Scan barcode
mascha_blue's review against another edition
3.0
This is a light novel that imagines the activities surrounding the creation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The author makes use of a few facts, such as Dickens' financial trouble and his relatives' free-spending habits, to create an inciting trigger for the story, but the rest was pure whimsical imagination.
What I liked about the novel was how the author brought Charles Dickens to life. I have no idea if the portrayal was accurate, but it was certainly both amusing and insightful.
Elsewhere, the novel described a society that was not so different from today's. When Dickens hears, "Good grief, Charley. Don't you believe Christmas begins in the heart?" he replies, "Let us not be childish, Fred. Christmas begins and ends in the purse."
Unfortunately, the book was often slow and repetitious, and the story didn't hold my interest. In the end, Dickens regained his ability to write and be generous, but there was no significant evolution of his character, and every other character remained pretty much the same, especially the people who lived off Dickens' success. It's an okay Christmas read but for me, it won't be a longstanding favorite like A Christmas Carol.
What I liked about the novel was how the author brought Charles Dickens to life. I have no idea if the portrayal was accurate, but it was certainly both amusing and insightful.
Elsewhere, the novel described a society that was not so different from today's. When Dickens hears, "Good grief, Charley. Don't you believe Christmas begins in the heart?" he replies, "Let us not be childish, Fred. Christmas begins and ends in the purse."
Unfortunately, the book was often slow and repetitious, and the story didn't hold my interest. In the end, Dickens regained his ability to write and be generous, but there was no significant evolution of his character, and every other character remained pretty much the same, especially the people who lived off Dickens' success. It's an okay Christmas read but for me, it won't be a longstanding favorite like A Christmas Carol.
tyunglebower's review against another edition
3.0
A fun book and an easy read. Atmospheric, with vivid descriptions that do not smother.
It gets a tad repetitive or sluggish in the middle, but the overall whimsy, for both creation and for Christmas in particular makes those sins easier to forgive.
A well-intentioned romp through an alternate history of a beloved man and his writing of a beloved story. Worth the time and effort, any season of the year.
It gets a tad repetitive or sluggish in the middle, but the overall whimsy, for both creation and for Christmas in particular makes those sins easier to forgive.
A well-intentioned romp through an alternate history of a beloved man and his writing of a beloved story. Worth the time and effort, any season of the year.
goutes93's review against another edition
4.0
If you are a fan of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, you will enjoy reading this book.
autumnwonders's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this. It's not exactly the time of year for it, but that's okay!
This was true to the flavor of Dickens' famous book, had all the feels of it.
This was true to the flavor of Dickens' famous book, had all the feels of it.
devontrevarrowflaherty's review against another edition
3.25
I had some fun while reading this book. I like Victorian literature. I like Charles Dickens (‘ books. I’ve never met the man). And I love A Christmas Carol. So it was right up my alley, especially for the holidays. And when I saw Samantha Silva’s pedigree? I was intrigued, excited even. But it was not the well-written book I wanted it to be. It had potential. And in the end it didn’t even need to live up to that potential because it was a breezy, thematic read that I’m sure plenty of people will enjoy even if it has its, well, challenges.
Note: this is a novel. Fiction. It takes great liberties with Dickens’ actual life and makes a lot of things up.
Charles Dickens is surrounded by financial piranhas, which is a real problem this holiday season because his latest book has flopped and his publishers are insisting he write a Christmas book in just a few short weeks in order to stay financially afloat in his rather cushy (now that he’s earned it) life. His wife won’t see reason and insists on throwing the annual gala, his children are young and he doesn’t want to disappoint them, all the local vendors assume he’ll be making the usual orders, his family (no matter how distant) suck him dry every chance they get, and even the poor of London are counting on his sizable donations and handouts. Which leaves Charles feeling more like a Scrooge than a nephew Fred. Although neither of those two characters exists yet, bound up in Dickens’ grumpy, isolated, lonely head where only a beautiful, young, new muse can reach them.
Much has been discovered and speculated about Dickens’ real-life relationships with Eleanor Picken (in the book in name but not as much in story), Nelly Ternan (his mistress), and Mary Scott Hogarth, among others. And we also know that he was married (to Catherine Hogarth) and had ten children. That doesn’t make it any less disappointing when his affair(s) make it into the fictional movies and books about his life. Mr. Dickens and His Carol does something similar to 2017’s The Man Who Invented Christmas (released and published the same year), and that is to soften the relationship to a flirtation or an emotional affair and give it the urgency of her being his muse. Ehn. Still not romantically satisfying. Still disappointing.
