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marta0r's review
3.0
I've quite like this. Haven't read all the stories yet, but the ones I've read were pretty interesting. I bought the book because I wanted to read A Christmas Carol -which I really liked- but I found the other stories pretty singular and cool.
ed_moore's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.25
This collection of stories took me so long because I had initially planned to read it around halloween, though didn’t manage to and then reached ‘A Christmas Carol’ which I opted to read on Christmas Eve. Come 2024 I have finally finished Dickens’ ghost stories and individually made notes of my ratings for each story. Excluding ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain’ as they were novellas which I marked as separate books, the stories were mostly lacking. My highlights were ‘The Signalman’, an eerie tale about a haunted train station signalman, and ‘The Lawyer and the Ghost’ which was such an unexpectedly wholesome story versus the tone of many of the others. There were however a couple of extremely stereotypical stories, some that weren’t even really ghost stories, and many that made little sense and not confusing due to supernatural elements but rushed and poor writing. Dickens had some moments of brilliant prose but also badly written ramblings. I expected a lot more from this collection to say the least.
titanic's review
Did not finish at page 90.
I honestly expected to like this book because everyone praises Charles Dickens work, but it bored me. Such a shame.
I honestly expected to like this book because everyone praises Charles Dickens work, but it bored me. Such a shame.
fictionfan's review
5.0
Christmas Spirits...
The Christmas season wouldn’t be complete without a good ghost story or two, and in this collection we get twenty. The centrepiece is, of course, the novella length A Christmas Carol, and we also get what is probably Dickens’ next best-known ghost story, The Signalman, which is perhaps the most chilling tale in the book. The other stories range from several very short ones through to another novella-length one, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain.
“When twilight everywhere released the shadows, prisoned up all day, that now closed in and gathered like mustering swarms of ghosts. When they stood lowering, in corners of rooms, and frowned out from behind half-opened doors. When they had full possession of unoccupied apartments. When they danced upon the floors, and walls, and ceilings of inhabited chambers, while the fire was low, and withdrew like ebbing waters when it sprang into a blaze.”
The joy of Dickens’ ghost stories is that they are truly family reading – not one of them would be unsuitable for reading aloud to a mixed age group. Many of them were first published in one of Dickens’ periodicals, All the Year Round or Household Words and were very much intended for the whole family. Others (The Queer Chair, The Goblins who Stole a Sexton, etc.) are taken from the novels, mainly Pickwick Papers, and these are usually more humorous than scary. In fact, humour runs through the majority of the stories, with The Signalman and The Portrait Painter’s Story being the main exceptions.
As with any collection, the quality of the stories varies a bit, but even Dickens’ less good tales stand up well. The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain is, like A Christmas Carol, a morality tale; this time reminding us that sorrow and trouble are part of what makes us human, and with a strong social message about the dangers of allowing the continuance of an underclass excluded from things the rest of us take for granted – a message that relates almost as much to today’s society, sadly. This story also contains who must surely be the most annoying of all Dickens sickly-sweet heroines, Mrs. Swidger, a woman so indefatigably happy she brings out all of my homicidal tendencies (which, I hasten to assure you, I restrict to fictional characters).
“So she rolled out the crust, dropping large tears upon it all the time because he was so cross, and when she had lined the dish with crust and had cut the crust all ready to fit the top, the Captain called out, ‘I see the meat in the glass!’ And the bride looked up at the glass, just in time to see the Captain cutting her head off; and he chopped her in pieces, and peppered her, and salted her, and put her in the pie, and sent it to the baker’s, and ate it all, and picked the bones.”
NB This is not a recipe for Christmas dinner.
In the shorter stories, Dickens often takes the opportunity to mock the spiritualism that was becoming so popular in the Victorian era, turning much of his humour on the mediums and table-rappers. There is also a recurring theme which suggests that Dickens believed many apparitions and hauntings owed as much to alcoholic spirits as the other kind. Overall this is a jolly little collection, filled with madness, murder, revenge and other such traditional Christmas fare; and, whether chilling or humorous, all written with Dickens’ masterly story-telling skills. Whether you read one a night throughout the Christmas season, or splurge and read the whole thing over a few evenings, it’s guaranteed to ensure that you Have a Dickens of a Christmas!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
The Christmas season wouldn’t be complete without a good ghost story or two, and in this collection we get twenty. The centrepiece is, of course, the novella length A Christmas Carol, and we also get what is probably Dickens’ next best-known ghost story, The Signalman, which is perhaps the most chilling tale in the book. The other stories range from several very short ones through to another novella-length one, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain.
“When twilight everywhere released the shadows, prisoned up all day, that now closed in and gathered like mustering swarms of ghosts. When they stood lowering, in corners of rooms, and frowned out from behind half-opened doors. When they had full possession of unoccupied apartments. When they danced upon the floors, and walls, and ceilings of inhabited chambers, while the fire was low, and withdrew like ebbing waters when it sprang into a blaze.”
