We are celebrating the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Dickens. Gopa and Sivaram therefore selected this novel. It relies on Thomas Carlyle's account of the French Revolution and depicts the contrasting fortunes of citizens in the capitals of neighbouring countries, London and Paris.
London was lawless and its
common citizens were poor, lorded over by the nobility; the
citizens of Paris were equally down-trodden, but are now caught in the throes of
a violent revolt that will change the landscape of France forever,
but not before a bloodthirsty period of head-chopping.
Mathew, Gopa, Kavita
As
is true of Dickens' novels the characters are vivid. But there is little
of Dickens' humour in this work, which came late in his
life. Perhaps Dr Manette is the most striking person; he evolves
from the mental trauma of solitary imprisonment to become heroic in stature.
KumKum
Madame Defarge
symbolises the extreme violence and bloody vengeance the French
Revolution heaped on the aristocracy, sweeping along many unwitting
individuals implicated by false testimony.
Kavita
The
language is complex; Dickens seems to have revelled in long sentences
and his style has the stolidity of the Victorians, but it has aged
quickly. Lacking an editor, Dickens does not hesitate to pile detail
on top of details; a judicious reader is forced to skip.
Priya
Google
celebrated the Dickens anniversary with a doodle depicting a collage
of his characters:
Here
are the readers at the end:
Kavita, Priya, Zakia, Gopa, KumKum, Mathew, Sunil, Joe
Click
below to read more ...
