A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Before I started the audio version of this book, I didn't know much about it. I mean, I knew:

• The French Revolution was involved.
• The opening line was "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", kind of like "Paradise Theatre" by Styx.
• It ended with "It is a far, far better" and all that.

All, in all, the book starts kind of slowly, but gets good. Like other Dickensian works, this one includes the too-perfect heroine whose only flaw seems to be fainting spells. I wonder if fainting was more common back then due to poorer nutrition or general health, or if it was just a plot device. Anyway, the book has a number of characters. Since I knew how it ended, it was interesting trying to figure out who said the closing lines and why.

I'm not exactly a huge fan of Dickens, but it is certainly deserving of its reputation as a Classic.

I also saw the 1935 movie version and was impressed. Obviously, things were cut from the book, but mostly the essential pieces remained. I particularly liked Blanche Yurka as Madame Defarge.