Since a potential buyer might be wondering which edition to buy, I've decided to give a brief review of the edition instead of one of the story.
This is the 2003 reissue of the 1986 edition of the Bantam classic edition. This edition has the 1986 introduction by John Irving. It contains the Dickens classic in its intact form, with the original ending following it separately. It is 528 pages.
When Dickens first wrote Great Expectations, it had a different ending. There are some who feel that the original ending is more in line with modern tastes, and that Dickens "caved in" by changing the unhappy ending to one that was "more acceptable." Some feel that Dickens went too far in order to cater to his audience rather than stick to a literary standard. In the introduction, Irving discusses this issue among many others and suggests that Dickens was not so much driven by the audience as he was in touch with their lives when it came to inspiration. Ideas in literature may seem fantastic and improbable, but Irving points to events in Dickens's life that would seem equally improbable had they appeared in fiction. He also mentions modern real life events that, if put in a novel a decade earlier, would have seemed impossibly unrealistic.
Yes, Dickens was an optimist. But the new ending is not a "happily ever after" one so much as one that leaves the door open. I can't think of anything more suitable for a book entitled "Great Expectations."
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