Чудесна призрачна история! „Коледна песен“ притежава вълнуваща готическа атмосфера и ценни морални поуки... Дикенс майсторски е съчетал светли и мрачни послания в кратка повест, както и вложил в нея отлично чувство за хумор.

Ебенизър Скрудж е легендарен мрачен скъперник, който ненавижда празнуването на Коледа и отрича смисъла на благотворителността като цяло. Обаче, през една коледна нощ бизнесменът е посетен от призрака на някогашния си съдружник Джейкъб Марли и впоследствие от още 3 духа, заради които решава да промени светогледа си...





„Скрудж нямаше много навика да пуска шеги, пък и точно тогава, искрено казано, съвсем не му беше до смешки. Истината е, че той се опитваше да бъде остроумен, за да отклони собственото си внимание и да потуши ужаса си; защото гласът на привидението смразяваше дори мозъка на костите му.“


„Ако чуеха как Скрудж изразходва цялата си ревност за такива въпроси, с толкова особен глас между смях и плач, и ако видеха пламналото му и възбудено лице, приятелите му от деловите среди много биха се изненадали.“


„Защото хората, които ринеха снега от покривите, бяха изпълнени с радост и веселие, като се провикваха едни на други от парапетите и от време на време си разменяха шеговито снежни топки — къде по-добронамерени оръжия от много словесни шеги — и се смееха сърдечно, ако топката улучеше, и не по-малко сърдечно, ако не улучеше.“


„— На тази ваша ��емя има някои — отвърна духът, — които претендират, че ни познават, и които вършат своите дела на ярост, гордост, зла воля, омраза, завист, фанатизъм и себелюбие в наше име, и които са чужди нам и на всички нам подобни, сякаш никога не са живели. Помни това и отдавай делата им на тях, не на нас.“


„Те сякаш не влязоха в града, а по-скоро той изникна около тях и ги обгради по своя собствена воля. И ето те се озоваха там, в самото му сърце.“


— Ще живея в миналото, настоящето и бъдещето! — повтори Скрудж, като се измъкна от леглото. — Духовете и на трите ще се борят вътре в мене...“


„Собственото му сърце се смееше, и това му беше съвсем достатъчно.“

❤️

Whenever I read any of Charles Dickens' works, I always think that what a great man he had been. His way of creating plots which are soo relatable yet powerful always makes me to read more of his works.
As far as this book concerns, it is marvellous. I kid you not when I say this book will definitely make you feel something. At least I felt. A lot. Of course, it's Charles Dickens we are talking about. I have read many of his short stories. But never read a book. This was my first read of his books. And definitely won't be last.

OVERVIEW
A man named Scrooge is our protagonist. He just wants money. He feels like death whenever someone asks him to invest for helping poor people. He just invests there, from where he may get money in return.
His business partner, who is also a miser, dies. His ghost tells Scrooge about his selfishness and its results. He also tells him that he can be saved by these results with the help of three ghosts. One of them shows him his past, one shows him his present and the last one shows him his future.


I liked Scrooge. His character is very well written. And his transformation is great. It feels very natural.
The one thing I couldn't get that the Ghost of Future was silent. He didn't speak a word. What Mr. Dickens was trying to show with this?
Regardless, I enjoyed every moment of reading this book.
I would highly recommend this book to every human who can read. Must give it a chance. You won't regret.

April 22, 2017

Beautiful story, perfect to be read/listened before Christmas.

A Christmas Carol is my most favourite Christmas story. Scrooge has been an interesting character for me not only because I liked him (not the miserly Scrooge but the generous one he slowly becomes) but because he was an icon of miserliness as well as generosity. From my first read, Ebeneezer Scrooge has always been a part of me. In my younger days, he was my model for miserliness. I used to call secretly those ungenerous people who were known to me by his name. I had such fun doing that. And believe me, I knew many Scrooges. :)

I have read this story many times since my childhood. It is my must-read for Christmas eve. I usually read it in one go, but this time I read it quite slowly. I really am glad that I took more time to indulge myself in it, for I feel that this time I understood Scrooge properly. True that he was a miserly cold man, but within that facade, there also lives a kind, compassionate, and benevolent man, a man frozen only to be thawed by the warm guidance of the Christmas spirits.

