Great indeed!

I once attempted to read this book several years ago in middle school. It lacked the stimulus that my young mind needed to maintain focus long enough to get in to it, hence, it was shelved and other books such as "The Hardy Boys" and "Storm Testament" took its place. Now, after I have had some time to experience a little of life and love, I gathered my courage and ventured into the realm of Dickens' novel I had entered so many years ago. I will always be grateful I embarked upon the pages of that book one more time, for in them, I discovered an adventure of the heart where I had only before seen unintelligible words. Let the reader here be forewarned that I hold Dickens in such regard that I would establish him as one of my all time favorite authors, and feel a certain kinship to the man. With this in mind, the reader may base the value of the following review on his or her own prior experience with Dickens' work.

The book opens with young Phillip Pirrup (which is slurred into Pip) living in the marshes and, being raised ("by hand") by his older sister and her husband Joe. His older sister is quite overbearing as she raises him "by hand". So much so that Pip begins to think being raised "by hand" means to be presently set upon and beaten into the right way of life. Pip speculates that if this is indeed the meaning of the phrase, then he and Joe were both being raised "by hand". Pip's brother in law Joe is a strong, quiet, gentle blacksmith that is "ever the best of friends" with Pip. They spend all of their time either avoiding Tickler (sister's cane) or comparing bites of their bread. From the start we know that these two have a special relationship, and we find warm places in our hearts for the coarse, kindhearted blacksmith and his admirer, Pip. We learn that the huge ships anchored across the marshes from Pip's house, and referred to as the Hulks, are the prison ships. Large, ominous and dark in form, they sway, always threatening to spew some bit of its contents into the plot of our story. And they do. One day while walking through the marshes, Pip happens upon an escaped convict. He is instructed to go and fetch a file from his brother's forge as well as some food from his sister's pantry. Susceptible to all manner of ridiculous threats to his safety, young Pip hurries about this convicts errands and speedily returns the to the marshes with the file and the food, out of fear of being eaten. While returning to the man, Pip encounters yet another convict shivering in the darkening marshes. Without too much notice, Pip passes by and returns to the convict who's business he had been about. The convict begins to file away at his leg iron as Pip informs him that he saw his "friend" out on the marshes. The file stops as the filer takes special interest as to the other convicts whereabouts. Pip recounts where he found him and the file is applied again, with increased intensity. Pip sets his back to this man and leaves the marshes. Not long after, both convicts are apprehended and returned to the Hulks.

Life proceeds as normal for Pip until he is one day invited to visit an older woman by the name of Miss Havisham. Her heart left bleeding at the altar, (as her fiancé never came to the wedding) Miss Havisham haunts the bowels of Satis House. Upon his first visit to this curious woman, he meets Estella, the adopted daughter of Miss Havisham. He quickly falls head over heals for her, but we as readers, see the danger, not immediately visible to the boy. For we see in Estella the seeds of Miss Havisham's revenge on the opposite gender and the eerie way in which she encourages Estella to "break their hearts". Pip visits the Satis House often over the next few years and his love for Estella grows, as does his knowledge of her cold harsh ways. Estella detests the course ways of blacksmithing and Pip realizes his only real chance with her is to become a gentleman. Around this time, an event happens that opens the door to Pip becoming a gentleman. Mr. Jaggers, a lawyer, approaches Pip and tells him that an anonymous person, would like to pay for Pip's expenses as he obtains his "great expectations".

Here we enter on a sad part of the young man's life. For in the pursuit of something we can clearly see is unobtainable, he forsakes his kind brother in law Joe, and the forge, and sets forth into the city to seek a future. He commences his studies in learning in the ways of being a gentleman. To say the least, he gets along poorly, and begins to live an extravagant life with the money he receives. Around the time of his coming of age (twenty-first birthday) he expects to find out who the anonymous payer of his expenses is, whom he assumes is the wealthy and extravagant Miss Havisham. However, his world is turned upside down when the anonymous person pays him a visit in the night. The book doesn't rest from this time forward as the reader follows Dickens through twists and turns of action, suspense, and romance. I venture no further upon the details of the book so as to not diminish the value of discovering them for yourself. Happy reading!