Just in case any of you actually read Great Expectations...
...Though I'm pretty sure no-one on my flist did, here are my final thoughts, plus Damien/Pip shippy goodness :D
Overall? Fucking bamf of a book. Just so awesome. Well written, engaging... I though it would get boring in the middle, and true, it lagged a bit, but I enjoyed every word of it.
Final thoughts...
- OMG Pip/Pocket/Clara OT3 ftw! They actually went off to Cairo to live together! Haha no way were they not all getting it on :P (omg Dickens must be turning in his grave right now...)
- I am SO glad Pip realised what a dick he was to Biddy. And, although she could do way better than Joe, I'm glad they got together. Because he makes her happy and she makes him happy and that's all that matters.
- Wemmick is made of win!!! When he got married... oh I loled! I loled so hard! "Halloa, here's a Church, let's go in! Oh here's Miss Skeffins, I say, let's have a wedding!" XD
- I cried! I cried when Povis/Magwitch died! And I am so happy Pip learnt to appreciate him. I adored how Dickens told his story - all the comments on class were brilliant. Just wonderful.
- PROVIS WAS ESTELLA'S FATHER?!!!! Total mindfuck, ngl. But that ending! When Pip told him just before he died! Oh! I have tears in my eyes again...
- Startop! The return of Startop! And he is SO Kenny! Helps them out, stays in the background, doesn't talk except by report... love it.
- Loved Pip's final appreciation of Pocket too. How he realised that when he thought Pocket wasn't going to be good at business he was actually seeing his own failure.
- The being in debt stuff? SO relevant to today. Whenever I have money problems now, I'm like "I feel like Pip :("
- Loved the whole Orlick capture thing! OMG best thing! One of the pages I totally read like Orlick was Damien from South Park! Haha! It was sooooo good. Have an extract, as though it's Damien and Pip... Oh, and Pip's all tied up :P
Damien: Now I've got you.
Pip: Unbind me! Let me go!
Damien: Ah! I'll let you go. I'll let you go to the moon, I'll let you go to the stars, All in good time.
(!!!!)
Pip: Why have you lured me here?
Damien: Don't you know? (he said with a dark look - I can so imagine Damien's red eyed sexy smoulder!)
So yeah. I totally had fun with that!
- Omg Pip's declaration of love to Estella! That was when I begun to ship them. Because for a long time I thought Pip didn't really appreciate all Estella had been through, all she was, but was just enamoured with her beauty. He certainly proved me wrong :D
- Estella is now one of my most favourite characters ever.
- BUT I didn't like how Dickens ended things with her. Or I'm not entirely happy with it anyway. Basically, after living in terrible conditions as a toddler, being brought up ignored and bullied, and having her mind warped by Miss Havisham, Estella ends up married to a man why physically abuses her. And apparently this makes her into a better person. Have another extract.
"...when suffering has been stronger than any other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your [Pip's] heart used to be. I have been bent and broken but, I hope, into a better shape."
So I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand - Estella's defence mechanism against suffering so far has been retreating into herself, becoming cold and indifferent, and just basically being an awesome bitch to everyone. So more suffering at the hand of an abusive husband is supposed to change that?
At first I was like no way. And the misogynistic connotations are really disquietening. BUT I get where Dickens was coming from. Before this, Estella has said how she kept Pip's love in her heart as a sort of solace. So my theory is now that when Pip admitted the extent of his love for her that triggered something inside her. It kinda broke her icy facade, if you like. And once she knew what true love could be like, she kept it as a solace and let this idea grow and give her hope and strength enough to leave her husband. So for me it's not her husband's abuse that changed her, but Pip.
In some way I prefer the original ending, when she's met this nice Doctor guy and he's the one who taught her love and happiness. But I do like the fact that, although they agree to part, it's obvious that Pip and Estella are going to be together.
- I have my own little steampunk adventure AU canon :D It's pretty epic. Basically, just after Pip gets kidnapped Drummle unleashes some kind of evil steam-driven soldiers on England, and all are called to fight against him :D Pip, Pocket and Biddy form a resistance and soon enlist the help of Estella, who cannot be touched by the soldiers. As the whole Drummle (her husband) thing is a twist, we originally think it's because she's so ice-hearted (metaphors are like reality in Dickens' world :P) but it turns out it's actually so she can rule with him. Of course she totally uses it to her advantage and kills him. There's more plot than this ofc, but it is so epic :D
.
So yeah! I totally loved it. I may have to read it again in a year or so because. So. Good. I hope I've persuaded at least a few of you to read this book because it is just brilliant - beautifully written, a perfect plot, wonderful characters, funny and angsty in good measures.... Just read it guys.
