Great Expectations

By Jack Noel

OLD books get NEW doodles – it's the classics as you've never seen them before!

A hilarious graphic novel series that brings the classics to life with illustrations by Jack Noel. Perfect for fans of Tom Gates, Wimpy Kid and Dav Pilkey. And Charles Dickens.

WHAT THE DICKENS?

Ten-year-old Pip gets the fright of his life when he meets an escaped convict in a spooky graveyard. And that's just the beginning of an adventure that will lead him to a house full of secrets, a strange old lady and a journey to the big city to seek his fortune. But Pip is in for a BIG surprise …

Join Pip in a rip-roaring story of family secrets, scary grannies and a REALLY annoying big sister in COMIC CLASSICS: GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens and Jack Noel.

Look out for more COMIC CLASSICS:

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Climb aboard with Jim Hawkins, a chatty parrot and a bunch of crazy pirates for a hilarious adventure across the seven seas.

Get on the trail of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
Solve the case with Holmes and Watson in a thrilling tale of mystery, murder and things that go woof in the night.

Jack Noel is a Jack of three trades: author, illustrator, designer, who works mainly on children's books and is a co-host on the Down the Rabbit Hole children's books podcast. Once upon a time Jack sent this tweet, and rest is history (history with doodles): https://twitter.com/jackdraws/status/965492074157166592
https://jacknoelillustration.tumblr.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Apr 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781405294058

Jack Noel

Jack Noel is a Jack of three trades: author, illustrator, designer, who works mainly on children's books and is a co-host on the Down the Rabbit Hole children's books podcast. Once upon a time Jack sent this tweet, and the rest is history (history with doodles) https://twitter.com/jackdraws/status/965492074157166592

Book preview

With thanks/apologies to Charles Dickens

CONTENTS

Cover

Dedication and Copyright

Title Page

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER X

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVII

CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XX

Back series promotional page

MY FATHER’S FAMILY name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than PIP.

So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called PIP.

I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs).

My first ideas regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from their tombstones.

The shape of the letters on my father’s tombstone gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair.

From my mother’s, I drew a childish conclusion that she was freckled and sickly.

AND SO MY STORY BEGINS

It was a memorable raw afternoon towards evening.

This bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard;

where

PHILIP PIRRIP,

late of this parish,

and also

GEORGIANA

wife of the above,

were dead

and buried.

The dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes.

The low leaden line beyond was the river;

and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing was the sea.

And the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was PIP.

A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared, and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.

Tell us your name! said the man. QUICK!

Pip, sir.

Once more, said the man, staring at me.

Pip. Pip, sir.

I pointed to where our village lay, a mile or more from the church.

"Who d’ye live with . . . supposin’ I LET you live, which I haven’t made up my mind about?"

I live with my sister, sir – Mrs Joe Gargery – wife of Joe Gargery, the blacksmith, sir.

said he. And looked down at his leg.

Then he came closer, took me by both arms, and tilted me back as

Reviews for Great Expectations

[technodiabla · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great Expectations is one of the more accessible of Dickens' novels. It is still dark and depressing, but the cast of characters is more varied. There's even a pinch of fancy and fun though it is tinged with derangement. It gets billed as a coming of age novel quite often, but I think it is much more complex than that. It is about hopes and dreams and let-downs more generally. I read it 3 times (all in school) and found it more enjoyable and more memorable than many assigned reads.

[cyderry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There have been so many reviews I won't both with a recap of the plot and story but will just say that the story really seemed to drag for me. Maybe because at the time of the writing, Dickens was paid per page or word or chapter (can't remember) but more he wrote the more money he got. In today's world I'm sure that this book would have been edited down greatly. After loving Dumas' Count, I'm disappointed with Pip.

[tezz_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Love this book. Was expecting it to be really difficult, but it was easy to read and I couldn't put it down.

[emmakendon_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What larks! So many wonderful moments, but I'll choose the week when Pip's getting ready to go to London, organises his new clothes to be delivered to Pumblechook, drinks wine with him as gentlemen, escapes the interminable handshakes, returns home, so nearly a newborn gentleman... and pauses en route for a drunken snooze under a hedge.

[lucy_snowe · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I can't figure out how this got to be a classic. Convoluted plot, poor character development of wholly unlikeable characters, and agonizingly predictable plot twists that are unrealistic to the point of being boring. Altogether a terrible book.

[satyridae · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The writing is stellar. The narration is first-rate. The story is, um, Dickensian, which I now understand to mean brilliant and peopled with billions of fascinating characters. However, I just don't like Pip, and that keeps me from giving this one five stars.

[miketroll · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best known and best novels in the whole of world literature.

[taobrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it, loved it, loved it. I had read it and watched movie adaptations years ago, but I don't think I was mature enough to appreciate its comic elements. I was also deeply moved by the regret that Pip has over his youthful mistakes. A must-read or a must-reread for Dickens fans.

