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A Tale of Two Cities: Timeless Classics
A Tale of Two Cities: Timeless Classics
A Tale of Two Cities: Timeless Classics
Audiobook (abridged)1 hour

A Tale of Two Cities: Timeless Classics

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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About this audiobook

The workers are in revolt! Every French nobleman is in danger of losing his head to the infamous guillotine. Yet Charles Darnay renounced his title years ago. Why is he scheduled to die for the crimes of his corrupt family? His only hope lies in the hands of one unlikely man.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 1, 2011
ISBN9781612475219
A Tale of Two Cities: Timeless Classics
Author

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and grew up in poverty. This experience influenced ‘Oliver Twist’, the second of his fourteen major novels, which first appeared in 1837. When he died in 1870, he was buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey as an indication of his huge popularity as a novelist, which endures to this day.

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Rating: 3.94355506872216 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am not sure that anything I can say will add any value to the wealth of critical comment already available for this classic novel. I first read it towards the end of the last millennium (to lend an appropriately archaic feel) as one of the set books for my English Literature O level (the predecessor of what we would today call GCSEs). I was fortunate to enjoy the support of some excellent English teachers throughout my time at school, yet even their attentive ministrations failed to save this book from falling prey to the fate of most works that are encountered as compulsory reading. As a fifteen-year-old I found it very tedious and longwinded, and could not then imagine I might ever read it again for pleasure.To be fair, I think that tedious and longwinded are not always unfair when applied to Dickens, and would cite either Barnaby Rudge (surely there is an initial D missing from that surname) or Our Mutual Friend as evidence for the prosecution. (Indeed, it is quite a feat on Dickens’ part to make tedious a novel that starts so promisingly, with bodies being dragged from the Thames late at night.)They are not, however, fair for A Tale of Two Cities. Going off at another tangent, I have been struggling to think of another book which has such famous first AND last sentences: there are plenty that can offer one or the other, but few that manage both. The story is, of course, well known, so I won’t waste everyone’s time with a synopsis of the plot. There are some excellent characters: Jarvis Lorry, the serious solicitor who has given his professional life in service of Tellson’s Bank is a paragon of probity, always clad in various shades of brown. Not a man overburdened with humour, and perhaps not one with whom one might wish to be closeted on a long journey (although that fate befalls various people throughout the book). Jerry Cruncher is a hardy perennial from the Dickens stable: a Cockney, salt of the earth type, vaguely reminiscent of Silas Wegg, though better served in the leg department, or less chirpy Sam Weller, who is always on hand to do Mr Lorry’s or Tellson’s bidding, but who has a dark secret. C J Stryver, the pompous, overbearing barrister is brilliantly drawn, hyperinflated with his own self-importance and clothed in obtuseness as in armour of triple steel. Paradoxically, the more central figures seem less substantial. Charles Darnay (another man with a secret) is rather two dimensional, and the reader almost wishes that his lookalike, the diffident and dissolute lawyer Sidney Carton, whose nocturnal efforts keep legal Stryver’s practice afloat, but with precious little acknowledgement of that debt) had won Lucie Manette’s love.Like most of Dickens’ n ovels, this was published in weekly or fortnightly instalments, a fact reflected in the peaks and troughs of action throughout, as the writer carefully regulated the flow to leave sufficiently gripping cliff-hangers. Dickens was a master at conflicting tone. The chapter in which Jerry Cruncher’s sun follows his father on a nocturnal expedition, expecting to see him go fishing, is hilarious, although the mirth is in sharp juxtaposition with a chapter of huge sadness.This is a novel that repays reading for pleasure. It is also a more manageable length for modern taste than some of his heftier tomes. I read it in the excellent Penguin Classics edition which offers extensive background notes throughout the story, and an introduction full of insight (possibly aimed more at informing a re-reading, than for someone coming to the story for the first time.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    A great classic.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It is probably my twentieth reading of this book. It inspires me every time.

