This is Dickens at his very finest. The story itself is not overly impressive, and normally such would not be up my alley. However, it is so well written, crafted, and assembled, that the journey is almost pure bliss. I believe another reviewer described this book as "richly comic," and that really is the best way to put it. There are a very few books that I pull down from the shelf from time to time just to reread a certain part because I enjoy it so much, and this is one of them. I love to reread chapter 23 when Pip joins Mr. & Mrs. Pocket for dinner. The entire chapter is a joy to read, but one of my favorite parts is when Mrs. Pocket is given her baby to hold (she's really not a very good mother). Here's an excerpt: 
 After dinner the children were introduced, and Mrs. Coiler made admiring comments on their eyes, noses, and legs - a sagacious way of improving their minds. There were four little girls, and two little boys, besides the baby who might have been either, and the baby's next successor who was as yet neither. They were brought in by Flopson and Millers, much as though those two noncommissioned officers had been recruiting somewhere for children and had enlisted these: while Mrs. Pocket looked at the young Nobles that ought to have been, as if she rather thought she had had the pleasure of inspecting them before, but didn't quite know what to make of them. 
 "Here! Give me your fork, Mum, and take the baby," said Flopson. "Don't take it that way, or you'll get its head under the table." 
 Thus advised, Mrs. Pocket took it the other way, and got its head upon the table; which was announced to all present by a prodigious concussion. 
 Another great, albeit small, section is Joe's summary of the play of Hamlet. This book also has one of my favorite characters in all literature: Mr. Jaggers. He's a lawyer, and so formidable is he that he doesn't even lock his door when he leaves his house. Everyone in London knows him, and nobody would dare steal from him because he'd have them put away, make no mistake about it. Oh yeah, this book also has Mrs. Havisham, and there's main plot stuff going on with her, and Estelle, and the crook. 
 For an excellent, extremely abridged, and somewhat altered version of this tale, I suggest checking out the episode of Southpark in season four which shares the title of this book; it is pure awesomeness. 
 If you love good writing, then this is a book for you.