As perfect as ever. Just a joy to read.

We all know more or less the story of Scrooge, an embittered old stingy who receives a visit on Christmas Eve from specters who show him his past, present, and possible future to help him improve.
The (short) novel delights us with its details, showing us Scrooge's sad life and London's detours by making us cross its inhabitants, happy to celebrate Christmas despite the misery.
This work is a lovely tale to discover. It shows that Christmas is celebrated with the heart, even without money, and must remain a moment of sharing and generosity with family and friends.

"Bah! Humbug!"

Who does not recognise this expostulation, and the old curmudgeon who spat it out. The very name "Scrooge" has entered the vernacular to indicate a mean-spirited skinflint.

"Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge, a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint."

And even the phrase "Merry Christmas" only became popular following the appearance of this novella.

A Christmas Carol is one of Dickens' most enduring and well-loved tales. He wrote it in six weeks, and it was originally published in the Christmas of 1843. It evokes perfectly the sensations of a Victorian Christmas, but its lasting appeal lies in its power to speak to us today, 170 years later. In fact it has never been out of print. Starting with this tale, Dickens wrote longish themed stories annually and the five were subsequently published together as "Christmas Books". He also of course wrote many more shorter Christmas stories.

Dickens loved to paint a picture. Everything in this story is heightened; the descriptions are so vivid that in places they are almost surreal, and inanimate objects take on a life - and personality - of their own. A church bell is

"always peeping slyly down at Scrooge…[it] struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there."

There is water with "its overflowings sullenly congealed, and turned to misanthropic ice,"

Scrooge's chambers are "a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of buildings up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again."

I cannot remember ever feeling sorry for a house before, but that for me at any rate is "the Dickens effect".

Even today when we think of Christmas we may think of a Dickensian Christmas; he seems to have invented the archetypal Christmas, alongside Prince Albert and his Christmas tree. How has an author managed to do this? To have had such a massive influence on how we celebrate Christmas? And with a secular tale at that, which speaks to people both in and outside the religion which traditionally celebrates this particular festival?

Well everything in Dickens is larger than life. Everything in this tale, at least, has to be the best or the worst. The "wonderful" pudding indicates that the food is the tastiest there has ever been. The carols are sung more enthusiastically and more in tune than they ever could be, the ice on the pond is thicker than ever before, and glinting more spectacularly in the sun, the shops are filled to bursting with good things to tempt and delight the shoppers.

This exaggeration bursts through our gloom at the perfect time of year. When in Great Britain in reality we have have cold dreary weather and long dark nights, we also have in imagination Dickens' heightened perception to uplift us. No wonder then that it stays in our memory and in the memories of generation after generation. And no wonder there have been - and continue to be - such a plethora of adaptations of this wonderful tale world-wide. The original illustrations by John Leech complement Dickens' story to perfection, but there have been many subsequent dramatisations, readings, retellings, films, musicals, cartoons - some more faithful than others, but all paying homage to and honouring this original story - or at the very least its concept.

The writing has a very light touch and Dickens' trademark humour is present on every page. Yet to hammer the moral point of the book home, we are assured of its veracity. The opening lines,

"Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that,"

carry the reader through the story, daring us to disbelieve in the events which follow, and the ghastly phantoms which are about to appear. The author's voice is there at every turn. One part which gave this reader a bit of a jolt, is the arrival of the first Spirit when the curtains of Scrooge's bed were drawn aside. He was thus face to face with the apparition,

"as close to it," Dickens says, "as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow." Phew!

Dickens' preoccupations are evident in this tale. It is in part an indictment of 19th century industrial capitalism, and part a nostalgic wish to return to earlier times and traditions of merriment and festivity, just as ironically today we wish to return to our perceptions of a "Dickensian Christmas". There are also the recurring themes of Dickens' sympathy for the poor, his social conscience and his ever-present memories of the humiliating experiences of his childhood.

The novella has a simple structure. There are 5 "staves". The first introduces Scrooge himself in all his miserliness. This character is one of Dickens' masterpieces. He is so mean that his clerk has to warm his hands by the one candle Scrooge allows him. And indeed he allows himself little better,

"Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it."

Scrooge begrudges even the one day's holiday a year which his clerk takes, grumbling that it is, "A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December!"

The chill of the season seems to emanate from Scrooge himself. "External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty."