I also was able to pay more attention to the backdrop of the story this time. Being a social reformer, it was natural for Dickens to bring out to life a part of society that is deliberately hidden by Victorian social glamour. This is the poverty and struggle of the working class and their living conditions. I've heard that Dickens wrote this story to meet up his own expenses, but at the same time, he chose to write a story about the importance of giving and sharing, easing the suffering of the poor to some extent (as Scrooge did), leaving a powerful message behind him for the generations to ponder on. Writing this beautiful and touching story, and publishing it at Christmas time, Dickens certainly took pain to invoke the true Christmas spirit in all ignorant hearts.

What is more? I was able to appreciate the rich prose of Dicken which is somewhat overlooked by the beauty of the story and the powerful message that it conveys. With my slow pace, I was able to devour his rich prose with relish. Dicken's writing is not the easiest to read; they sometimes tend to be overly heavy and verbose. But for me, I have always enjoyed the beauty and power of his words. It's a key contributor to the enjoyment of his work apart from the story and the themes.

It's true that I have read this countless times, and at different stages of my life. But what is amazing is that I never feel tired of rereading it. I don't know what spell Dickens has cast over it, but A Christmas Carol is certainly a timeless classic.

A truly wonderful book that could never be less than 5 ⭐️
More thoughts to follow

I have no idea how many years it is since I read this book (or even a Dickens book), it has to be over 45 years (I thought it was 35 then realised I was getting old, aghh ! )
That said i remembered some of it well, maybe that's seeing so many TV/Film versions (Alastair Sim and Patrick Stewart being my favourite Scrooges (And Rowan Atkinson)).
I'm sure everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carol, so I won't go into the story, just to say Dickens story telling ability is up there amongst the best. His descriptive powers are wonderful and you feel like you are there in Victorian London. Ok I know London, I am a Londoner, but its great to hear what it was like in Victorian time. Also his handling of human interactions and emotions is just so enjoyable to read .

A fantastic short (ish) story that makes me want to read more Dickens, which is a real problem as I want to read more of everything.

“Bah, humbug!”

Many of us have grown up and / or lived our whole lives with the legend of Ebenezer Scrooge, there have been scores of adaptations in several media.

Dickens’ language is vibrant and his storytelling is spot on in this epochal tale of redemption.

“Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!”

Scrooge was a fitting personification of Victorian fastidiousness and avarice but is also a timeless character: “A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December!”

The idea for the three ghosts (four if you count Marley) was inspired and no doubt was the greatest portion of the timeless success of this story.

“You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”

Ultimately, Dickens’ description of Scrooge’s epiphany and restoration is the prize, but his road there is still a delight to read and enjoy.

“What! Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give?”

Highly recommended.

Having seen many movie versions of this famous book , I thought it was finally time to read the book this (time of) year and I did!
How talented Dickens was... to invent this story and write it in beautiful language. Maybe I'll reread it again by Christmas time next year, so much detail there, deserves great attention, and my good intention will be to read more Dickens in the time to come. A delightful book, a very talented writer, so long ago... A magical story, famous for its moral and 'advice in life', capturing the hearts of people young and old...and through times it will always stay that way.
And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!

Scrooge era atrozmente tacaño, avaro, cruel, desalmado, miserable, codicioso, incorregible, duro…, pero leer su historia (que ya conocía gracias a la gran pantalla) me ha encantado

‘I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.’

Perhaps the ultimate Christmas story, Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol has captivated hearts and minds each holiday season since it’s release in 1843. And what says Christmas quite like using the fear of death to sway a wicked, rich man into opening his eyes to the need for community, for sharing burdens, for using our brief time amongst the living to uplift one another instead of shackling others to debt and misery in order to enrich ourselves at the cost of all that is good and beautiful. Though it is not his death that shakes him up most, but seeing the effects of his actions and learning that empathy is the best path forward. This story is as festive as a tree freshly adorned with lights and has canonized itself as a holiday tradition in the great collage of seasonal influences. Dickens harnesses the joyful mystery of the Christmas season as a searing message of kindness, empathy and rebirth, placing a damned soul on the precipice of his legacy of ruin and causing an introspective trauma with enough blunt force to shatter the ice around his heart and open the possibilities of shared love. We all have our ghosts that haunt us—usually they don’t kidnap us from bed on Christmas Eve to rub our noses in the filth of our making to wash ourselves clean, but this does remind us maybe it could happen to you—and Dickens reminds us all to live better, live for each other as well as ourselves, and to give in to the spirit of the holidays.

‘There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.’

