I'm surprised that this book is a requirement in highschool. I had to read it in my upper division English Lit class in college and I just couldn't get into it. There are way too many retarded characters on which Dickens spends too much time, Pip gets more annoying with every page, especially his love for Estella who is one of the most disgusting characters in the book. I've read Jane Eyre before this and it was a real page turner. This is plain boring.