Yet he is such an overblown character that we find him funny. We delight in his ridiculous meanness, and the way he has impoverished his own life by such strictures. And after our very first contact with this tale, we delight in our expectations of what is going to happen to this sorry character.

The next three staves introduce the three "spirits" - of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come. And the final stave, which I defy you to read without a big fat smile on your face, describes Scrooge's redemption, which is all the more marvellous and outrageous because of his earlier spite and vituperation.

Oh, it is a wonderful book! A simple morality tale but a moving tale which makes the reader chuckle and shudder by turns. Thank you, Mr Dickens. I would like to shake you heartily by the hand. Thank you for giving me my favourite story. For creating such living breathing characters as Ebenezer Scrooge, the Fezziwig family, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and the personifications of Jacob Marley's ghost, the Three Spirits, Want and Ignorance. And thank you most for making millions of people world-wide smile too, and maybe reflect and think a little.

"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."

Update on December 24, 2020:

I listened to this on audio this time around; something a bit different for me. I enjoyed the narration quite a lot, but there's nothing that beats reading Dickens in print. This story never fails to cheer, inspire, and give me pause to reflect on those things that I hold most dear in my life. Here's to a 2021 that will hopefully shine much brighter than 2020!

Original review (2016):

When I think of Christmas and all those things that make Christmas so special, A Christmas Carol immediately comes to mind right along with family, friends, beautiful Christmas trees, Mom’s anise cut-out cookies, brilliant holiday light displays, gently falling snow, festive instrumental and choral concerts, quiet, reflective moments, and angel trees. A Christmas Carol truly is a timeless classic and a beloved tradition, whether you see the movie or read the book. The blessing of this treasure is that you don’t have to celebrate Christmas to enjoy and appreciate this novella. The message is there for anyone that celebrates life and family and giving to others, those who want to examine their life and make the most of it and share it with others. Furthermore, it’s a winner all the way around – aside from the powerful message, we are also rewarded with a wonderfully written and atmospheric story. So, if you have a morsel of time you can spare in the next couple of days, treat yourself to a well-deserved break and grab a copy of this book. As you journey into those Christmases of Past, Present, and Future with Ebenezer Scrooge, your heart will feel lighter and your spirit revived as you hopefully gear up for not simply the chaos of the holidays but also the gifts of love, fellowship and gratitude.

I wish for joy and peace for each and every one of you this holiday season and the coming year.

"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."

Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
A Christmas Carol ~~~ Charles Dickens


I have a tradition of reading something by Dickens over the Christmas holidays. Sometimes a full novel, often a short story, mostly re-readings of A Christmas Carol, this being my favorite of all Dickens' writings. Rather than writing a review for this, I thought I would make some general observations I have on A Christmas Carol.



1) It is a timeless biblical story of redemption and grace without reference to any scripture. But reading A Christmas Carol you somehow feel that Charles Dickens knew what he was doing.

2) Dickens writes a better ghost story than most horror writers do.

3) Dickens must have been familiar with Hindu philosophy as karma is a prevalent theme.



4) I can't help but think that Scrooge is largely biographical -- a profound confession by a man terrified at the way he may have misspent his life amongst his fellow human beings.

5) Although it is a ghost story, it is largely optimistic and filled with hope.

6) Dickens was very bright as he saw the role ignorance would play in the world. Look at how the world has been dumbed down and how it, ignorance, has played a role in Brexit and in Trump's appointment to the presidency.

7) Question for you, is A Christmas Carol a manifesto from Dickens?

n  December 2, 2021n
I knew what to expect of A Christmas Carol going into this reading, what I wasn’t expecting was the emotional impact it would have on me. Perhaps it was due to losing my father this year. 175+ years later, A Christmas Carol still endures in a world that is almost unrecognizable from the world Dickens lived in when he first published A Christmas Carol.

n  December 19, 2021n
Every time I read A Christmas Carol, it's nourishing to my soul.

Amazing. A classic for a reason.

RE-READ: 2015. I read this book every Christmas Eve. It makes me laugh, it scares me, it makes me cry. So good! And so short! :) I must admit my favorite part is the first part where Scrooge is so grumpy and miserly. And the book is so classic, filled with classic lines that are so well-known it's a pleasure to read them because they are so familiar and true.

