A Tale of Two Cities: an onerous work in writing style and plot

A Tale of Two Cities (1859)- Charles Dickens (399 pages by my edition)

A Tale of Two Cities is a work of historical fiction written by Charles Dickens depicting the time before and during the French Revolution that began in 1789. The tale surrounds the Manette family and their life in the cities of London and Paris. Their life in London is filled with happiness and fruitful relationships while their time in Paris is riddled with emotions of a different type. These two major European cities are pivotal to the plot of the novel, as the title suggests, as they draw the characters of the novel together, provide great contrast, and often drive the action of the plot forward.

This is not an easy read. Even David Copperfield which I previously reviewed is a much easier read than this work. The first couple of days reading were quite slow and as time passed my comprehension definitely improved but it was still very tough. There were times where I would read a paragraph or a page and still be very confused as to what actually occurred. Sometimes these scenes were vast sections of imagery while on other occasions they were paragraphs of action but difficult nonetheless.

There are several key themes in a Tale of Two Cities, I will focus on three of them: the contrast between light and darkness, feminism, and poverty. Throughout the work, some characters exude light, happiness, and have a calming influence on everyone while other characters exude darkness in the form of hate and resentment. This is also true with different scenes and settings, as a reader watch out for these signs, ponder their importance, and analyze their influence. Feminism is another interesting topic in this work, as two central figures are women. I don’t want to give too much away but one woman enjoys power derived from light while another gains the power of darkness. Each believing they use their power for good but one using it for purity and the other for darkness and death.

Lastly, poverty is crucial. Dickens often was a champion of the poor and this is illustrated masterfully here. He reveals the aristocrats' disdain for the poor and the miserable conditions that the peasants were forced to live in. This is not to say that Dickens exalted this revolution, as he condemns the horrific acts of the peasants often, but rather he understood their motivation.

The goal of these reviews is to create an easy-to-read, open discourse on the classics so I will put it simply, this book was a struggle. The plot tends to pinball around, the readability makes it tough to understand what happens in some instances until you read the passage again, and overall I struggled to become truly engaged with the characters. In David Copperfield within the first 100 pages, I felt connected to David. By page 200, I really appreciated David and wanted him to succeed. By page 400, I was willing to run through a wall for him. I didn’t feel this way with any of the characters in a Tale of Two Cities. I’m not sure if this was because there were simply more crucial characters or just less of a true main character in a Tale of Two Cities but that is how I felt.

Overall, I’m glad I read this work but it has by no means been my favorite novel. I found some of the scenes to be extremely heart-warming and others to be utterly horrific. While I enjoyed this contrast I still struggled to feel truly connected with the characters, I understood the happiness and misery of each character but wasn’t able to truly feel their situation like I had with previous novels. I’ll end this review with one final question: would I recommend this work? Yes, I would. I still found it interesting but would recommend David Copperfield or Great Expectations as works by Dickens to read first.

As always, my scoring breakdown is below. Thanks for reading!

Score: 5/10- Definitely a low score that reflects the complex nature of this work. A difficult read but one rich with great contrasts and emotions.

Readability: 2- A tough read, even tougher than David Copperfield which was my previous low score for this category.

Thematic Questions: 8- Dickens provides great contrast between light and darkness while illuminating poverty and the role of women in society.

Enjoyment: 5- I enjoyed the work especially reading it as historical fiction to learn more about the French Revolution but struggled to feel connected to the characters.