A review by booksrockcal
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I received a copy of A Christmas Carol in the White Elephant gift exchange at work. At the same time, my hold for the historical novel about Dickens’s struggle to write a Christmas Carol came up. Of course I’ve read this book before-most memorably on a snowy Christmas Eve night in Truro, MA when we did a group read along- but as I read the more recent historical novel I thought my memories of A Christmas Carol might be wrapped up in the film versions. So I read it again. this re read affirmed my view of Charles Dickens as a literary genius unparalleled in wielding powerful words. The descriptions alone are worth the read. Dickens’s concern for the poor and condemnation of Victorian social conditions from poorhouses to prisons are on full display, something not covered extensively by modern reviewers. As for the plot, it is one well known to all readers -Scrooge the unpleasant miser is visited by his dead partner Marley and then by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and of days to come. The ghosts show Scrooge the error of his ways and he is transformed into a kinder and gentler person. This is a brilliant book and I’m so glad I read it again.