6 other truths about life that stood out to me from Great Expectations. 1) People sin against us for reasons that are very complicated, and often have nothing to do with us, but go back to whole histories and cycles of evil in the world. In other words, the brokenness of the world is complex and deeply ingrained.  The great example of this in the book is Pip being mistreated Miss Havisham through Estella, something which goes back to her own personal wedding day tragedy.  Whats fascinating is how, as the novel progress, this episode becomes connected to other cycles…

The second great novel I’ve listened to on my ipod this spring is Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.  Though I don’t think it matched The Brothers Karamazov‘s psychological and religious depth,  I was drawn in by Dickens’ humor, his characters, and his lilting, seemingly effortless prose.  He has some sentences that are just priceless.  For example, when the convict looks at Pip “with a smile that was like a frown, and a frown that was like smile” (p. 354 of my Barnes & Noble, 2003 version).  Or Pip describing his miserable upbringing: “I was always treated as if I had insisted…