[crossroadsmaura38 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Outstanding writing, with superb characterisation aided by the names Dickens' assigns to his characters. Love, terror and self-discovery in social realism -what more could a reader want?

[gwhittick · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Read this book at school in the 1970s and never went near Dickens again.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am giving this audiobook edition 4* but downgrading my rating for the book itself to 3 ½ stars. I found Pip's devotion to Estella romantic but unconvincing and Pip himself I don't care for very much. This is my third or fourth time reading this novel and I keep hoping that I will discover why so many people think it is Dickens greatest. I like David Copperfield so much that I guess I just wish to feel the same fondness for this... Oh well.

[comfypants · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A poor boy is promised to inherit a fortune.4/4 (Great).Pip is usually unsympathetic, but there are enough lovable secondary characters, and enough twists and suspense, to keep the book enjoyable, and to make a lasting impression.

[sephoferebus · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I loathe this book. Why does the man have to describe every. single. thing. The story itself was torture.

[stevenjohntait · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book. "You are part of my existence, part of myself. You have been in every line I have ever read, since I first came here, the rough common boy whose..." Perfect. I think I've read it four times, but I'm sure I'll read it again.

[briandrewz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was one of those books you have to be ready to read. I was required to read it in high school and I hated it. In later life, I picked it up again and was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The ending dragged on a little long, but it was a very good story. I found myself to be quite intrigued by Miss Havisham. A classic.

[simonea_533972 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read Great Expectations because it is prominently featured in the Thursday Next series, by Jasper Fforde, and because I wanted to read more 'classics'. I won't say that it was a bad idea, but it also wasn't great. I enjoyed parts of the book, but it surely didn't make a big impression on me. The main characters are not very likable and easy to relate to, but I liked the themes in the book, how money changes people and how it shouldn't.

[bleached_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is clear why this novel is a classic. The poor struggle of Pip is a sad but insightful tale about love, wealth, and friendship.

[amandacb_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

As a person with an English degree, it seems as if everyone expects me to like Dickens. I don't. I find his writing insufferably tedious, and Great Expectations is no exception. Thankfully, I read Elliot's "Mill on the Floss" before I ventured upon "Great Expectations," so compared to "Floss" this work was bearable. If that is saying anything. I know some think it is stupendous work, but I disagree.

[kaethe_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I appear to be withholding Dickens from myself, only permitting one every few years. I don't know why, except that he is a fabulous storyteller, and of course, he isn't writing any more books. Seriously, the hero may be indifferent, but Magwich? Miss Havisham??? These are people so fully realized you could pick them out of a line-up. They become instant archetypes. That's skill, that is.

[gwendydd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite Dickens novel.

[samar.abd8allah · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I'll never understand the concept of this novel, the old lady, the boy & the girl, seriously Dickens wat is that?!

and I'll probably never know why the hell did I have 2 take this @ school?!!!! there r 10s of novels I could think of instead of this silly hard 2 understand novel..

whoever understands this novel, plz plz plzzzzzz explain it 2 me...

[rosenstern · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book about a young orphan, taken in by his aunt, then whisked off into the world of the upper class. Pip's meeting with a criminal jars him into a plot that has rather great expectations for him. Will he fulfill said expectations? Read the book, this is a review saying it was worth it. PS- once you get into the hang of Dickens' writing, it becomes quite fun to read his books. He has a witty wit.

[steadfastreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was a great time.

I tried to read it for years - I made it through by listening to in on my commute - but it's really really funny. This is the first Dickens books that I've really enjoyed since 'A Christmas Carol'. :)

[storyb_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A dramatic Classic that has not lost its prestige in a modern world. Characterisation is vivid, the plot memorable and the themes powerful and timeless.

[thebooknerd · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I know this a great classic, but I didn't like this story at all. The characters were all horrid, the plot was dull and unlikely. In short, I hated it.

[fig2_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

By turns heartbreaking, frightening, profound and hilarious, this novel has a wonderful plot. Pip encounters an escaped convict, a bitter bride left at the alter, the cold-hearted object of his desire, and a mysterious benefactor. Full of complex characters that delight and amaze, expect wonderful things from this novel.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had to read this for a literature course and did so most unwillingly, but in the end I quite enjoyed it. I think I must have seen a TV adaptation of this as a child, because some of the big events/reveals didn't come as a surprise to me. It seems a but redundant to critique Dickens, but I liked the humour, the characters of Pip and Joe, Mr Wemmick's absurd home life and the ending.

[tinkettleinn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The worst Dickens novel I have ever read--I love Dickens. I find that I am not too keen on his first-person narratives. Read Little Dorrit.

[kawgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dickens is not my style, but there is no denying its literary importance, which is why I only give the book 4 stars.

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of those books that I had to read at school for my GCSEs. Thankfully I got a good grade.Actually, Dickens isn't that bad. I'm rather glad that I have a couple of his books in my catalog. "Great Expectations" - sure, it's contrived at times but such is the nature of serialised books sold to a generally illiterate publice. Dickens did a huge amount for the literacy cause with his novels.