And, once again, it's short. No trouble to get through! Merry Christmas!

http://www.gocomics.com/bliss/2015/12/25

2017 Carmen checking in! Re-read this Christmas Eve. I'm always, always blown away by how good this book is. Very evocative, very well-written, funny, sad, touching... Dickens makes you laugh and cry as you are reading this. Powerful language. Short and easy to get through if you are scared to read Dickens for some reason. Highly recommended.

In this little known novella a miser sees the evil ways his life has become and with the help of some horrific spirits turns around the direction of his walk on Earth. But seriously folks this moving classic has heart. Ebenezer Scrooge is wealthy yet a lonely , bitter man living in a vast mansion by himself . During Christmas while others are celebrating the joyous occasion Scrooge the tightwad tells all who have the effrontery to say Merry Christmas and retorts the legendary bah humbug. Turning down two gentlemen with those remarks after they request help for the destitute with the statement are there no prisons, are there no workhouses ? Bob Cratchit the clerk in the skinflint's employment, a poor man his low salary the cause, and the large family suffers greatly. As he the friendless, travels back from the office to his home in the cold night the prosperous loan business is the only thing he loves. However the door's knocker transforms into the eerie image of his late partner Jacob Marley a person who was as money hungry as Mr. Scrooge in fact today the seventh anniversary of his not grieved demise. No surprise Ebenezer quickly eats and jumps in bed the simmering blaze in the fireplace slowly disintegrates into ash. Safe he's not, the ghost of Marley once more appears dragging a long , long chain a consequence of the man's crimes perpetuates against his fellow beings. Warning him this will be the same fate if he doesn't change his ways. Three spirits the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future will arrive to show Scrooge's life good or bad, naturally the future petrifies the old man most, his tomorrows . Not uneasy the outcome to figure out for any that indulge in reading or seeing the many film versions, sad shadows bring flashes to the remembrances even he is not made of stone, seeing the woman Ebenezer loved nevertheless gold he liked more. The story will always perpetuate how a person's choices can make living happy or otherwise. Still it gives clarity to some especially those unsure of what they think is inappropriate decisions that caused pain, suffering and certainly uneasiness. Mr. Charles Dickens again and again gains much esteem as the people change the pages very quickly and view them with ultimate respect, reading all of these superb unparalleled parables,
his elegant stories. As long as Christmas is celebrated this magnificent account takes a trip to the imagination and makes a second chance possible.

I didn't expect to like A Christmas Carol because, essentially, this thing about ghosts and changing attitudes and being better people is been going around way before I was even born, and it has always felt like a utopia for me.
Why don't be a good person every day of the year? Christmas is, after all, a social construct.

But… nothing, I was right since the beginning.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a horrible person who decides to change his attitude - hoping that’ll last - because he’s afraid of what human beings have been afraid of since the invention of religion: the afterlife.
Now that he has proof that he’ll be damned for eternity, he gives money here and there, not because he wants to help those people but because he’s relieved he still has a chance to not wander the earth as a ghost in chains forever.

So, after all, he does what he does for himself, while we see people of good hearts thinking about others like the Cratchits hoping for the best about Tiny Tim’s future or Scrooge’s own nephew’s wish for his uncle to have some peace of mind - when what they should do in reality is kill the old bastard.

The reason why this novella is, after all these decades, still considered a classic is due to Charles Dickinson's suggestive language - Death’s pointed finger on Scrooge’s grave is the most evocative scene I've ever read in a book and truly shows how great of an author he was in comparison of some of his colleagues.

↠ 4 stars

Heart-warming: that is my one word review for this book.

This has to be one of the most read and loved stories of all time. It works, whether one views it as a Christian allegory or a simple fantasy. I studied it in middle school and loved it: I was laughing along with Scrooge in the last chapter. I was wondering whether the magic would still work with a moderately cynical middle-aged man. It did.

The story could have been maudlin, sentimental, didactic and moralising. That it is none of this is due to Dickens' mastery of the medium. From the beginning to end, there is hardly a word out of place: and the narrative is structured so meticulously that one simply floats through the story, along with Scrooge and the ghosts.

Take the first paragraph:

n  Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.n

This sets the whole tone of the novel. The conversational style with its mock serious tone of voice; Dickens is sitting near to you, with a tankard of ale in front of him, on a cold December day in the neighbourhood pub. He is entertaining you with a Christmas tale. It is not to be taken very seriously, but the teller's heart is in it-if you listen to it carefully, it may work wonders for you.

