Pip is a complex character. He's not easy to like. They say gratitude is the least of virtues, ingratitude, the worst of vices. And his ingratitude, coupled with his grandiosity, makes him doubly horrendous.
But, I guess you can admire his candour. This book is a remembrance of things past. It is emotion recollected in tranquility. He sees his mistakes, he takes care to point them out.
And there is quite a bit of humour here.
Anyway, whatever it is, it's not boring. When I read, I get engrossed and I think I will be done before this week is through.
I'm halfway through the book now. Pip has left Joe, Biddy and his sister and moved to London where he is being tutored by Matthew Pocket, a relation of Miss Havisham. By the bye, I can understand why Miss Havisham is the most studied character in the book. That chapter where she is introduced is the most compelling in the book. And Pip's description of her room, her wedding cake, her wedding dress...(I wonder how all this smelt). You could go over it again, and again, and again and learn something new on each re-reading. Maybe this is why Great Expectations is one of the most re-read books of the Dickens' cannon.
Anyway, will say more when I get through with the book.
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