A review by friendofgosig
A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books by Charles Dickens

challenging emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

I am kind of in two minds about this book, because there was lots to like, but the whole ‘Christmas Message’ theme can get old quite quickly. 

I think my favourite was probably The Cricket on the Hearth, where I thought the build up of emotional tension was very well done. There was some lovely imagery at the beginning of The Battle for Life, where the ancient battlefield is incorporated into the life of the village, and I think the observations on grief and memory in The Haunted Man were very real. 

Some of these stories had more supernatural elements than others, and sometimes I thought it was a bit much, for example in The Chimes, but in the whole I would say these stories still hold up for a festive read.