Customer Reviews

A Christmas Carol

5 star:		(300)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Many versions of Dickins' classic "A Christmas Carol" are actually abridgements (done more or less smoothly) but this version is complete and unabridged. Even if you think you are familiar with the book you may find upon reading this one that you previously had read a shortened version! The completeness of this volume would be reason enough to add it to your library, but the quality of the pages, typeface, and above all the lovely illustrations scattered throughout further commend it. I have bought copies for all 3 of my grown children--because every family deserves to own a complete version of this classic story and this one is the best I have ever seen.

I hope all readers take time to read A CHRISTMAS CAROL in the original language Dickens used in the 1840's. Dickens' language remains humorous, descriptive and insightful and not inaccessible to most modern readers especially with the use of a good glossary. This is a great read aloud for families at Christmas time and also a great introduction to Dickens and other Victorian writers. Don't settle for an abridged version. Read this masterpiece the way it was intended

I collect "A Christmas Carol" and this is a particularly lovely volume. The illustrations are wonderful and the overall quality, printing, binding and paper, is terrific. This is definitely in my top three favorites of all the different versions I own.

Although the artwork in this book is great, readers should be warned that the text is a heavy-handed abridgement of Charles Dickens's wonderful little novel. It omits far too much of the rich and colorful language of this stirring novelette.

I bought this book to replace my old copy that was lost during a recent move. The book is finely illustrated but the narrative is so full of gaping wounds that the entire charm of the story is lost. I should have searched a little harder for a COMPLETE version.

I've been shopping on Amazon for years and this is the first review I've ever left for a purchase I made; that's how impressed I was with this book. I also collect versions of the classic story and I agree with the other reviewer that this is positively one of the best, ever. A majority of the pages have beautiful illustrations that wrap into the text or take the entire page, the binding and cover is understated yet perfect for this book. This is the unabridged version, the original text of the author. If you were to own just one copy of A Christmas Carol, this would be it.

As to this kindle edition: it's reasonably well-formatted on the k2, but still has a few typos; the spacing is generally clear. There wasn't a clickable table of contents -- like a lot of other free Kindle books, this is pure text only -- but since this is really more a single short story than it is a book (1065 kindle "locations"), that's not a major fault, and the price makes up for it.

As to the story itself: I doubt there's an english-speaking child who doesn't have at least some familiarity with some version of it; I think every saturday morning cartoon series ever did some version, and every other sitcom. This is the original novella that inspired all those adaptations.

That's the biggest hurdle when reading this: it may be hard for some readers to get past having heard some version or other of Tiny Tim shouting out "God Bless Us, Every One" in five hundred different ways every year of their lives, and some readers might find parts of the story hackneyed in the same way that other Christmas classics have become overplayed (anyone who's worked in a mall during the Christmas seasons will know what I'm talking about).

Despite that, though, this is still a classic story, and readers who can get themselves past that hurdle will be richly rewarded. There's a powerfully archetypal story here, and one that still managed to tug at even my cynical heartstrings, even as overexposed as I've been to endless re-adaptations; I suspect it will do the same for most other readers as well, as long as they're willing to let it.

Even if you don't feel like getting into the Christmas Spirit, though, it's a great introduction to reading Dickens -- probably his shortest major work, and illustrates several of his major themes (urban poverty, workhouses, the Poor Laws, the inadequacy of contemporary aid to the poor, and, generally speaking, man's inhumanity to man). The language is fairly accessible even to a modern reader (Dickens frequently gave public readings of it).

Perhaps most interesting is how much influence this single story has had on our entire modern conception of the Christmas holiday -- it's this one tale that in many ways created, idealized, and shaped the modern notion of Christmas, almost singlehandedly transforming Christmas from the celebration of a sacred holiday to the celebration of a family feast. In the century or two prior to this, the holiday had primarily been seen as a twelve-day rural celebration by a whole village or manorial community -- a celebration that had largely fallen on hard times, due both to Cromwell's Puritan abolishment of Christmas celebrations during the 1640's and 50's and (more crushingly) the increasing urbanization and industrialization of British life, which made such celebrations impractical or impossible. This single story took what had been a dying tradition and revitalized it for the industrial era, refocusing it on the (relatively) secular themes of charity, love, friendship, and the nuclear family -- the same ideas, essentially, that are commonly held at the heart of our Christmas holidays today -- and showing urban families a way to celebrate the holiday and make it meaningful. In a very real way, this story saved Christmas.

So, if you haven't already read it, do so. It's the original -- often imitated, never duplicated. It might tug your heartstrings, and there's something to learn, too, both about the history of the Christmas holiday and its modern meaning.

If you decide after this that you want to read more Dickens, he wrote a number of other "Christmas Tales" -- "The Cricket on the Hearth" and a few others. For the most part they're skippable, not up to the archetypal heights Dickens struck with _Carol_. Instead, I'd recommend David Copperfield; it was Dickens' favorite of his own books, probably the best of his longer works, and it both compares well with "Carol" and strikes on many of the same themes (charity, social injustice, cruelty).

We would be hard pressed to find people not familiar with A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, due to several movies the novel has spawned. I finally sat down and read the novel and am glad I did. The novel by the prolific and popular Dickens is well-written with great characters. That the author can generate such imagery and fully-realized characters in such a short story, is a testament to his staying power. This book packs an emotional punch, and is a great tale for the holidays, or any time you need to remind yourself to be thankful for what you have and those around you. A classic story and a must read. 5 stars.

We all know the story of Dickens' Christmas Carol. I chose this edition because the description indicated that it had good illustrations. We weren't disappointed at all- the paper is nice, heavy, with a touch of cream in the color. The illustrations are all in full color, and found on just about every page. Finding the short story "The Christmas Tree" at the end of the book was a nice surprise too! Overall, an excellent addition to our Christmas library.

I won't waste your time reviewing the story itself. You all know it. If you haven't read it, do so, whether it is this version or not.

As for this particular version, the index is not active, but there are only 5 chapters, or 'Staves', and the book is really very short, usually only around 100 pages in a traditional book. There are a few formatting issues throughout the story, but nothing, in my opinion, that takes away from the enjoyment of reading this heartwarming classic. I have read this book many times, and have found errors in paper versions as well. So take it for what it is; a free, slightly flawed, version of a wonderful story that has become a part of our collective consciousness.

I should point out that my rating of three stars is for this version, due to some minor formatting issues. The book itself deserves five stars.