    It is a story of redemption of several, but none more so than of Sydney Carton. Beauty in the midst of madness and terror.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A Tale of Cities. Charles Dickens. Open Road. I haven’t read any Dickens since high school and I enjoyed this as it was quite a change from the books I usually read even for book club. I enjoyed the love story and the description of life in France before and after the revolutions. Faults on both sides, friends, and Dickens showed them. I was only familiar with the first and last paragraphs of the book before I read it. And those are still the best lines. If you like to sink into Dickens, this is a good one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is book number 22 of the Kings Treasuries of Literature Series. Beside the text of the story itself, the book contains commentaries on: The structure of the story, the historical basis of the story, a memoir of Dickens and some notes and suggestions for student readers. As with all of these little books, it is a pleasure to hold, to see on your shelf and to read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A Tale of Two Cities with David Copperfield & Great Expectations acclaimed by some as one of the finest of Dickens many superb novels, however, other critics have been much less positive: It really does depend on the reader's viewpoint of Dicken's blend of historical-fiction with very well known events & and cities. It is a story that evokes the thrilling excitement and ghastly butchery of the French Revolution & all the social emotional explosion surrounding it told through the life, love and experiences of French Dr. Manette in Paris, & his daughter Lucie in London. Every student or lover of literature should have read it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A family is caught up in the drama and terror of the French Revolution.Often I can summarize the plot of a classic, even one I have not read, because it's such a touchstone in the general culture. Not so this book. I knew the first line and the last line, but not much about what happened in between (just, blah, blah, blah, French Revolution, blah, blah, blah...). Now, having read it, I still find it a little difficult to summarize. It's a great story, full of love and sacrifice, high ideals and Revolutionary fervor. As with all of the classics I've tackled this year, I'm glad I read it -- and (which is not the case with all the classics I read this year), I'm keeping it on my shelf against the possibility of future rereadings.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The French Revolution takes an interest in a family of expatriates.2/4 (Indifferent).There are some good characters (and also some terrible ones who exist purely to be noble or evil). About half the book is spent dwelling on Big Important Historical Tragedy in a way that guarantees the book is regarded as a Big Important Historical Work. A Tale of Two Cities is to Charles Dickens what Schindler's List is to Steven Spielberg.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Probably nothing I can say that hasn't been said before: a socially-conscious novel from Dickens full of gorgeous description and startling passages of anger against the inhumanity of man. Particularly interesting to read in 2016, as the Arab world recovers from several years of revolution and the English-speaking Western world faces some surprising outsider politicians.

    Coming along in 1859, after Dickens had spent a couple of years primarily enjoying the theatre lifestyle and working for the betterment of sick children, it seems as if CD felt the need to write a historical novel to cleanse some personal creative desires. His 12th novel (and 20th important work), Two Cities doesn't seem to follow logically from the works that precede it. Unlike most of Dickens' novels, the characters here are particularly wooden (Lucie Manette just seems to faint a lot, really, and Dr. Manette and Charles exist primarily for things to happen to them) and the plot rather straightforward. I've seen it likened to Barnaby Rudge but I somewhat disagree; that book still had a lot of typical Dickensian aspects to it, even if it was ultimately a "historical novel" like this one. Still, it's a quick and entertaining read, with plenty of alternating sentimentalism and anger. The two most redeeming characters - Madame Defarge and Miss Pross - make it all worthwhile. How can anyone not adore a woman so English she refuses to cross the Channel? And Sydney Carton's final internal monologue is every bit the equal of that powerful first paragraph. Sydney is not as developed a character as those who came before, but this seems in part because he is seen through other people's eyes so often. Nevertheless, the desire to start him off so unlikable and gradually create his portrait is admirable.

