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Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities

The story of "A Tale of Two Cities" is set in the late 18th Century in London and Paris, before and during the French Revolution. It was a time when injustice was met by a lust for vengeance, and rarely was a distinction made between the innocent and the guilty. It was published in weekly installments from April 1859 to November 1859 in Dickens's new literary periodical titled 'All the Year Round'. This novel is regarded as one of Dickens's most popular and most innovative works.
After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille the aging Dr Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There, two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil lanes of London, they are all drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror and soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.
The book is perhaps best known for its opening lines, «It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," and for Carton's last speech, in which he says of his replacing Darnay in a prison cell, «It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.»
475 printed pages
Have you already read it? How did you like it?
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Impressions

  • NightSky2004shared an impression6 years ago
    👍Worth reading
    🔮Hidden Depths
    💧Soppy

    Reading this book was truly the best of times and the worst of times! And I totally loved that!
    The first and the most obvious theme of this novel is the French Revolution and the formation of the new Republic. But like in all of his novels Dickens explores society. It's a novel about people and their families. It's a novel about loyalty and justice, suffering and judgement. In other words, it's a novel about life.
    Surely, it's not an easy book to read but it doesn't mean you won't enjoy it. For starters, Charles Dickens is the King of Style. Not only does he describe scenes vividly but he also uses, no, make that manipulates the language to make scenes come alive. He's the master of sentence-building. If that is not enough, then how about an amazingly twisted plot? You'll get a couple of surprises along the way, that's for sure.
    To round up my review, I would like to put down a quote from the novel. "Of little worth as life is when we misuse it, it is worth that effort." And so is spending a few hours reading "A tale of two cities".

  • arrow1535161montegoshared an impression6 months ago

    An extraordinary
    nary read, but chilling.

  • Mariashared an impression8 years ago

    The most frightening, yet the most beautiful description of the carnage of the French Revolution.

Quotes

  • Alina Iksanovahas quoted9 years ago
    It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
  • NightSky2004has quoted8 years ago
    A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is consti- tuted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.
  • Alinehas quotedlast year
    It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wis- dom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities in- sisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

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