Dickens the First: A Tale of Two Cities

My first Dickensian novel and my last of all novels of 2014, A Tale of Two Cities aptly ended my first year of trying to read as many novels as I can possibly fit into 12 calendar months. Aware of his much famed and critically acclaimed skills and accomplishments as a writer, I approached this book with a high expectations that within its pages would be waiting a marriage of one marvellously crafted plot, told in elegant, flowing language by a highly skilled hand. Perhaps I set my expectations too high and perhaps I overshot with allowing A Tale of Two Cities to be the first of Charles Dickens’ novels to read but I was admittedly somewhat disappointed. I should also point out that having picked up this novel on the back of having just finished Tess of the D’Ubervilles, which I thoroughly enjoyed to the point of fast-tracking it into my top 10 books of all time, it is likely that whatever book came next was almost bound to be something of a comedown. Dickens’ Tale is set in the late 18th Century against the backdrop of the French Revolution, the plight of the French peasantry, the contrasting class situation among the aristocracy in England and in particular, it centres around the story of a man who has been imprisoned in the Bastille before he is found and returned to England by his daughter. It explores themes including justice, poverty, revolution, the role of women and love. Dickens’ novel relates an interesting story and while never boring, I found it more of a chore to read than Hardy’s Tess, though admittedly they involve rather different plots. There are some wonderful paragraphs in Tale and some very astute lines in this book that seem to perfectly capture certain moments, lines which I have marked for revisiting in the future. His skill as an observer, as well as a writer in terms of his ability to aptly capture and describe particular scenes and moments shine through in the pages of this book. However, as an enjoyable read as a whole, the book falls down somewhat and I found that, for me, at least, it did simply did not flow with the ease I had expected it to. Nevertheless, I will read more Dickens and without giving into the temptation to once again set my expectations at too high a level, I hope to have a better experience the next time.