    The relatively few bits of humour in the novel are less successful, because Cruncher lacks the human elements of previous grotesques but also lacks the purely "fantastic" elements that allow us to separate our sense of morals from our respect for their self-preservation. Miss Pross is good for a few laughs, admittedly! Still, for the kind of work it is, A Tale of Two Cities is a dashing good read nonetheless. Now on to the final black spot in my knowledge of his books: Our Mutual Friend!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Men in love with the same woman join the French revolution. It's a love triangle involving a married couple and another man. Madame Dafarge, obsessed with her knitting, presents a sinister character. The far kinder Lucie Manette is devoted to her father. Will those accused of treason keep their heads? Although this is one of Dickens' classic works, it's not a favorite. The memorable opening line is about as good as the novel gets for me. This was a re-read, although it's been several years since I read it.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    All I can say about this book is "I got through it"! Without the spark notes, I would not have understood a single thing here, but I have officially read a classic because I wanted to, not because I was forced to.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Still one of my favorites and maybe the best last line of any book ever.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I started this book for two main reasons. First, I read Great Expectations last year for the second time and love it. Second, I teach A.P. European History and we study the French Revolution in detail each year. Since this book is the classic novel of the time period, it only makes sense that I read it. Now that I am finished, I am truly glad that I chose to read the book. Dickens does a fantastic job of bringing out the emotions and chaos of Paris during the Reign of Terror. From the blind hatred and violence of the Defarges and their fellow "citizens", to the love and heartache of the Manette and Darnay families, I felt immersed and connected with all the characters involved. It is easy to read the history books and learn all about the Revolution, but living the story through the mind of Dickens has given me a real appreciation of what it was like.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read this one on a plane on the way to England and actually enjoyed it. It isn't my favorite of all the Dickens I've read but it was valuable in and of itself. Everything really leads up to the last moments, which are insanely devastating in so many ways but touching. It didn't bring tears to my eyes - it didn't touch me on a deeply emotional level - but it was good. Definitely recommend.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    over rated
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Even though I have never been a fan of Charles Dickens, I was a firm believer in all the hype - until now. A Tale of Two Cities is surely not 'the greatest of his historical novels', and can only be called 'one of the most beloved of Dicken's stories' because it's also one of his shortest. Over five, agonising days, I struggled with this choppy, weakly cast 'classic', falling asleep on the bus and being easily distracted from my task, because Two Cities is supposed to be the best F-Rev novel ever written, but I can now officially disagree. Read The Scarlet Pimpernel instead - Orczy might not be a 'literary' author, and she favoured the aristos over the peasants, but at least she could pace a story to keep the reader interested. I think Dickens cribbed the major historical events straight from Carlyle, and then kept skipping merrily through the lives of his characters in a paragraph, to the point where I thought I was reading the abridged version (some hope).The only character I cared for in the whole novel is Sydney Carton, who then disappears for most of the story. He is a wonderfully flawed romantic anti-hero who can carry off sentimental dialogue like: 'I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul.' Unfortunately, the woman he falls in love with is the pathetic, golden-haired, Victorian fantasy child-bride, Lucie Manette, who is already married to a guy who looks just like Sydney, but lacks his personality. Lacks any personality. Charles Darnay and Lucie deserve each other, quite frankly - she is so good and pure and sweet, to the point where she spends most of the novel on the floor in a dead faint, and he is a nincompoop nobleman. I found myself siding with Madame Defarge, the psychotic tricoteuse baying for Darnay's blood. The only other character who didn't annoy me is Miss Pross, Lucie's companion - the battle royale between her and Madame Defarge is one of the best parts of the novel!Needless to say, I probably stand alone in being unable to recommend this 'classic' novel of the French Revolution - Two Cities is basically the same old wordy and repetitive narrative ('weep for it! weep for it!'), interrelated characters and uninspiring heroines that Dickens is famous for. Only the opening paragraph - you know the one, 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times' - and the last line from Sydney Carton - 'It is a far, far better thing that I do, that I have ever done' - make this a memorable work.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A classic for all ages.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It was my first Dickens, it was not my last. It was summer in Chicago and I was surrounded by lovely albeit unruly children. Oh dear, it was a struggle at times, watching three kids while my wife and their mother were in the city. Still I finished the novel over a long afternoon without drugging my charges.

