My Rating - 10/10
What strikes you the most when you take up Dickens? Is it his masterful rendering of the language, his haunting descriptions, or his compelling storytelling? It cannot be segregated into such separate attributes, I guess.. It is the complete self of the story that bind you to its pages, and makes you realize what makes him a master of his trade.
A Tale of Two Cities - a tale that has haunted me from my very childhood. I had first read a Bengali translation of this classic, by a very eminent Bengali author, Gaganendranath Thakur. It implored me to read an abridged version of the story, complete with some sketches that captivated my imagination. I became a fan , of this classic masterpiece. Years later, far into my adulthood, I felt the urge to read it once more. And this time no abridged version would do. I had to read Dickens's original words. Wordsworth classics came to the rescue, with valuable notes added to the text by Peter Merchant. They helped in getting a better idea of the relevant events, especially for a non-native of the European nations.
This is a tale of the twin cities of London and Paris, set in the backdrop of the French Revolution. The story revolves around the fortunes and misfortunes (mostly) of a family that goes through the times of turmoil that shake the very foundation of the society, especially in France. The story starts off with the troubled times of Dr. Manette, unlawfully imprisoned. How he gets rescued by his daughter and starts off a new life in England, only his peace to be shattered again by a complication arising out of the rising of the public against the French aristocracy.
A Tale of Two Cities explores minutely the reasons leading to the Revolution. It describes in details the atrocities perpetrated by the nobility. The oppression of the masses that ultimately leads to the people taking the wheel of fortune into their own hands, and exterminating the said nobility; the means not always better, and sometimes even more cruel.
And so rose the mass in a cruelty exaggerated by centuries of oppression and hunger. All it saw was red. It killed. In Dickens's words the motto of the liberation took the form - "Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; - the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!"
And so hundreds and thousands were sacrificed, without any law decreeing justice.
When we read this book, the cruelty of human revenge stares at our face, making us wonder whether men can really be so cruel. Whether every humane feeling can be lost. Whether men can turn mad in their hunger for revenge - against hundreds of years of being trodden under. But that is history, and that is human nature. The worst comes out when men are reduced to nothing better than animals, and the animals revolt.
Of the multitude of characters, characters strong in their own rights, the one that has moved generations of readers, is the one of Sydney Carton. I cannot make this character more evident that its conceiver did -
Another aspect of Dickens's writing that I cannot but help proclaim is his humor. I have seen very few authors successfully employ all three forms - humor, wit and sarcasm. A Tale of Two Cities is filled with ample examples of all these sorts. Well, only Dickens can create such masterpieces, that tickle you at one paragraph and shed your tears at the next.
So why should you read this book? Well, sometimes we come across some masterpieces of human endeavor. This is just one of them. Of you don't explore it, you miss out on just much of life. So don't ask why you should read, don't read this review, just dig into these pages. For an experience of a lifetime.
This is a tale of the twin cities of London and Paris, set in the backdrop of the French Revolution. The story revolves around the fortunes and misfortunes (mostly) of a family that goes through the times of turmoil that shake the very foundation of the society, especially in France. The story starts off with the troubled times of Dr. Manette, unlawfully imprisoned. How he gets rescued by his daughter and starts off a new life in England, only his peace to be shattered again by a complication arising out of the rising of the public against the French aristocracy.
A Tale of Two Cities explores minutely the reasons leading to the Revolution. It describes in details the atrocities perpetrated by the nobility. The oppression of the masses that ultimately leads to the people taking the wheel of fortune into their own hands, and exterminating the said nobility; the means not always better, and sometimes even more cruel.
"Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seeds of rapacious licence and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind."
And so rose the mass in a cruelty exaggerated by centuries of oppression and hunger. All it saw was red. It killed. In Dickens's words the motto of the liberation took the form - "Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; - the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!"
And so hundreds and thousands were sacrificed, without any law decreeing justice.
When we read this book, the cruelty of human revenge stares at our face, making us wonder whether men can really be so cruel. Whether every humane feeling can be lost. Whether men can turn mad in their hunger for revenge - against hundreds of years of being trodden under. But that is history, and that is human nature. The worst comes out when men are reduced to nothing better than animals, and the animals revolt.
Of the multitude of characters, characters strong in their own rights, the one that has moved generations of readers, is the one of Sydney Carton. I cannot make this character more evident that its conceiver did -
"Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning himself to let it eat him away."And yet, a man who can proclaim -
"For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. If my career were of that better kind that there was any opportunity or capacity of sacrifice in it, I would embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you. Try to hold me in your mind, at some quiet times, as ardent and sincere in this one thing. The time will come, the time will not be long in coming, when new ties will be formed about you--ties that will bind you yet more tenderly and strongly to the home you so adorn--the dearest ties that will ever grace and gladden you. O Miss Manette, when the little picture of a happy father's face looks up in yours, when you see your own bright beauty springing up anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you!”And proves his worth. Perhaps he was able to give himself up since he knew that his life, so wasted away, had little value in its own right.
Another aspect of Dickens's writing that I cannot but help proclaim is his humor. I have seen very few authors successfully employ all three forms - humor, wit and sarcasm. A Tale of Two Cities is filled with ample examples of all these sorts. Well, only Dickens can create such masterpieces, that tickle you at one paragraph and shed your tears at the next.
So why should you read this book? Well, sometimes we come across some masterpieces of human endeavor. This is just one of them. Of you don't explore it, you miss out on just much of life. So don't ask why you should read, don't read this review, just dig into these pages. For an experience of a lifetime.
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