A Tale of Two Cities: A Two-Headed Monster of a Book, but Is It Worth Reading?

We've all heard the famous opening lines from this book, and that's precisely why I'm not opening my blog post with them. As famous as they are, we've heard them too often. But if you stop and think about it, what we've not heard enough of--or haven't heard anything at all--is anything to actually do with the rest of the book, the other three to four hundred pages of it. Dickens goes far, far beyond the first twelve words in his literary classic. In fact, by most publishers' estimates, they place the novel anywhere between 145,500 - 146, 500 words, which, give or take a thousand words, I'll say is a good enough estimation for this blog post. So, what's the story about? Well, in short, an ensemble cast of characters just trying to survive the French Revolution, find love, find success, heal old wounds, and better themselves, either professionally, socially, emotionally, or spiritually. Despite the generalizations here, I have a few observations about the book. Spoiler alert: the book is 164 years old, there are no spoilers.

1. Structure of the Book. The book is divided into three shorter books, that function more or less chronologically. The book itself is categorized (and rightfully so) as a Romantic novel, framed within the historical backdrop of the French Revolution. Given the historical element of the novel, the structure is somewhat different than traditional Romantic novels in a number of ways. First, the unabridged, wordiness of the book. Yes, let's get everyone's first major complaint out of the way. Although most of us are aware that Dickens's was writing and getting paid by the prolific nature of writing, I concede that the penny-a-page application is apropos here. However, I think one of the other reasons the novel is as long and structured as it is, is due to the subject matter and scope of the story he was trying to tell. That may sound like a no-brainer, but let me explain what I mean. The book is set during the crazy times of the French Revolution. However, Dickens spends a great deal of time exploring just what life might be like in French Revolution London and French Revolution Paris (hence the title of the book). The time he spends delineating between the social, political, and economic circumstances of both the Parisians and Londoners helps the reader better understand the dire circumstances of the times and ultimately, it helps us better understand the motivations of the characters. For example, in chapter one, when we are introduced to the setting as Mr. Lorry is making his way to Tellison's Bank, we learn that, "there was a steaming mist in all the hollows, and it roamed in its forlorness up the hill, like an evil spirit, seeking rest, and finding none (Dickens 11), It's easy to infer just how bleak the circumstances are in London after the American Revolution. It was a time of humility and also a time of new beginning for Britain, and so beginning the book in the bleak weather, but saying that the evil of it wanted to rest, there is a sense of depravity on one end, and yet, despite the bleakness of the circumstances, we find one of the our main characters making his way 'up the hill' and 'through the storm.' This idea of coming up or coming out of bleak circumstances mirrors the opening lines of the book, and Dickens does this quite well. The major conflict in each book hinges on the complex and often dire seriousness of the tumultuous nature of the political strife occurring at the time. If you're a fan of historical fiction, and the nature of societies within times of great social and political unrest, then you will appreciate this element of the novel greatly, but will it be enough to motivate you to get through 145,000-plus words? Probably not.

2. Cast & Plotting. Dickens pits this backdrop with the interweaving of a classic

character conflict: the love "triangle" of Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay,

and Sidney Carton. We learn as we go that Lucie's father Edouard Manette, has been imprisoned in the Bastille, and that his friends (Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Mr. Jerry Cruncher) have decided to go free him. Lucie accompanies Jarvis on the trip to Paris, where we find Dr. Manette imprisoned in the attic of a wine shop owned by Messeur and Madame DeFarge. This should be a giveaway of who the antagonists are. The DeFarge's are French revolutionists who ultimately want to destroy France's caste system and return power back to the people.

We learn how Dr. Manette has been imprisoned there and driven himself into madness, and as Lucie and he try and return to England, they seek assistance from Charles Darnay, a mystery man they meet on their return trip on their ship who claims he knows her father. In the attempt to free Dr. Manette, they recruit the help of Sidney Carton, a brilliant attorney who then fancies Lucie Manette too.

On the way home, Carton falls in love with Lucie, who loves Darnay, and so

Carton then admits to Darnay he loves Lucie too, and Lucie chooses Darnay,

leaving Carton bitter and rejected.

Back in England, the other major plots of the book are as follows: We learn that Charles Darnay is the actual owner of Tellison's Bank, and that he's super rich. While in London, after getting married to Lucie and living happily, we learn that a dear associate of his has been captured by the French and imprisoned and he makes the bold attempt to go back to London to save his business friend. We learn the attempt would have been in vain because his

friend is already dead.