The joy of Dickens’ ghost stories is that they are truly family reading – not one of them would be unsuitable for reading aloud to a mixed age group. Many of them were first published in one of Dickens’ periodicals, All the Year Round or Household Words and were very much intended for the whole family. Others (The Queer Chair, The Goblins who Stole a Sexton, etc.) are taken from the novels, mainly Pickwick Papers, and these are usually more humorous than scary. In fact, humour runs through the majority of the stories, with The Signalman and The Portrait Painter’s Story being the main exceptions.
As with any collection, the quality of the stories varies a bit, but even Dickens’ less good tales stand up well. The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain is, like A Christmas Carol, a morality tale; this time reminding us that sorrow and trouble are part of what makes us human, and with a strong social message about the dangers of allowing the continuance of an underclass excluded from things the rest of us take for granted – a message that relates almost as much to today’s society, sadly. This story also contains who must surely be the most annoying of all Dickens sickly-sweet heroines, Mrs. Swidger, a woman so indefatigably happy she brings out all of my homicidal tendencies (which, I hasten to assure you, I restrict to fictional characters).
“So she rolled out the crust, dropping large tears upon it all the time because he was so cross, and when she had lined the dish with crust and had cut the crust all ready to fit the top, the Captain called out, ‘I see the meat in the glass!’ And the bride looked up at the glass, just in time to see the Captain cutting her head off; and he chopped her in pieces, and peppered her, and salted her, and put her in the pie, and sent it to the baker’s, and ate it all, and picked the bones.”
NB This is not a recipe for Christmas dinner.
In the shorter stories, Dickens often takes the opportunity to mock the spiritualism that was becoming so popular in the Victorian era, turning much of his humour on the mediums and table-rappers. There is also a recurring theme which suggests that Dickens believed many apparitions and hauntings owed as much to alcoholic spirits as the other kind. Overall this is a jolly little collection, filled with madness, murder, revenge and other such traditional Christmas fare; and, whether chilling or humorous, all written with Dickens’ masterly story-telling skills. Whether you read one a night throughout the Christmas season, or splurge and read the whole thing over a few evenings, it’s guaranteed to ensure that you Have a Dickens of a Christmas!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
veelaughtland's review
3.0
This was an interesting collection of short stories, some considerably shorter than others. It was interesting to see that some of the stories had been taken from Dickens' full-length novels, as I couldn't imagine them tying into a longer text in any way!
There were some stories however that I found quite hard to get through in comparison to others. When I picked this up, it was on Christmas Day specifically so I could read 'A Christmas Carol', even though this was not the first short story in the collection. I then went back to the beginning to read the rest. I enjoyed 'A Christmas Carol', although it was by no means the best story in the collection. My personal favourites were 'A Madman's Manuscript', 'The Ghost in the Bride's Chamber', 'The Trial for Murder', and 'Captain Murderer and the Devil's Bargain'. 'A Child's Dream of a Star' was also very melancholy and beautiful.
If you like Dickens' humorous style of writing, I would definitely recommend picking this up. You won't always like every story in a collection like this, but it's worth reading for the ones you do like!
There were some stories however that I found quite hard to get through in comparison to others. When I picked this up, it was on Christmas Day specifically so I could read 'A Christmas Carol', even though this was not the first short story in the collection. I then went back to the beginning to read the rest. I enjoyed 'A Christmas Carol', although it was by no means the best story in the collection. My personal favourites were 'A Madman's Manuscript', 'The Ghost in the Bride's Chamber', 'The Trial for Murder', and 'Captain Murderer and the Devil's Bargain'. 'A Child's Dream of a Star' was also very melancholy and beautiful.
If you like Dickens' humorous style of writing, I would definitely recommend picking this up. You won't always like every story in a collection like this, but it's worth reading for the ones you do like!
tangerineluver's review
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
magpie_666's review
2.0
The Queer Chair - A nice little story. I enjoyed it, but wouldn't really call it a ghost story. Boo, a spooky chair! The main character wasn't spooked.
A Madman's Manuscript - A short story, but interesting. To see inside a madman's mind.
The Goblins who Stole a Sexton - Seemed like a rehashed A Christmas Carol. A good story but too alike.
The Ghosts of the Mail - I found this one really dull and didn't read it properly.
The Baron of Grogzwig - Again, the main character needs to be afraid to make me feel afraid.
A Christmas Carol - I skipped this one as I've read it before. Definitely recommend this one.
I've given up. The next few stories aren't very good.
The reward of the stories don't equal the concentration required to read them. Shame, as A Christmas Carol is a really good story.
Oh well, onto something new.
A Madman's Manuscript - A short story, but interesting. To see inside a madman's mind.
The Goblins who Stole a Sexton - Seemed like a rehashed A Christmas Carol. A good story but too alike.
The Ghosts of the Mail - I found this one really dull and didn't read it properly.
The Baron of Grogzwig - Again, the main character needs to be afraid to make me feel afraid.
A Christmas Carol - I skipped this one as I've read it before. Definitely recommend this one.
I've given up. The next few stories aren't very good.
The reward of the stories don't equal the concentration required to read them. Shame, as A Christmas Carol is a really good story.
Oh well, onto something new.
misski's review against another edition
3.0
Some of the stories I liked more than others. I understand now why A Christmas Carol is one of his most beloved short stories.