A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Book Review Apr 08, 2022

My review

4/5 stars

Everyone knows this story. I'm sure we have all watched one film adaptation of it or another over the years. Being a bookworm, I thought it was high time I read the source material.

The fact that the material is so familiar actually ended up being a bit of a problem, for two reasons. The first is that I found myself getting a little bored and skimming through because I knew what was going to happen next. I'm someone who re-reads books a fair bit and I've never had this problem before so this caught me off guard. The second problem is that the whole time I was reading, I was picturing Michael Caine as Scrooge and Kermit the Frog as Bob Crachit (yes the Muppet Christmas Carol is my go-to adaptation every year).

Despite the familiarity of the plot and the characters, the message that the book sends never fails to hit home. It's enduring appeal as a story that demands to be retold again and again is in the idea that the kindness and generosity of the Christmas Spirit will serve you well all year round. The delivery was helped by the conversational tone of the narrator, something that I've become used to in the movie adaptations but wasn't expecting from the written word.

I'm not sure why - possibly because I'm used to the adaptations feeling longer and because Charles Dickens has a reputation for longer novels, I expected this to be a bit of a tome. I was very surprised to learn that it came in at under 130 pages! I managed to read it in one sitting and was left to wonder why I hadn't picked it up years ago.

Book blurb

Ebenezer Scrooge is a mean, miserable, bitter old man with no friends. One cold Christmas Eve, three ghosts take him on a scary journey to show him the error of his nasty ways. By visiting his past, present and future, Scrooge learns to love Christmas and the people all around him.