A Tale of Two Cities

Reader reviewed by Gigi

Charles Dickenss novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is a story about love and sacrifice. It is set in England and France in the years leading up to the French Revolution and after the Revolution, during the Jacobin Reign of Terror. The book begins with the mystery of Dr. Manette. Dr. Manette was imprisoned in the Bastille (a prison in France) for 18 years and does not know nor remember anything of his life before imprisonment, not even his own name. It is only until after he is released from his 18 year sentence that he remembers something of his past by looking at his daughter he never knew he had and matching her hair color to the strands of hair (his wifes) in a bag tied around his neck. Lucy, his daughter, takes him away from France to London, England. Fast forward five years to a trial taking place in England, where we find that Dr Manette has recovered from his ordeal and is vouching for a man named Charles Darnay. Darnay is eventually acquitted with the help of Sydney Carton, a drunkard who bears a striking resemblance to Darnay. In this same section of the novel, we learn that the peasantry in France is becoming unsettled and want a revolution where the aristocracy is overthrown. It is this principle that initiates the events in this book that connect all the characters together.
As it is with most, if not all, of Dickens's books, A Tale of Two Cities is really long and boring (especially at the beginning) and at times I found myself thinking "ok, just hurry up and get to the point!" and sometimes skipping over whole paragraphs because it was so boring. But once I got to the middle of the book, it got so good that I couldn't put it down till the end. A Tale of Two Cities is my favorite Dickens book.

Reader reviewed by amanda

This is a more difficult book to read, mid-to-late teen age. Although it may take a while to get use to the language and how it is written, it is worth it. One thing to keep in mind however is that this work was originally divided into parts to be published in a weekly magazine and not as a whole novel.
I think that is good information to have because when I remember that, it is easier to figure out why things may repeat at times, especially in the very beginning of the chapters.

Despite this, it is a book that will carry you along until the end if you let it and invoke great discussions or questions.