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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Audiobook.
Didn't love this all that much. Found the character of Oliver to be fairly one-dimensional and boring. Obviously, super antisemitic portrayal and treatment of the character Fagin. And I had a hard time following all the ways various characters' stories wove together, especially at the end. I did really love the character of Nancy and found her story to be the most compelling of all.
Didn't love this all that much. Found the character of Oliver to be fairly one-dimensional and boring. Obviously, super antisemitic portrayal and treatment of the character Fagin. And I had a hard time following all the ways various characters' stories wove together, especially at the end. I did really love the character of Nancy and found her story to be the most compelling of all.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was my first time reading Oliver Twist and even though I was familiar with the story from the musical, the book packed in a lot more to the point where I felt I didn't really know anything.
While it wasn't the most comfortable read with some pretty heavy antisemitism, it did give a clear insight into Victorian poverty, social constructs, and behaviours based on nurture vs nature. Despite Oliver's unhappy childhood and mistreatment, for example, he maintains a pure and innocent soul, desperately trying to avoid the corrupt lifestyle Fagin and Sikes favour. And while Nancy is trapped in the corrupt circle, her soft spot for Oliver leads her to carry out actions with good intentions, despite only really knowing a life of crime.
While I enjoyed the majority of this book, I did find the last quarter to drag on a bit. There were perhaps too many primary characters, whereas I would have liked the main focus to be on Fagin, Sikes, and Nancy like in the musical. I also thought for such a dark and depressing subject, the ending was a bit too neat and happy ever after.
Rating breakdown
While it wasn't the most comfortable read with some pretty heavy antisemitism, it did give a clear insight into Victorian poverty, social constructs, and behaviours based on nurture vs nature. Despite Oliver's unhappy childhood and mistreatment, for example, he maintains a pure and innocent soul, desperately trying to avoid the corrupt lifestyle Fagin and Sikes favour. And while Nancy is trapped in the corrupt circle, her soft spot for Oliver leads her to carry out actions with good intentions, despite only really knowing a life of crime.
While I enjoyed the majority of this book, I did find the last quarter to drag on a bit. There were perhaps too many primary characters, whereas I would have liked the main focus to be on Fagin, Sikes, and Nancy like in the musical. I also thought for such a dark and depressing subject, the ending was a bit too neat and happy ever after.
Rating breakdown
- Plot/narrative - 4.1
- Writing style/readability - 3.3
- Characters - 3.8
- Diverse themes - 4.3
- Ending - 3.5
Overall - 3.8
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Classism
can't believe i actually did in a week, haha. all thanks to the audiobook.
conclusion: definitely better than great expectations, but i'm still not a dickens fan and honestly if if have to read one more of his books i'm just gonna jump out of the window.
for a book that's called oliver twist there are a lot of scenes where oliver twist is not present (and yeah, sure, there are reason for that but ??? i'm reading this for oliver and oliver alone, give me some oliver content).
didn't appreciate the antisemitism in here, dickens has been called out on that, it seems to be a constant critique, which is good, but i thought, i'd still mention it.
beginning was good, middle was meh, end was actually good again, i was engaged again - definitely because of the writing, some scenes are just top-notch.
i mean, the last chapter was,,,, so this is what happened to every character and i'm just gonna tell you because the book is long enough as it is and it needs to end at some point, which is lazy but i'm not complaining because i was happy for it to be over.
book 1 for my victorian literature class
conclusion: definitely better than great expectations, but i'm still not a dickens fan and honestly if if have to read one more of his books i'm just gonna jump out of the window.
for a book that's called oliver twist there are a lot of scenes where oliver twist is not present (and yeah, sure, there are reason for that but ??? i'm reading this for oliver and oliver alone, give me some oliver content).
didn't appreciate the antisemitism in here, dickens has been called out on that, it seems to be a constant critique, which is good, but i thought, i'd still mention it.
beginning was good, middle was meh, end was actually good again, i was engaged again - definitely because of the writing, some scenes are just top-notch.
i mean, the last chapter was,,,, so this is what happened to every character and i'm just gonna tell you because the book is long enough as it is and it needs to end at some point, which is lazy but i'm not complaining because i was happy for it to be over.
book 1 for my victorian literature class
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes