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Unlock the more straightforward side of The Social Contract with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a political treatise containing the author's reflections on the conditions necessary for liberty within civil societies. He emphasises the importance of the collective will and acting in the collective interest, which can be accomplished through...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of The Maids with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Maids by Jean Genet, a play that describes the daily ritual of two sisters employed as maids, who re-enact the death of their mistress, until the day when the role play becomes a reality. This unsettling play confronts readers with the existence of the dark drives behind our human nature. The...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Trainspotting with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, a cult novel following a group of men and women in a working-class area of Edinburgh who live lives blighted by poverty, violence and drug addiction. The novel's main character is Mark Renton, who feels that his life is essentially meaningless, is increasingly estranged...
4) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Great Expectations with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, considered by many to be the English novelist's greatest masterpiece. It tells the story of the orphan Philip Pirrip, known as Pip, who aspires to become a gentleman after meeting the eccentric spinster Miss Havisham and her beautiful but cruel adopted...
5) The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide
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Unlock the more straightforward side of The Portrait of a Lady with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, which tells the story of Isabel Archer, a young American woman who travels to England to visit her wealthy relatives. Her subsequent experiences in London and Italy throw the contrasts between the New World and the Old World into sharp relief, as...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of The Fall with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Fall by Albert Camus, which tells the story of a French defence lawyer who, disgusted with the vanity, cowardice and selfishness of his life in Paris, goes to Amsterdam to serve as a "judge-penitent". Following on from the author's earlier novels The Stranger and The Plague, The Fall explores and...
7) Jacques the Fatalist by Denis Diderot (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Jacques the Fatalist with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Jacques the Fatalist by Denis Diderot, which follows the eponymous protagonist as he travels with his master towards an unknown destination. Along the way, they find themselves in a series of comical situations, meet a colourful cast of characters and debate a range of philosophical subjects....
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Carmen with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Carmen by Prosper Mérimée, which tells the story of a notorious brigand called don José as he falls in love with the beautiful Gypsy of the title and abandons his promising career as a soldier to become a thief and murderer in a desperate attempt to win her affections. However, don José gradually...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of The Hunchback of Notre Dame with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, the tragic tale of a deformed bell-ringer, a beautiful Roma girl and the complicated love affair in which they become entangled. While many people have seen the Disney adaptation, the original novel is much more complex and intricate, providing...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Memoirs of Hadrian with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar, a stunning fictional autobiography of the Roman emperor Hadrian. Written in the form of a letter from the dying Hadrian to his young successor Marcus Aurelius, it is both a chronicle of the emperor's rise to power and his efforts to bring peace to...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, which follows the inmates at a psychiatric hospital as they begin to push back against the oppressive system that aims to crush their spirits and stifle their individuality. Until the arrival of the rebellious McMurphy, the patients...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, which tells the story of young Huck Finn as he escapes "civilisation" by fleeing down the Mississippi River on a raft. On his way, he meets Jim, a young escaped slave, and the two boys become firm friends. Even though he knows...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Go Set a Watchman with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, the sequel to the globally renowned To Kill a Mockingbird, which forces readers and characters alike to accept some difficult truths when the narrator, Scout, returns to her hometown and becomes infuriated with the stagnation, lack of ambition and backwards...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Bel Ami with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant, a realist novel depicting the bourgeois society of the nineteenth century. It tells the story of Georges Duroy and his quest to achieve social status using his charm and intelligence and with the help of wealthy mistresses. De Maupassant was a disillusioned writer, and his...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, which tells the tale of Mikael Blomkvist who is hired to investigate the disappearance of a young girl that happened 37 years earlier. In his search to uncover the shocking truth, he discovers horrifying secrets about rape, murder...
16) Coming Up for Air by George Orwell (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Coming Up for Air with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Coming Up for Air by George Orwell, which follows the middle-aged insurance salesman George Bowling as he tries to recapture the idyllic feelings of his childhood. However, he soon comes to realise that the England of the past has disappeared forever, swept away by the new apathetic consumer...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Matilda with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Matilda by Roald Dahl, the story of a young girl with a passion for reading, something which her parents simply cannot understand. She discovers that she has incredible powers and decides to use them to save her favourite teacher, and the whole school, from their terrifying head teacher, Miss Trunchbull....
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Howards End with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Howards End by E. M. Forster, which tells the story of the idealistic Schlegel sisters and their turbulent relationship with the Wilcoxes, who care only about money and have no qualms about trampling others to get it. Meanwhile, the sisters seek to help the destitute clerk Leonard Bast, but their...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of For Whom the Bell Tolls with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, one of the author's most famous and widely acclaimed novels. It draws on the author's own experience as a war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War, and tells the story of Robert Jordan, a demolitions specialist who is sent to blow up...
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Unlock the more straightforward side of Life and Times of Michael K with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of Life and Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee, which tells the story of the titular protagonist's journey to the farm where his mother grew up. Although his mother dies on the way, Michael continues to the farm alone, where he takes refuge from the civil war raging throughout the country,...
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