“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”
When I first started reading a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens starting with this passage, I thought myself stuck in a bottomless pit of words and culture. I was definitely having the worst of times. I saw no way out, with 380 pages to read, I wanted to despair, but I kept on going despite the difficulty of the book. Glenn Beck refers to these kinds of books and movies as “bonnet movies” where everyone has gum disease, speaks in weird accents, wears ruffled collars, and oddly, everyone seems to be wearing a bonnet. While some of these things might not be true for A Tale of Two Cities, I still found myself agreeing with Beck that these stories just seem to be mostly about the plot, wigs, and gum diseases. Today, many men such as myself crave “laser movies”, which have a lot less plot but are really heavy on the special effects and explosions.
Even though at first, my experience with Dickens made me want to quit, after a while, I started to get into the book. It seemed like, during the last 100 pages, the action and happenings really kicked up, so for that last bit, I actually found myself not wanting to put the book down. The book started to seem less and less about gum disease and powdered wigs. I started to connect with the characters in a way that I never thought could have been possible. I found my self worried and nervous that the Manettes wouldn’t make it out of France in time. I was scared that Madame Defarge was going to kill Miss Pross. It’s really wonderful how Sydney Carton saved the day. I liked how before, he was a total mess up in life. Then he saw how he could redeem himself and feel justified. Although there aren’t any explosions, special effects, or changes in the gravity, A Tale of Two Cities drew me in more than I ever thought possible.
I also enjoyed the book because of the religious content it had in it. It is refreshing to read something where the author isn’t afraid of offending someone or not being politically correct like many authors are today. I really like the scripture in John 11:25-26 that Carton kept quoting before his death:
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Like Carton, I found myself thinking more deeply about what that means to me and how I am working on believing in Christ by trying to do what’s right.
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