Charles Dickens’ Epic Has All of the Great Characters and Plot Twists That Made Him So Legendary

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“Dickensian” has become its own adjective due to just how much of a literary badass Chucky D was. You know you’re just killing it as a writer when there’s an adjective created in your honor, because your work resonates so much and for so long.

And “A Tale of Two Cities” only further proves that legacy is warranted. An ensemble drama set with the backdrop of the French Revolution, it admittedly starts sort of slow and, honestly, it’s pretty much a slow burn like 70% of the way through. Dickens is super deliberate in fleshing out and having you get to know his characters, and it works, because the characters are awesome, whether it’s the loyal businessman Jarvis Lorry, passionate Lucie Mannette, her traumatized father Alexander, the remorseful aristocrat Charles Darnay, or, the best of the bunch, depressed drunk Sydney Carton and the villainous revolutionary Madame DeFarge. Creating enduring characters is one of Dickens’ major strengths, and it’s on full display here.

Another major strength of Dickens, that we see with gusto in the novel’s final third, is crafting a plot with fascinating twists of fate or coincidence that often reveal an unexpected interconnectedness between characters. These twists land SO well in “A Tale” that I legitimately gasped at a few of the reveals. They’re just so well done, and send all of the characters crashing together that it makes all of the slow burn so, so worth it.

I had my doubts in the first chunk of this, just like when I did reading “Great Expectations,” but ole Chucky D, once again, proved me wrong, and that’s fine by me.