My primary complaint is that Pip's relationship with Estella should have ended, as apparently it did in Dickens' first draft of the ending. After the way Estella has treated Pip, it is almost impossible that she would have been better to him simply because she had "suffered" for a few years. Of course, the ending is cryptic enough that one could read it only to mean that the author is still as deluded as ever, in the fashion of Scarlett O’Hara assuring the viewers of “Gone With the Wind” that “tomorrow is another day”. Still, my understanding is that a happy ending was tacked on hastily and in a highly messy fashion, to a novel that did not ask for it.

Ending aside, however, there was a reality and immediacy to the tormented relationship between Pip and Estella. This reality, this fidelity to life, is what sets aside truly great books. Despite the highly improbable relationships that Dickens writes into Great Expectations (and, generally, all of his books), the underlying human condition that he sets out is true, valid and timeless. The ease with which the story was transplanted in the 1998 movie, is less an expression of any skill on the part of Hollywood and more a testament to the enduring power of the stories that Dickens told. Great books are great for a reason, and I am, on balance, happy that I re-read this novel.