    It is a story of sacrifice, maybe of redemption. I felt for everyone, zealots and drunkards alike. The concluding scaffold scene engendered tears, it has to be admitted. Is there a better novel about the French Revolution, its aspirations and its contradictions?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Suuuuuper glad I read this as an adult. I'm sure I appreciated it a lot more than I would have at 15. Not sure if it was reading via audiobook (Dickens' writing is incredibly lyrical), but I really enjoyed this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am currently struggling my way through Great Expectations due to a combination of, in my view, unlikeable characters and the occasional waffle. This did not give me the best first impression of Dickens. However after powering through A Tale of Two Cities I might just give him another chance. Although at times the way the plot was turning was clear, that did not take away any enjoyment. I did on occasion find the French revolutionaries slightly one dimensional and I agree with others that perhaps a contrast between the bloodthirsty revolution and the desire for a new enlightened government and culture would have made a good book better.Overall I found this an enjoyable and easy read. The characters are interesting, although can tend slightly to charicatures of good and evil and the plot, though simple, is beautifully conveyed.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Mini Book Review: It was the best of books and the worst of books all at the same time (LOL I know cheesy, but I couldn't help myself) I won't lie it was a tough book to get into at first (I always struggle with the language and overly descriptive passages in classics) , with the exception of the opening chapter which is bloody beautifully written. But once I was halfway in I was completely engrossed and did not want to put it down which surprised me. I actually cried throughout the last chapter too, it was so moving. It is really hard to review a classic as so much has been written about it there really isn't nothing new to say that hasn't already been said. Its just a fabulous tale of social justice, sacrifice, vengeance and redemption set during the years leading up to, during and after the French Revolution. The characters are intriguing, the plot surprisingly fast paced and melodramatic and a truly magnificent social commentary of the time. I recommend everyone read this one as it is unlike many of Dickens other stories (less characters and unnecessary sub plots).4.5 Dewey's I read this as part of the BBC Top 100 Challenge and I downloaded it free to my Kobo
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I don't do abridged. I cordially despise abridgements. Reader's Digest Condensed versions? Abominations. But this particular abridgement is an audiobook read by Tom Baker. I will listen to a calendar read by Tom Baker. I think I would even listen to Sarah Palin's autobiography read by Tom Baker. (Maybe.) Tom Baker is magnificent. He's Tom Baker. His voice is deep and rich and pleasurable as the center of a dark chocolate truffle. When Dickens' humor comes out in the text, Baker's amused tone deepens it. In more dramatic moments, the passion in his voice is tangible. His characters are beautiful. Truly, I don't think he put a foot wrong in the whole lamentably short reading. Oh, and Dickens is pretty fantastic too. One of many reasons I curse the school system is that it made me hate Dickens for a while there. I resent that. This is a gorgeous story – and yes, I will be reading the unbutchered version before long. As I've said so often this year about so many books, I read A Tale of Two Cities a very long time ago, and had forgotten quite a bit. As these things go, I think this audiobook – from Audible – was a very good abridgement. Quite a lot of dialogue and a fair amount of character development was retained (though not the revelations about Madame DeFarge's knitting); I wouldn't want to sit listening to this with the book in hand, but whatever reason there was to cut the book down, at least they did it rather well. But I'd pay good money (if I had it) to hear the whole 400-500 page novel read by Tom Baker. Or, you know, the phone book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I went into this novel with mixed feelings. One - this was a story by Dickens. I'd read Oliver Twist and Great Expectations and had been impressed by neither. I didn't care much for Dickens' style. This is the reason it took me five or six years to finally pick this book from off my shelf and read it. Two - this was about the French Revolution. A good point, that. I'm interested in anything to do with this era. However, three - my mom had told me how it ended and I wasn't too keen on reading something that was sad. I overcame my feelings for point three sometime ago, was still into point two, and finally decided to give point one just one more chance. The result? It was simply beautiful! I don't know that I would like to read Dickens again (except for re-reading this novel sometime), but I began to appreciate his skill. Actually, admire him for his skill. The story...isn't simple. It has a