Customer Reviews

A Tale of Two Cities, Spotlight Edition

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This edition of 'A Tale of Two Cities' was a terrific help to me as a first-time teacher of this challenging book by Dickens. Nothing was lost in this translation and additional information was provided that helped me understand the somewhat archaic allusions. Additionally, suggested discussion questions appear in the margin throughout the book. I highly recommend this book as a reference for teachers and/or students or, if it does not make one bristle, instead of the original.

I'm teaching 10th grade English in collaboration with the history teacher, and we really wanted to teach _A Tale of Two Cities_ to go with the French Revolution unit. This edition has fabulous margin notes. I feel a little conflicted about teaching this instead of the original Dickens, but the editors did a such a great job of clarifying and modernizing the language just enough that it is accessible to a 10th grader while preserving plot, metaphor, etc. This edition helped me to understand the novel better as well!

Just a brilliant, brilliant story about love and loss and revolution. The story kept me on the edge of my scene and the brutality and greed and passion which the characters wore on their sleeves was marvelous.

BUT how many non-original versions of this book are there? This is not Dickens, it a paraphrased travesty for the simple-minded. Have we reached the point where high school students need a Dick and Jane version of every classic work of literature using no words beyond those of two syllables? Evidently, it is wise to look carefully at the descriptions of books which are at risk of having suffered this treatment and not automatically expect the original text.

This popular Classic, in it's time, was more than I expected as I read it for my book club in March of 2011. At first it was a bit cumbersome getting used to characters names and places with which I was not familiar, but soon I became engrossed in the wonderful metaphors, the descriptions of people. Their actions which defined them more than their words. Who was good and who was evil? Reread this Classic. It is not your High School requirement to enjoy Great Literature!