cities. With dramatic eloquence, he brings to life a time … he brings to life a time of terror and treason, a starving people rising in frenzy and hate to overthrow a corrupt and decadent regime. With insight and compassion, Dickens casts his novel of unforgettable scenes with some memorable characters: the sinister Madame Defarge, knitting her patterns of death; the gentle Lucie Manette, unswerving in her devotion to her broken father; Charles Darnay, the lover with a secret past; and dissolute Sydney Carton, whose unlikely heroism gives his life meaning.
With an Introduction by Frederick Busch
and an Afterword by A. N. Wilson
more
This is one of my favorite classic novels. It’s got some great themes and characters. It’s heart-wrenching and epic and totally worth picking up. Even though Dickens certainly has an issue with rambling prose and overly long sentences, it’s something everyone should read. I dare you to read the last chapter and not bawl like a baby.
In my book (if you’ll excuse the phrase) Dickens’ greatest work – impossible to capture in a few words, but one that surely leaves a lasting impression on every reader. A masterpiece sandwiched between perhaps the greatest first and last sentences of any novel ever written!
This is one of several excellent paths into Charles Dickens’s work. Such wonderful use of language in this book, and a haunting plot. Listen to it on audio if you like. It’s a rewarding experience!
In high school, difficult to start and understand.
By end, memorable. Timeless story of the best in people to combat the worst in people.
I think A Tale Of Two Cities is very engaging literature which involves London, England history immensely.
If there is one thing that people remember about Charles Dicken’s A TALE OF TWO CITIES, it is of Madame Defarge knitting while the heads roll: “The ministers of Sainte Guillotine are robed and ready. Crash!–A head is held up, and the knitting-women who scarcely lifted their eyes to look at it a moment ago when it could think and speak, count One.” (178)
This is a brilliant example of how brutality dulls the mind in the face of horror. Dickens uses knitting, which we normally associate with a cozy home life, and pairs it with the guillotine to make it seem sinister and arresting. What is odd about this scene is that it is the only example I could find of Madame Defarge actually knitting beside the guillotine, and she isn’t there, a fact that is made much of by her side-kick ‘The Vengeance’. So one could say that this scene is also a perfect example of how memory has difficulty in processing negatives. Because what people actually remember is that she is there, in her chair, knitting. Here is an actual example of Madame Defarge knitting, and why it is so important:
Next noontide saw the admirable woman in her usual place in the wine-shop, knitting away assiduously. A rose lay beside her, and if she now and then glanced at the flower, it was with no infraction of her usual preoccupied air. There were a few customers, drinking or not drinking, standing or seated, sprinkled about. The day was very hot, and heaps of flies, who were extending their inquisitive and adventurous perquisitions into all the glutinous little glasses near madame, fell dead at the bottom. Their decease made no impression on the other flies out promenading, who looked at them in the coolest manner (as if they themselves were elephants, or something as far removed), until they met the same fate. Curious to consider how heedless flies are!–perhaps they thought as much at Court that sunny summer day.
A figure entering at the door threw a shadow on Madame Defarge which she felt to be a new one. She laid down her knitting, and began to pin her rose in her head-dress, before she looked at the figure.
It was curious. The moment Madame Defarge took up the rose, the customers ceased talking, and began gradually to drop out of the wine-shop…(85)
While talking with the spy Barsad in the most unhelpful fashion possible, Madame Defarge is knitting in code such details as his name and appearance. Which is presumably why she wants the other inhabitants of the shop to go away, so that she can concentrate. I love the way in which Dickens picks out seemingly unimportant details to make a point. For example, the flies are compared to those courtiers who lounged around Versailles, pursuing pleasure with abandonment, heedless of the storm that is brewing up beneath them. Five Stars. #charlesdickens #ataleof2cities”
I was happy to find that there are multiple sources for free versions of this book. It’s available on Kindle (there are many cheap versions for $1.99 or $2.99, but if you search you can find a free version), and there is a podcast from LoudLit.org available in the iTunes Store where the book is read in 31 episodes. I listened to the podcast while exercising or playing video games, then picked up the Kindle version when waiting at the doctor’s office, and got through it quite quickly. I’d recommend anyone try it, as there’s a reason this book has stood the test of time: you’re bound to find something in it that you like.
a touchy and all-time favorite narration!
Most of Mr. Dickens books are auto-biological but in this path breaking work, there is a twist and the story is actually based on a true event.
Had a bit of a slow-paced start for me. However, it was not a bad reading experience.
There are good reasons that this is a classic!
The book is interesting, most especially the part that features the French revolution. It bring to light how material, political divide exist in our world today and bring about inequality. Though it wasn’t written for our time
A devastatingly tragic yet beautiful tale set in the turbulent years of the French Revolution. Unforgettable.
A tale of two cities is a classic, if you haven’t already read it I think you should. It’s a bit tricky to read cause it was write a while ago but it is a really good book.
Good books for Readers who like drowning in the plot of the story. Characters are amazing. All I can say is it a worth reading Novel.
An English classic. It’s neither easy to read (probably as a result of nineteenth century writing style). However, it’s a worthy read. Persevere to the end.