A Tale of Two Cities

by A. Johnson (Adapter), G.C. Thornley, Charles Dickens

Set during the French Revolution, the two cities in question are Paris and London and the tale is one of the tragedies that take place therein. "Penguin Readers" is a series of simplified novels, film novelizations and original titles that introduce students at all levels to the pleasures of reading in English. Originally designed for teaching English as a foreign language, the series' combination of high interest level and low reading age makes it suitable for both English-speaking teenagers with limited reading skills and students of English as a second language. Many titles in the series also provide access to the pre-20th-century literature strands of the National Curriculum English Orders. "Penguin Readers" are graded at seven levels of difficulty, from "Easystarts" with a 200-word vocabulary, to Level 6 (Advanced) with a 3000-word vocabulary. In addition, titles fall into one of three sub-categories: "Contemporary", "Classics" or "Originals". At the end of each book there is a section of exercises focusing on vocabulary building, comprehension, discussion and writing. Some titles in the series are available with an accompanying audio cassette, or in a book and cassette pack. Additionally, selected titles have free accompanying "Penguin Readers Factsheets" which provide stimulating exercise material for students, as well as suggestions for teachers on how to exploit the Readers in class.

Genres: Classics

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Stefani · Rating 1 out of 5]

yeah, no more dickens for me

[Florencia Jiménez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! Very good story and entertaining.

[Diyar Slaiman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a great story for Dickens. I liked it very much, the story illustrates the difficult situations that people experienced during that time. During the France revolution, they arrested and killed many innocent people without reason. the execution by a Guillotine is terrible.

[Sarah Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to draw a connection map of the characters to understand.

[Ayumu Sasaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. Longman Fiction, Upper Intermediate
2. Time: 4/21 = 30min.
3. Poor - Miserable - Wine - Butler - Banker - Daughter - Alive
4. He lay quiet until a light shone through the cracks in the door. It was time to leave.
I like this passage as i can see the circumstance immediately and easily, but would like to ask more details.
5. I am now beginning of the story of this book, but i think this book has nice ending and am looking forward to reading all this book.

1. Longman Fiction, Upper Intermediate
2. Time: 5/4 = 40min.
Time: 5/18 = 40min. 5/19 = 40min.
3. Trial - Butler - Daughter - Beauty - Vessel - London - Paris
4.Dr Mannette had suddenly jumped up with his hand to his head. His look frightened them all.
I was impressed with this sentence that shows his sudden strong fear for readers to understand easily. I could imagine this situation quickly and had sympathy with him that man puts his hand to his head when he was surprised or frightened.
5. Now, there are two names of cities, London and Paris in this book. Despite I do not know they are the cities discribed in the book titles, I was a little happy to hear the name of two cities that show the true biginning of the story.

2. Time: 5/30 = 30min. 6/2 = 40min.
3. Lawer - Shoemaker - Daughter - Love - Complicated - Marriage - Fearfull
4. It was a year since he had left France; the memory of the castle and his murdered uncle was like a dream.
The murder was happened suddenly to oppose the current gorvernment system in France. The murderer is really kind because he thought about France and England politely and gently. As this upper passage showed, he is about to forget the insident like a dream, and I was impressed with this sentence.
5. Now then, the insident happened, and murderer is willing to marry daughter of shoemaker who lost the part of memory in prison for ten years. The stories of each characters are being tangled more and more...

2.Time 7/10 = 30min.
/11 = 20min.
/14 = 30min.
3. Civilian - Fire - Castle - Revolution - Spy - Parris - King
4. 'The officers looked towards the soldiers, who looked towards the fire. They gave no orders, knowing that nobody would listen. They ansewered, "It must burn."'
This is the scene the castle was burned with revolution and no soldier obey to his honor. The scene was really exciting me and made me much more curious about the end.
5. I, actually, would like to read this book more, but do not have enough time to read. I will finish reading this book during summer vacation.

[Noha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It turned out that the edition I read is simplified so my review should not be taken seriously.

The overall story is okay. To tell the truth, i did not relate the title to the story. I expected to be talking about the 2 cities (France and England) but it focused on people rather the place. I have tried to ask my friends who read it what's the relation but I did not understand برده !

What I really enjoyed is the style; Charles Dickens is for sure got a sophisticated and a beautiful way of writing.

For the characters, I think some of them hold idealism and realism at the same time. The most 2 characters I admired were Lucie and Carton; their pure hearts, good intentions and loyalty. For Madame Defarge, how can such a human hold that much grudge and hatred. I did not understand why she holds it (maybe in it's mentioned in the original version)

It ended with the death of Carton yet you don't really feel sad.

Here are some quotes from the novel:
- "There, the children had the faces and the sad voices of old men"
- " He has been accustomed to being alone for so long that now he can't bear the presence of another"
- " Do you keep his door locked? I think it's safer to do so. Why? Because he has lived so long locked up that he would be frightened if the door was left open"

- "Do you feel that you belong to this world?"

P.S: My ignorance in the literature is more than my knowledge in it so depend totally on my opinion ! :)

[Omnia · Rating 4 out of 5]

عندما تقتل الكراهية أي أثر للرحمة في القلوب
ده كان المشهد الشائع في الرواية بعد قيام ثورة الباستيل
الأرواح بقت هينة و البشر بقوا مجرد أرقام تحصدها المقصلة
قامت الثورة لأجل الحرية و أضاعت في طريقها الكثير من الحريات
و أخذ الأبرياء بذنب المجرمين .
....
لما اكتشفت نية كارتون و خطته كنت منتظظرة من ديكنز إنه الرواية بنهاية سعيدة زي عادته
لكن للأسف محصلش
و مات مستر كارتون فداء للوسي و زوجها و ابنتها
تضحية الحب :)

[John Knapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

The single most memorable novel I have ever read..."It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" or, "...tis a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done. Tis a far, far greater peace that I go to than I have ever known..." This novel is an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end...

[Thawepong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learend the power of love that one man had for one woman. He sacrificed his life for the happiness of that woman. He dind't save her life, but her husband. I alos learned a political confict during the French Revolution.

[Cy Wussow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Planning to buy the unabridged edition, one of the best classical novels ever made!

[Vero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Challenge 2015 ---> A book more than 100 years old.

[Abdelrahman Mohamed]

i think that it is a wonderful bokk and contain a lot of exciting scenes

[Marwa Ahmad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a miserable story about the French Revolution. The F.R was unfair. During this Revolution, many innocent people were killed just for being one of the aristocratic families!

Merged review:

Such a miserable story about the French Revolution. The F.R was unfair. During this Revolution, many innocent people were killed just for being one of the aristocratic families!

[Alia Alfadl · Rating 3 out of 5]

read it in school ! (miss Anees's Class)