Sorry about the spoilers though :P
Back to teh essay!
~Lili
Overall? Fucking bamf of a book. Just so awesome. Well written, engaging... I though it would get boring in the middle, and true, it lagged a bit, but I enjoyed every word of it.
Final thoughts...
- OMG Pip/Pocket/Clara OT3 ftw! They actually went off to Cairo to live together! Haha no way were they not all getting it on :P (omg Dickens must be turning in his grave right now...)
- I am SO glad Pip realised what a dick he was to Biddy. And, although she could do way better than Joe, I'm glad they got together. Because he makes her happy and she makes him happy and that's all that matters.
- Wemmick is made of win!!! When he got married... oh I loled! I loled so hard! "Halloa, here's a Church, let's go in! Oh here's Miss Skeffins, I say, let's have a wedding!" XD
- I cried! I cried when Povis/Magwitch died! And I am so happy Pip learnt to appreciate him. I adored how Dickens told his story - all the comments on class were brilliant. Just wonderful.
- PROVIS WAS ESTELLA'S FATHER?!!!! Total mindfuck, ngl. But that ending! When Pip told him just before he died! Oh! I have tears in my eyes again...
- Startop! The return of Startop! And he is SO Kenny! Helps them out, stays in the background, doesn't talk except by report... love it.
- Loved Pip's final appreciation of Pocket too. How he realised that when he thought Pocket wasn't going to be good at business he was actually seeing his own failure.
- The being in debt stuff? SO relevant to today. Whenever I have money problems now, I'm like "I feel like Pip :("
- Loved the whole Orlick capture thing! OMG best thing! One of the pages I totally read like Orlick was Damien from South Park! Haha! It was sooooo good. Have an extract, as though it's Damien and Pip... Oh, and Pip's all tied up :P
Damien: Now I've got you.
Pip: Unbind me! Let me go!
Damien: Ah! I'll let you go. I'll let you go to the moon, I'll let you go to the stars, All in good time.
(!!!!)
Pip: Why have you lured me here?
Damien: Don't you know? (he said with a dark look - I can so imagine Damien's red eyed sexy smoulder!)
So yeah. I totally had fun with that!
- Omg Pip's declaration of love to Estella! That was when I begun to ship them. Because for a long time I thought Pip didn't really appreciate all Estella had been through, all she was, but was just enamoured with her beauty. He certainly proved me wrong :D
- Estella is now one of my most favourite characters ever.
- BUT I didn't like how Dickens ended things with her. Or I'm not entirely happy with it anyway. Basically, after living in terrible conditions as a toddler, being brought up ignored and bullied, and having her mind warped by Miss Havisham, Estella ends up married to a man why physically abuses her. And apparently this makes her into a better person. Have another extract.
"...when suffering has been stronger than any other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your [Pip's] heart used to be. I have been bent and broken but, I hope, into a better shape."
So I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand - Estella's defence mechanism against suffering so far has been retreating into herself, becoming cold and indifferent, and just basically being an awesome bitch to everyone. So more suffering at the hand of an abusive husband is supposed to change that?
At first I was like no way. And the misogynistic connotations are really disquietening. BUT I get where Dickens was coming from. Before this, Estella has said how she kept Pip's love in her heart as a sort of solace. So my theory is now that when Pip admitted the extent of his love for her that triggered something inside her. It kinda broke her icy facade, if you like. And once she knew what true love could be like, she kept it as a solace and let this idea grow and give her hope and strength enough to leave her husband. So for me it's not her husband's abuse that changed her, but Pip.
In some way I prefer the original ending, when she's met this nice Doctor guy and he's the one who taught her love and happiness. But I do like the fact that, although they agree to part, it's obvious that Pip and Estella are going to be together.
- I have my own little steampunk adventure AU canon :D It's pretty epic. Basically, just after Pip gets kidnapped Drummle unleashes some kind of evil steam-driven soldiers on England, and all are called to fight against him :D Pip, Pocket and Biddy form a resistance and soon enlist the help of Estella, who cannot be touched by the soldiers. As the whole Drummle (her husband) thing is a twist, we originally think it's because she's so ice-hearted (metaphors are like reality in Dickens' world :P) but it turns out it's actually so she can rule with him. Of course she totally uses it to her advantage and kills him. There's more plot than this ofc, but it is so epic :D
.
So yeah! I totally loved it. I may have to read it again in a year or so because. So. Good. I hope I've persuaded at least a few of you to read this book because it is just brilliant - beautifully written, a perfect plot, wonderful characters, funny and angsty in good measures.... Just read it guys.
Sorry about the spoilers though :P
Back to teh essay!
~Lili