June 12, 2015
When I was in the fifth grade, I attempted to read this book in the school library. I didn't get past the famous "best of times, worst of times" verse that famously starts this book before deciding it was too difficult and put it back. Why a school with only 5th and 6th graders would have the works of Dickens in the library, I couldn't tell you. I'm obviously a much more confident and sophisticated reader now than I was at age 11, but I went into this knowing as much about the story as I did then: the opening lines, the closing lines, and that the two cities were London and Paris. That's about it.
But some of my reading lately has given me the background knowledge to understand what's going on in France in the book. It's the late 18th century, and while both France and England have societies that keep the poor downtrodden and the wealthy living it up, it's the French who are going to violent extremes to do something about it. As much as Dickens was an advocate for social equality (at least when it comes to class distinction and treatment of the poor...let's not forget that he was prejudiced and kind of a prick), he clearly was critical of the French Revolution, though he gets what drove them to it.
Dickens focuses on grassroots efforts in the Revolution; Robespierre and other influential people who helped organize the violence are not mentioned. In the section of Paris in which most of the story takes place, Defarge and his wife are the ones running things, with their wine bar serving as a front and a meeting place for supporters of the Revolution. I think this book, while not bad, would have been 10 times better if Madame Defarge had been the main character. She has a right to be angry, but takes it too far when she uses the Revolution as a way to get revenge on Darnay's family for what happened to her siblings. That this event led her and her husband to be so involved in the bloody Revolution makes sense, though.
The heroes of the story are meant to be Carton and Darnay and his family. I felt like Dickens could have done with more character development. For instance, I wanted to know more about Carton's past, why he felt he was such a worthless piece of shit. He essentially says as much, and that's why he doesn't feel worthy of Lucie, though he's so in love with her. His attitude toward her reminded me of Mr. Darcy's toward Elizabeth: "I don't like her, she's stupid and not even that pretty...aw shit, I love her."
Lucie is pretty much described as being pretty, devoted, and emotionally fragile. That's about it. If there was more to her than being the stock character, pretty and a good daughter/wife/mother, then I might have cared about the whole situation more.
I felt like Mr. Lorry, the first character we meet, is pretty interesting. He's very dedicated to his work at a London bank, but he becomes personally involved with Darnay and Lucie and their whole crew. He's helpful to their whole situation, but that's about it for him.
I could go on about how I wanted more about Jerry Cruncher, how Miss Pross had unfulfilled potential to be more than a stock character, and how Darnay himself was a snooze, but I think I'm making my point. It all boils down to this: Carton's sacrifice didn't pack the emotional wallop that it might have because I didn't care much about the main characters.
In some ways this was different from any other Dickens I've read. But he attempts those twists and shocks that really were predictable, and heavily foreshadowed. I think that, had this book actually been longer and gotten into more detail on the individual characters, this book would have been easier to get into. As it was, the only parts I really appreciated were Doctor Manette's PTSD, and the French Revolution setting. This book was not everything it could have been. So far, Dickens does not have the best track record with me.
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