lot of twists and turns that to try and summarise it here would really give away a great deal. I will, thus, just stick to saying, it's a story about a French doctor and his beautiful, sweet-natured daughter, the people who love them, and the small part they all play during the course of the French Revolution. Personally, for me, the main story itself didn't do much, except for its end, and that for different reasons than what most who have read the book would think. (I shall elaborate on this point a little later). What I loved about this book was the unbiased portrayal of the mood and atmosphere of the French Revolution. As G K Chesterton** says:Dickens's French Revolution is probably more like the real French Revolution than Carlyle's.To better understand the above quote, I would like to point out, that Charles Dickens knew nothing about the French Revolution until Carlyle had written its history. Dickens' only source was Carlyle's account. And yet he is supposed to have captured the spirit of the revolution way more clearly and more accurately than the historian ever did.It is necessary thus to insist that Dickens never understood the Continent, because only then can we appreciate the really remarkable thing he did in A Tale of Two Cities. It is necessary to feel, first of all, the fact that to him London was the centre of the universe. He did not understand at all the real sense in which Paris is the capital of Europe. He had never realized that all roads led to Rome. He had never felt (as an Englishman can feel) that he was an Athenian before he was a Londoner. Yet with everything against him he did this astonishing thing. He wrote a book about two cities, one of which he understood, the other he did not understand. And his description of the city he did not know is almost better than his description of the city he did know.What then was his source? His inspiration? ...the fact of his dependence upon another of the great writers of the Victorian era. And it is in connection with this that we can best see the truth of which I have been speaking; the truth that his actual ignorance of France went with amazing intuitive perception of the truth about it. It is here that he has most clearly the plain mark of the man of genius; that he can understand what he does not understand.If this is indeed true, that Dickens had no idea about the details of the French Revolution, until he read Carlyle's history (and Carlyle was said to have given a detailed yet biased account of the Revolution. He apparently never believed in it.), then he is truly a genius to have woven this amazing tapestry on the same. I love the way (and I know I am not alone or among the few in this) the novel begins: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. (p.1)Apart from the way he handled the background and setting for his story, I enjoyed some of Dickens' literary devices. I was amazed at how detailed his description was - not that it would go on for pages, but that it highlighted such tiny aspects as the slant of an eyebrow, a ray of light, the position of a hand. It is all done with such finesse and the directions of a film script. I also loved his rhetorical phrasing, an example of which can be found here (apart from the above quote): Through the dismal prison twilight, his new charge accompanied him by corridor and staircase, many doors clanging and locking behind them, until they came into a large, low, vaulted chamber, crowded with prisoners of both sexes. The women were seated at a long table, reading and writing, knitting, sewing, and embroidering; the men were for the most part standing behind their chairs, or lingering up and down the room. In the instinctive association of prisoners with shameful crime and disgrace, the new comer recoiled from this company. But the crowning unreality of his long unread ride, was, their at once rising to receive him, with every refinement of manner known to the time, and with all the engaging graces and courtesies of life. So strangely clouded were these refinements by the prison manners and gloom, so spectral did they become in the inappropriate squalor and misery through which they were seen, that Charles Darnay seemed to stand in a company of the dead. Ghosts all! The ghost of beauty, the ghost of stateliness, the ghost of elegance, the ghost of pride, the ghost of frivolity, the ghost of wit, the ghost of youth, the ghost of age, all waiting their dismissal from the desolate shore, all turning on him eyes that were changed by the death they had died in the coming there. (p.250)Isn't this passage so achingly beautiful? It is so full of pathos and so filled with gentle irony. But, I think also, with much sympathy, for not all of the aristocracy were responsible for the state of the common Frenchman, though, perhaps, unwittingly. However, it was the wickedness of a few, as represented by the old Marquis of Evremonde, that led to the Reign of Terror. By the end of the novel one sees how much out of control the revolution had gone with the blood-thirsty madness of the likes of Madame Defarge and her entourage, and the death of not only the innocent once-rich, but the poor as well. As I mentioned before, it wasn't