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A review by megelizabeth
A Christmas Carol (Vintage Classics Dickens Series) by Charles Dickens
challenging
dark
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
"The patient Year had lived through the reproaches and misuses of its slanderers, and faithfully performed its work. Spring, summer, autumn, winter. It had laboured through the destined round, and now laid down its weary head to die. Shut out from hope, high impulse, active happiness, itself, but messenger of many joys to others, it made appeal in its decline to have its toiling days and patient hours remembered, and to die in peace. Trotty might have read a poor man’s allegory in the fading year; but he was past that, now."
I only read this because I thought it was about time I read A Christmas Carol, but that turned out to be by far my least favourite of the three stories. Part of that is probably due to my expectations being far too high as a result of how prominent A Christmas Carol still is within contemporary popular culture, but I just found it so underwhelming. There's almost no build-up or tension and Scrooge pretty much realises the error of his ways straight away, and I just didn't find that believable. I appreciate the message and the social commentary, but the other stories have very similar messages and, in my opinion, portray theirs much more effectively.
The middle story, The Chimes, was my favourite. It seems a much more rounded and developed story than A Christmas Carol. I then found The Haunted Man a bit more difficult to follow, but I still enjoyed it overall, and got more out of it than I did A Christmas Carol.
Across the three stories, I did sometimes feel a bit out of my depth and struggle with some of the language and general writing. I enjoyed Dickens's writing, as long as I didn't try to force myself to read too much of it at once. I highly appreciate the discussions he builds around wealth, poverty, class, and injustice. I also think he is brilliant at creating strong atmospheres and senses of place. I've previously only read Hard Times, and I would definitely try further works of his in the future.
Overall, then, I did enjoy reading this, and I'm glad I've finally read A Christmas Carol, even if it wasn't quite what I was expecting.
I only read this because I thought it was about time I read A Christmas Carol, but that turned out to be by far my least favourite of the three stories. Part of that is probably due to my expectations being far too high as a result of how prominent A Christmas Carol still is within contemporary popular culture, but I just found it so underwhelming. There's almost no build-up or tension and Scrooge pretty much realises the error of his ways straight away, and I just didn't find that believable. I appreciate the message and the social commentary, but the other stories have very similar messages and, in my opinion, portray theirs much more effectively.
The middle story, The Chimes, was my favourite. It seems a much more rounded and developed story than A Christmas Carol. I then found The Haunted Man a bit more difficult to follow, but I still enjoyed it overall, and got more out of it than I did A Christmas Carol.
Across the three stories, I did sometimes feel a bit out of my depth and struggle with some of the language and general writing. I enjoyed Dickens's writing, as long as I didn't try to force myself to read too much of it at once. I highly appreciate the discussions he builds around wealth, poverty, class, and injustice. I also think he is brilliant at creating strong atmospheres and senses of place. I've previously only read Hard Times, and I would definitely try further works of his in the future.
Overall, then, I did enjoy reading this, and I'm glad I've finally read A Christmas Carol, even if it wasn't quite what I was expecting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death