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A Tale of Two Cities Book Review

A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel by Charles Dickens first published in 1859. It is a work that has its merits, but is not one of my personal favorites from this author.

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“It was the best of times,

it was the worst of times“

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The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. This is one of the best-sold novels in human history and it’s just as revered today as it was back when it was released. But for me, it’s not among Dickens’ best works.

In what was an unusual move for the author, he decided to focus on a historical period, thus effectively writing a period piece. There have been other French Revolution stories before and after, but this is one of the most popular for sure. Thematically speaking, it’s not quite as deep as some of his other works, but this is still a Dickens novel, so obviously it contains numerous important messages and social critiques.

Clearly one of the biggest themes is one regarding class differences, which back then were huge. Some of the darkest and coincidentally funniest moments came when Dickens examined and made fun of the French elite of the period. There is this one perfectly ironic passage that deftly hints at the ignorance of what’s to come for these Aristocrats who got too comfortable in their rich shoes.

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But Dickens also criticizes the revolutionaries for their own violent methods to achieve freedom, which in the author’s eyes were too radical. This particular point is rather contentious in my book, but it’s one that provokes further discussion as after all the novel’s biggest villain is the latter and not the former. He also truthfully depicted just how difficult fighting for freedom always is and how it involves a lot of personal sacrifice and perseverance.

A Tale of Two Cities typically for Dickens features outstanding dialogue. The descriptions are just as incredible and the novel very much came alive during the more extensive descriptive passages as well as some powerful dialogue exchanges. There is this one conversation about mortality and the passage of time that really hit me how emotionally powerful and honest it was. Dickens’ sense of humor is intact here too with his irony being particularly delicious.

So thematically speaking, I found the novel to be quite strong. I also found the writing to be stellar. Then why is it that I still did not enjoy it as much as I did his other works? Well, the reasons for that dissatisfaction are twofold. One is its very bad pacing. So many moments are either rushed or overly extended. The entire first half took some sweet time to get there owing to a slower start that made it difficult to get engaged with properly.

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But the second reason is the more important one – the weak characters. In an unusual turn of events, we have here a Dickens novel where the characters are the weakest aspect. He often created iconic literary creations, but in this story none of them struck a chord with me. Jarvis Lorry is important for what he represents, which is a testament to the possibility of a long life well lived. But Cruncher is forgettable, Lucy is a boring female character and Charles Darnay is overly one-note. Only Madame Defarge made a bigger impact as she is such a memorably villainous creation, but even she needed stronger characterization.