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A review by malaynachang
Oliver Twist [Adaptation] by Charles Dickens, Les Martin
3.0
MY OPINION: ***
This really solidified my final opinion on Dickens. I had this weird belief that after my last experience with our good friend Charlie that I actually kind of liked this man's writing. However, I take it all back.
This book was SO long. I listened to it on audiobook and was under the mistaken (stupid) assumption that it was only two parts long (basically, each audiobook part on Spotify is like 3-4 hours). So I was like, yes, it's time to try him out again. And clearly, I know this story well enough from movies and pop culture and all that jazz so I might as well actually read the novel. However, it turns out there were around 5 or 6 parts to this series each over four hours. I was in shock. I was so tempted to quit. But I saw I had already listened to TWELVE HOURS of this so I had to keep going because I did not waste that much time of my life (well really, it was six because I listen on 2.0 speed but you get the point) to just give up.
Eh.
This book was far longer than it needed to be. The first half, I was actually kind of interested. Those first two parts, I was engaged. I actually enjoyed listening to the story of this little orphan boy's horrible experiences in various orphanages and workplaces. However, by the second third or middle area, it started to get a little fuzzy. I was lost, I was bored, I was tuning it out. I had to pull up Sparks Notes to actually understand everything I kept missing because of how much it became elevator music to my mind. Maybe it's because I did it all in one sitting. I don't know. But I remember now why I "don't like Dickens" and never have. Maybe he has "better" works but I feel like if this one failed me, I refuse to go through his even longer novels.
To be quite honest, I think the main problem for me was keeping up with the ten million characters Dickens decided to introduce. Who were all these random people?? Where did they come from?? Why were they there?? This book should NOT have been called Oliver Twist because Oliver was a side character in his own novel. We literally had entire chapters on the "side" characters to the point where Dickens himself had to be like, "Oops, so I forgot about Oliver, let's go see what that kid is up to, even if he is the main character."
I remember I tried to read this book when I was WAY younger because I owned a really nice copy of it (that I have since lost or have buried in my stack of books I hate). I gave up quickly because clearly, my mind was not advanced enough to understand Dickens. Now, as a first-year in college, I STILL did not understand what this man was talking about at some points and the parts I did understand, I just didn't really... care? I felt bad for Oliver but I don't think he deserved 600 pages of woe to get through his story. It's not like he's 80 at the end. He's literally still a little child. He has not grown.
The story is meant to convey some sort of criticism or satire or just commentary on the English Poor Laws and the state of the working-class in England in this time period. I understood that but at the same time, was a little boy really the best narrator we could have gotten? I mean, clearly this was a strategic move to artfully write about these conditions without blatantly highlighting some criticism that would have potentially gotten Dickens in a lot of trouble, but clearly, Oliver was not the best narrator. He isn't even in the book for a good part of it. Did we really need 600 pages to get the point across that the working conditions are trash?
Don't even get me started on the Fagin and his crew. I clearly knew about that from the movies and such but what the hell? The blatant anti-Semitism and biases that Dickens portrayed in this book... I don't even know what to say. Somehow I must have missed that when I watched the movie at age eight. I was in shock everytime he described Fagin's "greedy miserly tendencies" and then gasped at the juxtaposition of that with the fact that Fagin is Jewish. What the hell? And I'm still supposed to treat Dickens like some sort of god at literature?
Other than the blatant prejudice, I did enjoy a fair amount of the story. By the time we got to the end, I was fairly invested in most of these characters' lives. While I don't think it needed to drag on as long as it did, I get it. The man had things to say and being a writer of the classics, he needed 15 lines to say something that could have been summed up in five words. So be it. Will I be reading another Dickens? Not anytime soon. I probably will at some point in the future just to make sure but I don't think this man is for me.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a socially-conscious novel of the English 1930s. If you've seen the film, just know there are no songs in this book.
Main Character: Oliver Twist
Sidekick(s): Friends, etc
Villain(s): Fagin, betrayal, abuse, etc
Classics Elements: This is a classic "masterpiece" of English literature.
