Grade: A++++++++!
Summary: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .” With these famous words, Charles Dickens plunges the reader into one of history’s most explosive eras—the French Revolution. From the storming of the Bastille to the relentless drop of the guillotine, Dickens vividly captures the terror and upheaval of that tumultuous period. At the center is the novel’s hero, Sydney Carton, a lazy, alcoholic attorney who, inspired by a woman, makes the supreme sacrifice on the bloodstained streets of Paris. One of Dickens’s most exciting novels, A Tale of Two Cities is a stirring classic of love, revenge, and resurrection.
My views: This has to be one of my favorite books out of a long list! As Dickens intended, the reader is propelled from page to page by a combination of short chapters and suspense (Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities to be published serially), and follows many different story lines that nicely intersect and never tangle. I recommend sitting down with A Tale of Two Cities accompanied by a dictionary and encyclopedia, so that you can fully appreciate all of Dickens' allusions to the French Revolution, and wade through his use of language with greater ease. If you feel like picking up a classic, this is the one!
