“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”. The opening line says all that is needed to be said about the book. The time was worse, for it was tainted with hatred, violence, and vengeance. The time was also the best because love and compassion endured it all. This historical novel by Charles Dickens moved me like no other. I can still feel the effect of the suspense and tension even when writing the review a few days later.
Set on the backdrop of France before and after the French Revolution, Dickens weaves a sensitive and sympathetic tale of all those affected by it while laying down the grounds that caused the frenzy. Dickens’s historical portrayal is balanced and impartial. He shows what led to the peasants’ uprising so brutally against the king and aristocracy. They were suppressed and were treated no better than animals. When people are treated like beasts for a long time, it is no wonder that they would eventually turn into beasts. That is what happened with them, and Dickens is full of sympathy and empathy.
But the reign of terror that followed the revolution exercised more than retributive justice. Like the bloodthirsty vampires, it hunted the innocents whose only crime was being of aristocratic blood. Dickens boldly exposes this monstrous side extremely well. He doesn’t judge the frenzied Republic, nor condemn it, but he compares the action to a season of pestilence where some will have a secret attraction to the disease. In short, Dickens shows the abuse of power by both aristocrats and the republicans equally.
The story is one of the warmest of Charles Dickens. Witty and bold would be how I describe Dickens’s writing, and I may extend it to sympathetic. But never would I have associated warmth with his writing. It seems I have quite underestimated him. The story drew me in from the beginning. The novel suffered from somewhat of an unorganized structure and some repetitive writing, but it held a four-star status for me. The storyline was beautiful and sensitive, despite the brutality and my nervous tension in reading it.
The characters, being few (another surprise for a Dickens book), it was easy to keep close contact with them all. I’ve read many reviews of the book where it was said that they disliked Lucy Manette, so I went into the read with a prejudiced mind. But to my surprise, I liked her from the start. I also liked Charles Evremond, Dr. Manette, and Sydney Carton. I felt that all of them were victims, and was full of sympathy. Sydney Carton rose to the heights of a hero at the end for sacrificing his life to restore happiness to the woman he loved. Undoubtedly, Sydney Carton is one of the noblest heroes that ever graced classical literature.
While I’m at the characters, I must say a word about the villain of the story. It is none other than Madame Defarge – a sinister woman, a sworn enemy of the aristocratic Evremond family (with reasons, of course), but who displays a disproportionate propensity for vengeance. Charles Dickens seems to have surpassed Dumas there, for Madam Defarge surpassed Milady de Winter of The Three Musketeers in her villainy.
The book was a solid four stars until I reached the final few chapters. Those took me through such an intense emotional journey that my rating jumped up by another star to complement the book with a full five stars.
Rating: 5/5
