A Tale Of Two Cities

Charles Dickens is a literary giant and I am ashamed to admit I have read very few of his works, up till now only Hard Times and Great Expectations. I chose A Tale Of Two Cities (1859) for several reasons: it is well-known for the famous opening sentence, it is one of his most famous works, it is about the French Revolution (which I am interested in), and it is one of his short novels-a mere 489 pages. It has the sweeping cast of characters that seems essential to any epic with evil villains and saintly maidens in distress. Dickens is a genius with creating memorable characters and naming them: Jarvis Lorry, Miss Pross, Stryver, Roger Cly, etc... His stories often pit good versus evil and probably my greatest influences about the work of Dickens comes from two other writers: George Orwell (his famous essay on the author "Charles Dickens") and Christopher Hitchens, who was an avowed fan of the author. However, I must admit I had a hard time getting into the story-it didn't seem to gather steam until about a third of the way into the book and the plot was less than straightforward to me. However, I can see why this book is considered a classic.