The handful of characters are finely etched: true to its fairytale nature, the "good" and "bad" are strongly bifurcated without any shades of grey, yet we find ourselves loving even the bad characters. Scrooge, for all his miserly and cantankerous nature, can never be taken seriously: his "bah!" and "humbug!", we feel, are most applicable to the persona he presents to the world. And as we visit the lonely boy in the classroom, we get an idea how Scrooge turned out to be the man he is: the colossal insecurity of the impoverished child, developing into the worship of money for its own sake, and building a barrier of hatred against society so that it can never hurt him.

Like a five-act play, time and space are compressed into an evening, night and the next day. As we sweep through the narrative at breakneck speed, Scrooge's character undergoes a tremendous transformation which is possible only in fables and fairy tales: however, the author has already set the stage for it in the opening chapter itself by showing us the chinks in his armour. The development of the miser of the first chapter into the loving philanthropist of the last chapter seems not only possible, but natural.

A perfect Christmas fable for everybody. Recommended for young and old alike.

During December of every year, the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City displays the original manuscript edition of Charles Dickens’ best-known Christmas novel, A Christmas Carol, which was acquired by the American financier, J. P. Morgan, sometime just before the turn of the Twentieth Century. The manuscript was inherited by his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr., who established the Pierpont Morgan Library in 1924, and included the manuscript in the collection. Conservators at the museum have painstakingly cleaned and restored the manuscript, and it has now been published in a new edition by W. W. Norton & Company. The official publication date is 2017, but the book has been available since early November.

This edition contains a foreword by Colm Toibin and an introduction by Declan Kiely, placing the book in context, and describing Dickens’ efforts to produce the story, which he did over the space of six weeks. They also describe the book’s early reception and the later history of the manuscript itself.

Following is the familiar tale of how the notorious skinflint, Ebeneezer Scrooge, is visited by three spirits one Christmas Eve and is transformed into a generous man of good will, “as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world…. [A man who] knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”

The book is constructed with the original manuscript pages on each left-hand (even-numbered) page, with the corresponding printed version of the story on the right or odd-numbered pages. It is thus possible to read the finished book and see the changes that Dickens made as he was writing it. Sadly, this takes some effort. The author’s handwriting leaves a great deal to be desired and the manuscript pages are a bit faint. A reader who wants to seriously study the manuscript pages would be well-advised to have a good magnifying glass close at hand.

That said, this is a very nice edition of the story, and the forward and the introduction are both very illuminating. This is an edition of the book that should appeal to any reader who returns to the story of Scrooge and Tiny Tim every year about this time.

(Please note that a few years ago, another attempt was made to do roughly the same thing with this book. I have not seen the earlier effort, but have read complaints that it was not very well done. The two editions should not be confused.)

What a delightful story to reread at Christmas. Written in 1843, the novella is as fresh, timely, enlightening and as clear and easy to read as if written yesterday. Make it and one or more of the movie versions a family tradition

I decided it was time I should read this. It’s actually the first book by Dickens that I’ve read since I was in school. I was one of those youngsters who was put off the author by being forced to read his books at that age.

The merits of the story can be seen in the hold it has over people’s imagination even after more than 170 years. The name of its central character has passed into the English language and it has been the subject of I don’t know how many film adaptations. Some are very good, but my favourite was always the 1951 version with Alastair Sim, which I now know follows the book very closely. There are parts of the book that are a little mawkish for my tastes, but then again, it is a Christmas story. Objectively the story is worth 5 stars, but my ratings reflect my personal enjoyment.

With a book as famous as this, my feeble observations won’t provide anyone with new insight, so I’ll just mention one or two themes that jumped out at me. For all that this book is about the traditional Christmas messages of kindness and giving, it struck me that the three ghosts hark back to the older, pre-Christian traditions of what was once a mid-winter festival. This was especially the case with the Ghost of Christmas Present, when Scrooge first sees him.

“The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove, from every part of which, bright gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as that dull petrification of a hearth had never known in Scrooge’s time…In easy state upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant; glorious to see; who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty’s horn, and held it up, high up, to shed its light on Scrooge…”

The Penguin edition that I read contains an afterword by G.K. Chesterton, in which he observes that Scrooge’s conversion is “as sudden as the conversion of a man at a Salvation Army meeting.” He continues by observing though that “the man at the Salvation Army meeting would probably be converted from the punch bowl; whereas Scrooge was converted to it.”

Therein perhaps, lies much of the story’s abiding appeal.