I have to thank my good friend Kenny for inspiring this read as it is his holiday tradition to have a Dickens December. Which gets me thinking about tradition, especially as I’ve been reading impressing upon the bliss of tradition. The holidays are a magical time because it is a season where it is socially acceptable across all fronts to emote. Sure it has become mired in capitalist steroids of expensive gifts, flashy displays, and all that jazz that pissed the Grinch off enough to rob everyone bare, but underneath it all is a tender heart of compassion and expressions of love that we can return to in our hearts. Traditions are like the shortcut to that passion. This story, for one, is a tradition in my family as I am quite fond of The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, and the power of this narrative to have the pulse of the holidays is part of the reason it has become a tradition for many and has been widely adapted. I grew up on the Alastair Sim version as well, finding it a bit dusty for my childhood tastes but now watching it is a quick route to warm memories. Same with It’s A Wonderful Life, a movie I couldn’t stand as a kid because it was SO long but now I can’t go a December without watching (while usually getting good and wine drunk and shouting along with every line, sorry everyone). It isn’t Christmas for me until my sister and I shout “Merry Christmas Bedford Falls!” to each other in bad Jimmy Stewart impressions and then retort “And a happy new years! In jail!” But enough about Christmas traditions.

This book is a pretty awesome punching up at society. Dickens shows the poor as downtrodden and oppressed, but captures the whole “salt of the earth” elements to show that their resilience and love shines bright enough in the darkness to make this whole tragicomedy of living worth the endeavor. Tiny Tim is a symbol of purity, like a Job unquestioning in his faith of goodness despite the hardships of his reality. And then we have Scrooge. The bad boss, the guy you cross the street to avoid, the man with nothing good to say and only greedy hands that will take your very soul if they can grasp you. Sweet Bob Cratchet labors away for him in the dimly lit office because ‘darkness was cheap, and Scrooge liked it,’ a line that makes me chuckle having worked in a factory where ‘being cold in winter is cheaper’ was a legit response to asking if we can get some heat. Dickens takes dead aim at the ruling elites and, through the help of three ghosts, shows that their money loving ways is a crash course to spiritual ruin and a legacy of shame.

Not to make this sound bleak, because Dickens is quite funny in fact. Also this book still feels wildly relevant in theme and message all these decades later.

I love that this is a ghost story. I love the infusion of horror with Christmas, I think it puts us closer to life by remembering death is part of the deal. I like the theory that the lamp gasses in the Victorian era lead to the telling of ghost stories because everyone was high as shit, which isn’t that different from my own Christmas Eve’s with friends. So carry on that tradition. But it also gets into how rather frightening a lot of religious messaging on hellfire and damned souls can be. Which has never been something I’ve enjoyed about religion but when you mix it with Christmas and tell a story like this, the holiday acts like sugar to sweeten it all into a pretty charming festive treat. Dickens story lives on, and understandably so, because it grabs our primal fears of death and public opinion and asks us to be the better version of ourselves. Because in doing so we can uplift those around us. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays to all my friends. Thanks, Dickens, this was a magical read that put me in some high holiday spirits. Now to go listen to Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, my traditional favorite holiday album.

How many times have I seen a version of A Christmas Carol? Probably too many times to count, but I can try:

- A stage version at least half a dozen times
- The Disney version with Scrooge McDuck
- The Disney version with Jim Carrey
- A Muppet Christmas Carol
- Scrooged with Bill Murray
- Probably more that I am forgetting

Finally, I have taken it upon myself to read the source material! Did I like it? Two words: BAH, HUMBUG!

In Dickens-ese that means I did. I have enjoyed pretty much every adaptation I have seen and, in general, they seem very close to the original story. So, I have no complaints!

One thing you will find with the book is that each ghost has one or two more scenes that they show Scrooge. It seems like adapters of the book have generally agreed on which stories to leave out as I don't think I was familiar with any of the "new" tales.

Do you love Christmas stories? Classics? Adaptations of this story? I am not saying you should read this, I am saying you pretty much have to!

I hope to finish this twice this year. I just finished the audio, narrated beautifully by Tim Curry, in time for my December book club meeting and I am reading it aloud to my students.

While I have friends who take umbrage at the works theology, I still find myself filled with joy that Scrooge changes. Dickens captures all that infectious joy.
Truly this is a short, brilliant work capturing the essence of Advent, darkness before the light.

As to the rest of Dickens's works, I am an unapologetic fan. Yes, yes, he is wordy. Sometimes words are the thing. I find his delightful. I recommend Bleak House....the book, not the movie, if you need a starting place.