A Tale of Two Cities. By Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens

amazon.com free e-book on Kindle. First published 1859. 

(This is the first book I read on the new Kindle presented by Malli and Murugan)

The story must be familiar even to those who have not read the book or come across it in the many other forms and media it has been published. By sheer osmosis, I think, this tale of the supreme sacrifice made by a lover must have permeated the consciousness of many, many people, without their being actually aware when and where they first came to know of it. Anyway, as I said, the tale is familiar enough, and to me it is so especially from my reading the book many years ago - perhaps an abridged version, though I do not remember exactly when. Thus there are many scenes in the book which are firmly connected in my mind with the events in the book. The broken barrel of wine in the streets, and the reaction of the people around as they run to gather up the wine by whatever means they can, soaking it up in dirty cloths, for example; the name Faubourg Saint-Antoine, where many of the important events take place; the Bastille; the tumbrils in which the condemned prisoners of the revolution, mostly former aristocrats, were conveyed to the guillotine; the ghoulish glee with which each decapitation was greeted by the crowd, in particular the group of women who sat knitting just in front of the device; the name 'Madame Defarge' - I remember thinking in 1990 in Strasbourg that a friend there could perhaps trace her ancestry to this fearsome lady; the exchange of prisoners in prison; and the flight to England; and the final scenes at the execution.

But there are also many scenes that were new to me in this reading, making me suspect this is the first time I am reading the complete book.  For example, I became freshly acquainted with some of the lesser characters, such as the lawyer Lorry and his assistant Jerry, Lucie Manette's governess Miss Pross, and a few others. The description of Dr. Manette as a dazed shoemaker, 'not all there', brought to mind the character of 'The Keymaker' in 'Matrix Reloaded'. The thrilling and climactic confrontation between Miss Pross and Madame Defarge was again completely new to me. 

But whether familiar from a previous reading or new to me, the character descriptions, the narration, the plot, and all aspects are excellent, and the book is a terrific read, especially, if one is a Dickens fan, like I am. The historical setting of the book in the French revolution makes it an important contribution to understanding the zeitgeist of those times. I particularly liked it that Dickens is so even-handed in his comment. He condemns, mainly through sarcasm and irony, the excesses of the aristocracy as of the sans-culottes. He is as sympathetic to the tribulations of the poor as to those of innocent, kind-hearted and good members of the aristocracy, such as Charles Darnay. Though, in the case of this ostensible protagonist of the story (Carton is the actual hero), the character is weakly etched and Darnay comes across as well-meaning but stupid. Lucie Manette is also too pale and soft, but this a weakness shared by most of Dickens' heroines (Agnes in DC, for example).

A great book, but not involved or detailed enough to displace DC from the top of the list.