Charles Dickens vs. eHarmony

Okay, the truth is I'm not a big Dickens fan. Even as an avid reader, I find the length of his books to be a little daunting. In my repertoire I have read Bleakhouse, A Tale of Two Cities and The Christmas Carol (which by Dickens standards is not a novel). But, of course, I am very familiar with his stories and most of the characters. For I watched quite a few of his novels: Bleakhouse, Little Dorrit, Oliver Twist, many versions of The Christmas Carol, Our Mutual Friend, The Old Curiosity Shop, David Copperfield and Great Expectations - the latter of which Haley and I are making our wait through the latest version this week.

And just as a disclaimer on the title of this post, I am also not an eHarmony fan. Never been on it. Never intend to be on it. I just didn’t realize Charles Dickens had anything in common with it.

But back to Dickens...

As a writer, I'm very appreciative of the scope of Charles Dickens. His insight into humanity is quite excellent. His characters are often quirky beyond belief (with names to contribute to their odd traits), but even his oddest, or meanest, or kindest, or craziest characters are to be found in our world. It's what makes them so real. But of all his works, Great Expectations is probably my least favorite.

Why? Well, Haley and I were discussing it last night. Our conclusion was thus: there's no one to cheer for. While Joe is a great, solid character and Mr. Pocket adds good humor to the tale; you spend half the book wanting to tell Pip, Estella, Miss Havershim and the lot to learn from their mistakes and improve. But they don't. Even when they show signs of a foundation of truth, they don't gain any ground. And it leaves you disheartened. But who knows? Perhaps that was Dickens's whole point.

So, in truth, Great Expectations doesn't leave a lot to hope for. But I couldn't help laughing hysterically last night at one point. Pip is at a party, following Estella around like a lost dog who wants only a crumb from her grand table. Estella's chaperone comes over and informs him that he ought to pay a little more heed to the other young ladies who are flapping their fans and fluttering their eyes at him. He shrugs them aside, which causes the chaperone to inform him: "It's a market. You're supposed to look at all the stock."

Some things don't change in 150 years. Today we have match.com and eharmony. In the 1850s they had parties. The idea was the same: it's a market. So don't forget to look at all the stock.