the main story itself that moved me, but the era in which it takes place. I shed my first tears when I read of the young peasant girl going to her death for something she didn't do. Her words:'I am not afraid to die, Citizen Evremonde, but I have done nothing. I am not unwilling to die, if the Republic which is to do so much good to us poor, will profit by my death; but I do not know how that can be, Citizen Evremonde. Such a poor weak little creature!' (p.349)I shed my second and last set of tears for this:'It is a far, far better thing that I do, that I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.' (p.370)These tears, though, were of a sort of relief and happiness for the man who found no joy (except one) in his earthly life, but was able to redeem himself so wonderfully at the end. I had been speaking of Dickens' writing style before I went down another road: he uses a great deal of personification. And he picks out interesting quirks in each of his characters that we begin to know them by. These are little things, but they made the reading a pleasure. However, two things about his writing that I truly dislike were ever present here as well. One - his tendency to have a rather intrusive narrator's voice. I dislike the fact that it distances you from the story, makes you feel more like an outsider looking in through a window of a house where interesting things are happening that you so much want to be a part of. This 'intruding narrator' seems to take a back seat in the third part of the book, though, which was probably why the last section of the novel is the most interesting (apart from its being involved solely with the revolution). Two - it has always annoyed me, the way everything falls together way too perfectly in terms of the plot line, in Dickens' novels. Someone once used the word saccarine to describe Dickens' works and I'll have to agree. It's like reading a Daniel Steele novel, I presume. Yet, there are some memorable characters from this novel, of which I would like to mention three - The Marquis Evremond, Madame Defarge and Sydney Carton. However, there is no one main character in this book. The whole novel is carried by the intricate plot.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    How do you describe a classic other than to explain the writing? How do you explain the writing without having to explain the upsetting circumstances surrounding the characters involved? The last part is easy, as is the case with the classics, most know already that A Tale of Two Cities is set in the time of the French Revolution. It begins in good times, but ends on the opposite end of the spectrum, while still finding a way to give hope to those turning the pages of history.There are visuals within these pages that will touch any reader, clear and beautiful in their wording. However, in keeping with the dual nature of things, there are also visuals that will touch the reader holding the sadness and horror of what had come about during the time of multiple executions. Life changes for many this book touches, that includes those holding it in their hands.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There is a reason Dickens is great. And this is one of those reasons.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    One of my favorite classics.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A beautiful book, it is easy to see why it is a classic. Set during the French Revolution, this story is gruesome like the time period but also full of love. A slow read with some awesome descriptive metaphors that can be difficult to get through, but well worth the time spent. An old man, and doctor, gets out of prison where he has spent the last 20 or so years for no crime other than being witness to aristocratic bad behavior. The doctor and his daughter are reunited and she helps nurse him back to health with her love and companionship. Meanwhile the daughter falls in love and marries, and the French Revolution begins. The husband is the son of an aristocrat and therefore an enemy of the revolution. He is put in prison to be executed for crimes that his father did and they relate to the reason why the doctor was imprisoned. Things seem hopeless when a friend steps in to try and help.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Who doesn’t know the tale of Sydney Carton substituting himself at the guillotine to save his only and unrequited love’s husband? This book claims two of the most famous opening and closing lines:It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….andIt is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done…Listening to the audiobook, I found myself noticing the heavy use of literary balance; hence the title of this post. It seems each character has a (mostly ,bad) counterpart: Dr. Manette—Lucie’s father—and Marquis d’Evremonde—Charles Darnay’s uncle; Lucie Manette and Mme Defarge; Mr. Lorry and M. Defarge, you get the idea. And most obvious of all, Dickens juxtaposes the English and the French personalities. This technique forms a sort of net around the characters that binds the reader’s interest: I could just feel the net tightening, the characters bearing down