Student Book Review:


Great Expectations - classic

by: Charles Dickens


Review done by:

 Jenny Wang
Grade 7
Van Antwerp Middle School
Niskayuna, NY

Great Expectations is a excellent book that I read. This book is difficult, but I enjoyed it a lot. Middle school and high school students will understand the old language better. This book brings out every emotion that ever existed. Charles Dickens wrote a lot of good books (eg. Oliver Twist ), but this one is my personal favorite.
There are many interesting characters and plot twists in this book. Pip, the main character, grows from a young boy into a man as the book progresses. In the beginning, Pip meets an escaped convict in a cometary. This convict claimed that there was another man under the gravestone that would tear Pip limb from limb if he did not bring food. Pip stole a pie and other items from Mrs. Joe's kitchen. He brought it to the convict and ran back home. Mrs. Joe, Pip's sister is very mean to Pip. Her husband Joe, on the other hand, stands up for Pip. There are many antagonists in this book. One is Dolge Orlic. He creates a lot of trouble for Joe, his employer. Orlic is Joe's apprentice. He has a very bad attitude toward life. Whenever he comes to work in the morning, it always looks like he is tiered and just wants to get the day over with. Orlic always gets on Mrs. Joe's bad side. She is always fighting with him. Once, they had a great big fight that caused something bad to happen.
Pip begins a common boy but is soon sponsored by an anonymous person. This person pays a London lawyer to sponsor Pips education. The lawyer is Mr. Jaggers. He has an extremely bad reputation. When Pip first arrives in London, he finds many people waiting for Mr. Jaggers. When Mr. Jaggers finally appears, many people crowd around him. Pip hears many protests that get the same answer from Jaggers, "Pay Wemmick. If you don't pay Wemmick, I can't help you." Pip sees the cruel nature of Mr. Jagger that increases throughout the book. Pip goes through many experiences that are called "expectations" by his sponsor. This mysterious sponsor is reviled in the middle of the book. He makes Pip help him even though Pip despises him (for some unknown reason).
Another important character in this book is Estella. She is Mrs. Havisham's (a rich woman) companion. Estella is described as the most beautiful person that you could ever see. She meets Pip when Mrs. Havisham calls for another companion. Pip became her companion and comes to visit her. On his first visit, he meets Estella at the gate. She brings him to Mrs. Havisham's room. Throughout Pip's next few visits, he sees more and more of Estella. Eventually, he falls in love with her. Mrs. Havisham seems to detect his love and develops an evil idea. She decorates Estella with delectable jewels. Then, tells Pip that he will never be able to gain this fair lady's love. Miss Havisham strives on Pip's broken heart. Near the end, Pip remarkably finds Estella marring Bentley Drummle, a rich good-for-nothing man. Will Estella ever come back into Pip's life? Read this intricate and exciting novel to find out!

Student Book Review:


Great Expectations

-

classic

by: Charles Dickens


Review done by:

 Ankur Moitra
Grade 7
Van Antwerp Middle School
Niskayuna, NY

Great Expectations , one of the classics I have read this year, is a tale of the true meaning of love, a love which has become extinct since the dawn of the current obsession with material possessions. In this tale of life, love and money, Pip, the main character, demonstrates to us the true meaning of love in his unrelenting pursuit of Estella. Even though Estella is a girl he thinks he can never have, he loves her just the same. But, despite that, the main moral of the story is about love the plot of Great Expectations is much more complex than of just that.
The story starts off with an ordinary boy, named Pip, who lives in an ordinary town with an ordinary family. But, the story starts to take off when Pip is confronted by a convict who forces Pip to steal for him. Although that portion of the book does not take up much space, it does greatly influence Pip later on. The story once more becomes interesting when Pip, through one of his relatives suggestions, is offered to play at a rich woman's house named Miss Havisham. There, for the first time, he meets his one true love, Estella. But, Pip never got his chance with the one and only woman Pip will ever love, he has not a chance with. Finally though Pip gets his chance with Estella, and his time in the stars. For the convict whom Pip had earlier met up with sees the true man in Pip, a man whose love and loyalty blinds him of reality. But, this insight would have been useless if that same convict had not come into great fortunes. Thus, the convict wanting only enough money for himself to survive, gave Pip Great Expectations, or wished to make of Pip a gentlemen. Now, Pip finally relieved his chance for now he had great fortunes, the one thing that enticed Estella. But, nevertheless Pip still lost in the game of love, for Estella being brought up in a particular way, wished to marry the one man worst among all men, for the sake of breaking hearts. Now most, in such a case as Pip's would try to forget and deny their love for Estella. But rather than doing that, because his love for her was so pure, he merely said that he forgave her. For he saw through to the truth that it was her upbringing's fault for her foolish and rash decisions. Further more he never, as he said he would, forgot her, and loved her beyond death.
This awe-inspiring tale teaches you about life, love and the very essence of man. Not only by reading this book will your reading comprehension increase, but also, you will have a better understanding of why people act the way they do, and of the true meaning of life, and thus love. Although this book does teach much of life and love it is not worth reading if being not understood, for then not only will there be no point, but also no point in ever reading it.
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