We later learn that there is an evil organization that has plotted this event to lure Darnay, Lucie, and her father back to France to seek revenge on them. Darnay is then accused of being a spy and is arrested by the French mob for allegedly "assisting the enemy" years ago and is imprisoned, and we then replay the same script again with Darnay. This time, Jarvis Lorry aids in freeing Darnay.

Back in England, we learn that Darnay owns Tellison's and then that a dear friend of his has been caught by the revolutionists and needs Darnay's help. Knowing of Darnay from the first trial, the original conspirators that imprisoned Dr. Manette, have plotted this. They catch Darnay AGAIN...accuse him of treason, and sentence him to death AGAIN........

The antagonists behind this are Messeur and Madame DeFarge, the owners of the tavern where Dr. Manette was imprisoned originally. We then learn that Darnay's dad and uncle (who is called the Marquis) had a falling out over the bank, and that his uncle tried to use the DeFarge's to murder Darnay's dad under the promise of riches from the Marquis (Darnay's uncle) so that the Marquis could inherit the bank and be rich. (Makes sense, right?

Darnay escapes because the Marquis's wife (Darnay's aunt) pities the boy and

sends him to live with some relatives of hers for him to be able to grow up.

So what does Doctor Manette have to do with it? Well, that same night, when

Darnay's uncle does all this murdering, we learn that DeFarge's kids were

also involved in the plot against Darnay's dad, and they have been hurt in the

fight between Darnay's daddy and uncle, and that his uncle has summoned a

doctor for them. Dr. Manette shows up, and is asked to try and save who he can.

He's unable to save the kids, and so the DeFarges are angry at him. Also

worried now that Darnay has witnessed and heard all of this and he'll tell all of

this to the authorities, they capture him and imprison him too, which brings us

to more or less the initial conflict of the story that I mentioned.

While we learn this, Charles Darnay is in his cell about to be hanged when

Sidney Carton, out of his unbridled and servile love to Lucie, sneaks into his cell, has Darnay change clothes with him, and tells Darnay to leave as a fake Carton,

saying he'll sacrifice himself so Darnay can go back home with Lucie.

Darnay escapes, leaving France with Lucie, Mr. Lorry, Dr. Manette, and Ms. Pross. The main villain, Madame DeFarge, still wanting revenge on Charles Darnay because his dad had backstabbed the Marquis (Darnay's uncle again who had promised the DeFarges riches and power), follows and attacks them seeking her ultimate revenge on Darnay, but they are saved from her when Ms. Pross stabs Madame DeFarge with her own knife. Meanwhile, Carton is still in prison and the novel ends with Carton being hanged in place of Darnay.

Overall, this plot is very complex, and I even left out a ton of it. Mainly, the plot is centered around revenge and the corruptness of the Marquis (Darnay's uncle) and his desire for power, balanced with the the tumultuous savagery of the French peasants revolting. Dickens balances the barbarity and villainy of the peasant class with the corruptness of the Marquis (ruling class) to illustrate that both sides are corrupt and evil, and there is little hope for good people like Charles, Sidney, Lucie Manette, and her dad, Dr. Manette.

The only question that remains is it worth reading? Again, the intertwining of the stories was very well done. However, the slow progression of the novel makes it very, very difficult to slug through. Too much time is spent developing the corruptness of both the ruling and peasant class; too much time is spent developing the plight of Dr. Manette stuck in the prison in France; too much time is focused around setting up this motivation for Darnay to return to France to help his friend out and likewise for Carton to return to try and help Darnay. The way it's woven together is very, VERY well done, it just was a bit too long, and although it is entertaining, complex, and cleverly spun together, I don't think most people want to have to work that hard to be entertained by a nevertheless amazingly-plotted story.

Even in writing this, the plot breakdown was long-winded and was difficult to piece together effectively to really try to summarize it. So, was it worth it or not? As a fan of Dickens, Victorian, and Romantic literature, I'd still say no, it's probably not worth it, but at least you could say you have read one of the most popular novels ever written.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the book. Again, there's a bit more to the story, but I was trying to summarize, criticize, and make a recommendation about a monster of a novel.

Scott