on each other, killing/saving each other until Carton’s famous substitution. I can imagine the impact this had on Dickens’ audience: an Englishman taking on the death assigned to a Frenchman! Sydney Carton is an unusual figure for Dickens: he almost qualifies as an anti-hero. Carton does not lack any qualities that will ensure success in his professional and personal life except a nasty habit of shooting himself in the foot. I don’t want to read too much psychology into the story, but Sydney seems to be suffering from depression which, as it often does in real life, leads to alcohol abuse. Dickens doesn’t reveal much of significance about Carton’s past; he remains complex and elusive. Lucie Manette, in massive contrast, is more angel than human. A cardboard cut-out of the perfect woman—interestingly, she is half-English, half-French. Challenging to imagine one man falling in love with her, never mind two!Charles Darnay suffers a similar perfection: his generosity, love and nobility almost rob him of a personality!Still, A Tale of Two Cities is reckoned a literary masterpiece, all genres of fiction finding a home in its pages: historical, romance, suspense, murder, mystery….Dickens plays the reader up to the very end! His works are the original mini-series! Aside: Dickens gave his French characters dialogue that is like a literal translation into English. For example, the repeated “without doubt”, “look you”, and “Woman imbecile and pig-like!” A simple device that saturated the characters of the “other” city with French personalities!8.5 out of 10 Recommended to fans of literary fiction and stories with a huge cast.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Almost everyone knows the basics of this story along with the opening lines and the closing lines.This was Dickens at his absolute best! The horrible cruelty of the French Revolution, the virtue and bravery of some of the characters, the oppression that caused other hearts to turn to stone - it all made for quite a ride, indeed! Dickens really hit with a one-two punch with this book!Omigod, what a book! It has now become my favorite Dickens, and that is saying a lot!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The drive between Oklahoma and Indiana is about 11 hours give or take a few and since I've been driving it solo, I needed a way to keep my brain from going into zombie driver mode. After all, I've already heard every song in my CD collection and my iPod is non-functioning and I'm too cheap to buy more music anyways, so book on CD was a natural choice. I listened to Lord of the Rings on my first trip out and when I went back home for Christmas I listened to War and Peace and still didn't get half way through even after using up my three renewals. For my recent trip home in May, I rented out Stardust and A Tale of Two Cities from the library. Stardust was a delightful fairy-tale, which was made into a rather absurd but hilarious movie. But listening to A Tale of Two Cities over the next month got me into a classic that I would never have picked up in print. As a rule I find Charles Dickens hard to read, with the exception of Little Dorrit and A Christmas Carol. Great Expectations I barely understood and I never got past the first page of Oliver Twist. However, listening to A Tale of Two Cities made all the difference.Anton Lesser, who read the particular recording I listened to, had all the Dickens accents nailed wonderfully. It activated my imagination quicker than the flat text with it's odd misspelled dialogue. The beginning of the story is a little obtuse and hard to get through, but once I realized what was going on and once I began to identify the different characters and their role in the story, my interest picked up. Dickens is a masterful writer and he made a compact focused story that kept the climax until the last third of the book.Mr. Lorry, appeared to me as a kindly and gentle uncle, Mr. Cruncher as a shady but colorful character with a refreshing lack of decency and nobility, and Sydney Carton formed an image as a lazy and dissipated lawyer, but always with a hint of some hidden strength of character which he had neglected. Lucie Manette, did not appeal to me very much, in every way she was the beautiful fainting heroine, and while she did not seem to have any real flaw, she didn't really do anything, everything simply happened to her. Charles Darnay does exhibit some sympathy and exudes dignity and nobility, but ultimately he is never able to really do anything for himself, since it is twice that he must be rescued by his friends. Madame Defarge is a refreshingly evil counterpart to Lucie. Where Lucie is shy and retiring, Madame Defarge is a vengeful and determine force in plotting and executing the French Revolution. Despite my decided liking and disliking of certain characters, I did enjoy the story and waited in suspense to find out what happened. The dialogue is usually clever and the story rather well paced. It's not for the light reader, but if you've always wanted to read a classic, try listening to a recording. Both books on CD or MP3 downloads are available from most public libraries. (From my blog sarah26rose.blogspot.com, 6/11/11)