This is one of my favorite books of all time. There is such beautiful love between a man and a wife, and a father and a daughter. But there is also the unrequited love, the sacrificial love, that people tend to forget. Sydney Carton is the epitome of sacrificial love, as well as courage. However, this is also a dark, historical story. A piece of history that all governments should never forget. Madam Defarge is one of the greatest villains ever to be written. She is such a fountain of evil that the book would feel as if it was missing a piece of its soul were she not there.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
The ultimate theme throughout the novel is life. The harsh, bitter treatment of the aristocracy was the life. The angry, festering wounds of France's people was their life. Life bore them tragedies, heartaches, abuse until life exploded into a frightening, horrible nightmare. A broken wine cask outside a wine shop, describes the passing villagers’ desire to lap up any drops of the spilled wine that they could reach.
“The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many there”.
Such a vividly depressing description of their lives, but it was their lives. After the explosion, there was chaos but it was still life.
“The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many there”.
Such a vividly depressing description of their lives, but it was their lives. After the explosion, there was chaos but it was still life.
“Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; - the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!”
In the end, it was a life which was lived, and loved, that saved the girl. It was many lives which were ended far too soon that created a new balance. It was life that was restored.
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
5 out of 5 stars. Read this now!
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