Great Expectations - Outside of a Dog

Paperback, 512 pages

English language

Published Dec. 30, 1996 by Penguin Books.

ISBN:: 9780140434897
OCLC Number:: 36085668

(1 review)

'Pip's expectation, before his expectations, is that he will be shown to have a!ready committed a crime,' writes David Trotter in his Introduction to this new edition. The orphan Pip's terrifying encounter with an escaped convict on the Kent marshes, and his mysterious summons to the house of Miss Havisham and her cold, beautiful ward Estella, form the prelude to his 'great expectations'. How Pip comes into a fortune, what he does with it, and what he discovers through his secret benefactor are the ingredients of his struggle for moral redemption.

Great Expectations was pubiished in three volumes in July 1861. According to Swinburne: 'This was the author's last great work, the defects in it are as nearly imperceptible as spots on the sun or shadows on a sunlit sea.'

52 editions

bangiebangs reviewed Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Review of 'Great Expectations' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

5* from me.

So this is my first pirate romance (ever), and it delivered! I love Ramsay and I love Maren, and I read this off two lines quoted in some short video and knew nothing else about anything. Which was exactly the right way to read this, I think!

The pacing is really good, there is humor, it's frustrating sometimes (so angsty all around) but the characters' actions make sense. They talk about what is going on with them emotionally. Maybe not always instantly, but the fact that this doesnt have a lot of the miscommunication trope is a HUGE plus. It actually felt so much more real: sometimes you can tell what's up, sometimes you need a while to get the courage to speak. You grow, you leave things behind.

Idk why this gripped me so much, but pretty sure that this detail sold me 100%, and I'm …

5* from me.

So this is my first pirate romance (ever), and it delivered! I love Ramsay and I love Maren, and I read this off two lines quoted in some short video and knew nothing else about anything. Which was exactly the right way to read this, I think!

The pacing is really good, there is humor, it's frustrating sometimes (so angsty all around) but the characters' actions make sense. They talk about what is going on with them emotionally. Maybe not always instantly, but the fact that this doesnt have a lot of the miscommunication trope is a HUGE plus. It actually felt so much more real: sometimes you can tell what's up, sometimes you need a while to get the courage to speak. You grow, you leave things behind.

Idk why this gripped me so much, but pretty sure that this detail sold me 100%, and I'm sure I will re-read this.

“Play nice,” he warns, his grip tight and bruising as he presses me against the wall.
I manage to move my throat enough to spit in his face. My spit lands on his forehead, a sliver of fish bone in it. He grunts and reaches up with his other hand, wiping it away.
“Do it again,” he whispers, eyes dancing darkly. “This time in my mouth, please.” He opens his mouth, showing me his tongue, wanting it. Damn it. Everything that’s uncouth and repulsive about me he somehow loves.
He shuts his mouth and grins. “Fine. Just know I will be returning the favor one day.”

Like omg yes.

By the way, I didn't get the Jack Sparrow vibe that others talk about here. Yes, there is rum, but Ramsay often stays sober, isn't some whacky figure, just a hard-ass pirate (and kinky af).

So TL;DR this is dark romance, it's believable, it has pirates and sirens and cursed ships and it is dark. Heed the CNs, and if you're sensitive to violence, <spoiler> esp spousal and sexual abuse, </spoiler> maybe skip this one.