Review: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

4 stars for A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

It didn't seems possible at first that I will be able to squeeze in one last reading and a book review before the year is out. I started reading A Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve and somehow managed to finish the book at the stroke of midnight; Christmas Day! For that, I feel blessed to have made it.

I am pretty sure most, if not all, of you have read or heard or even watched A Christmas Carol. It is after all, a well-known classic novel by Charles Dickens. I am embarrassed to say that this is my first time reading this timeless story though I have watched the show once. But well, as the saying goes "better late than never".

This book is a celebration of human kindness. It is so well-liked that the book has become an important part of a traditional English Christmas. I hope I can start my own tradition of reading this book during the Christmas season every year henceforth.

The story is about an old mean man, Ebenezer Scrooge, who has no place in his heart for others. One freezing cold Christmas Eve, the ghost of an old friend paid him a visit and told him he will be haunted by three spirits. The first is the Ghost of Christmas Past who showed Scrooge shadows of the things that have been. The second is the Ghost of Christmas Present. The third is the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come who showed Scrooge shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen in the time before him. By visiting his past, present and future, something amazing happens within Scrooge.

This is a most apt book to read on a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. It teaches us to be happy, grateful and to be contented with time.

..And because the book I bought - from The Green Grocer bookstore while on a vacation in Melbourne, Australia - is a Puffin Classics, the adventure isn't over when I reach the final page. I love it that there are still more interesting things to discover about the author and the characters and their worlds as I continue to flip the pages - author file, who's who in A Christmas Carol, some things to think about, a Victorian Christmas and a Dickensian glossary.


Publisher: Puffin Chalk (Reissue)
Publication date: 31 Oct 2014

*** Favourite Quote ***

'Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,' said Scrooge. 'But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!'

~ A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens

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Ebenezer Scrooge is a mean old man with no friends or family to love him - he's just so miserable and bitter! One freezing cold Christmas Eve, Marley's Ghost pays Scrooge a visit and an eerie night-time journey begins. The Christmas spirits are here to show Scrooge the error if his nasty ways. By visiting his past, present and future, will Scrooge learn to love Christmas and the others around him?

*Blurb from Goodreads*

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