This really solidified my final opinion on Dickens. I had this weird belief that after my last experience with our good friend Charlie that I actually kind of liked this man's writing. However, I take it all back.
This book was SO long. I listened to it on audiobook and was under the mistaken (stupid) assumption that it was only two parts long (basically, each audiobook part on Spotify is like 3-4 hours). So I was like, yes, it's time to try him out again. And clearly, I know this story well enough from movies and pop culture and all that jazz so I might as well actually read the novel. However, it turns out there were around 5 or 6 parts to this series each over four hours. I was in shock. I was so tempted to quit. But I saw I had already listened to TWELVE HOURS of this so I had to keep going because I did not waste that much time of my life (well really, it was six because I listen on 2.0 speed but you get the point) to just give up.
Eh.
This book was far longer than it needed to be. The first half, I was actually kind of interested. Those first two parts, I was engaged. I actually enjoyed listening to the story of this little orphan boy's horrible experiences in various orphanages and workplaces. However, by the second third or middle area, it started to get a little fuzzy. I was lost, I was bored, I was tuning it out. I had to pull up Sparks Notes to actually understand everything I kept missing because of how much it became elevator music to my mind. Maybe it's because I did it all in one sitting. I don't know. But I remember now why I "don't like Dickens" and never have. Maybe he has "better" works but I feel like if this one failed me, I refuse to go through his even longer novels.
To be quite honest, I think the main problem for me was keeping up with the ten million characters Dickens decided to introduce. Who were all these random people?? Where did they come from?? Why were they there?? This book should NOT have been called Oliver Twist because Oliver was a side character in his own novel. We literally had entire chapters on the "side" characters to the point where Dickens himself had to be like, "Oops, so I forgot about Oliver, let's go see what that kid is up to, even if he is the main character."
I remember I tried to read this book when I was WAY younger because I owned a really nice copy of it (that I have since lost or have buried in my stack of books I hate). I gave up quickly because clearly, my mind was not advanced enough to understand Dickens. Now, as a first-year in college, I STILL did not understand what this man was talking about at some points and the parts I did understand, I just didn't really... care? I felt bad for Oliver but I don't think he deserved 600 pages of woe to get through his story. It's not like he's 80 at the end. He's literally still a little child. He has not grown.
The story is meant to convey some sort of criticism or satire or just commentary on the English Poor Laws and the state of the working-class in England in this time period. I understood that but at the same time, was a little boy really the best narrator we could have gotten? I mean, clearly this was a strategic move to artfully write about these conditions without blatantly highlighting some criticism that would have potentially gotten Dickens in a lot of trouble, but clearly, Oliver was not the best narrator. He isn't even in the book for a good part of it. Did we really need 600 pages to get the point across that the working conditions are trash?
Don't even get me started on the Fagin and his crew. I clearly knew about that from the movies and such but what the hell? The blatant anti-Semitism and biases that Dickens portrayed in this book... I don't even know what to say. Somehow I must have missed that when I watched the movie at age eight. I was in shock everytime he described Fagin's "greedy miserly tendencies" and then gasped at the juxtaposition of that with the fact that Fagin is Jewish. What the hell? And I'm still supposed to treat Dickens like some sort of god at literature?
Other than the blatant prejudice, I did enjoy a fair amount of the story. By the time we got to the end, I was fairly invested in most of these characters' lives. While I don't think it needed to drag on as long as it did, I get it. The man had things to say and being a writer of the classics, he needed 15 lines to say something that could have been summed up in five words. So be it. Will I be reading another Dickens? Not anytime soon. I probably will at some point in the future just to make sure but I don't think this man is for me.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a socially-conscious novel of the English 1930s. If you've seen the film, just know there are no songs in this book.
Main Character: Oliver Twist
Sidekick(s): Friends, etc
Villain(s): Fagin, betrayal, abuse, etc
Classics Elements: This is a classic "masterpiece" of English literature.