Especially when the Charles seen in Mr. Dickens is such a normally stand-up guy, goofy, family-oriented, generous, and even playful. I found myself really liking this Charles character, only to be nervous every time Eleanor showed up, knowing she had the potential to ruin everything, including my reading experience. And in the end, their relationship was weird. And basically unnecessary from the romantic angle. And why did the wife have to disappear? And not really care about it? And him being all like, “I don’t know what’s happening with my marriage! I’m so confused!” Bah humbug.
Then there was the twist. As with most stories, the twist comes near the end. While Silva may be good at writing clear, even beautiful words (and is excellent at whisking us away to Victorian London), she did not set us up for this twist. How I wish she had! It would have made for a much better story if we had tonal hints at what was coming. I’ll have to leave off there.
Also, one theme of this book is generosity, a mirror of what Ebeneezer Scrooge would learn in A Christmas Carol. But Charles was a pale image of the rock-hard, jagged edges of Scrooge. There is a difference between having Christmas spirit and counting one’s blessings and being generous, and being financially oblivious/suicidal! Dickens set up a story situation where Scrooge could well afford to be more generous. Charles, in this story, needed (along with the surrounding people) to learn to be frugal and to count his blessings instead of spending money frantically because it was the holidays! So, when this theme persisted to the end, I was not willing to swallow it. There is a season for everything. Including showing your wife and children that they can be joyful—at Christmas or otherwise—without trappings. And generosity comes in ways besides penny farthings.
Bottom line: while I found so many things about the book fun and immersive, the plot (and even the characters, in the long run) were uncompelling. Good idea and excellent setting, but strung together too fitfully, I think.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Samantha Silva is a filmmaker and film and theater writer. Her short stories and articles have appeared in some very prestigious places. And her debut novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, was a best-seller. Her second novel, Love and Fury, focuses on writer Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of feminism. Her website can be found HERE.
QUOTES:
“Because there are times in a man’s life when no knock on any door will divert him from the thing at hand, in particular when that thing is a goose-feather pen flying across the page, spitting ink” (p4).
“Dickens recalled those days at Furnival’s with fondness, too, how they’d live well with less, pretending it was more” (p22).
“If there were those who believed no one should be a writer who could be anything better, John Forster believed no one who could write should be anything but” (p25).
“We must think not of those who have more than we do, but of those who have less!” (p33).
“Fury falls away in dribs and dabs” (p50).
“He knew that every person was a fiery furnace of passions and attachments, unknown to every other. He had stepped too close and been burned” (p118).
“What a simple request, to shut one’s eyes. Yet it had been so long since he’d trusted anyone through and through, at least without satisfying his own curiosity first, gaining assurances, wanting to suggest terms, if not dictate demands” (p129).
“The distance between him and Catherine, as in all marriages, was sometimes an inch, but other times the great expanse between hill and valley, ocean and desert” (p134).
“But I am your father, Charley. Perhaps not a father to be proud of, but not one to be ashamed of, either” (p168).
“Even a grown man can be an orphan” (p182).
“…the truth at the bottom of every illusion, every fiction, every lie: our own great desire to believe” (p185).
“Never mind necessity, melancholy is the mother of invention” (p192).
“But he knew, too, for the first time, what had always been true—that he wanted them to love him” (p248).
“’Oh, son. I only wish I’d been a better father. And a better man.’ / ‘As does any father. And every man.’ He hesitated. ‘As do I’” (p261).
“But I’ve learned, in these days of your absence…that whatever I suffered was a poverty of my own vision” (p269).
MOVIES AND SHOWS:
I don’t imagine they’ll be making this book into a movie anytime soon because, as I said earlier, a similar movie came out the year this was published, The Man Who Invented Christmas. I liked it. It didn’t do amazingly well at the box office.
***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***
Note: this is a novel. Fiction. It takes great liberties with Dickens’ actual life and makes a lot of things up.
Charles Dickens is surrounded by financial piranhas, which is a real problem this holiday season because his latest book has flopped and his publishers are insisting he write a Christmas book in just a few short weeks in order to stay financially afloat in his rather cushy (now that he’s earned it) life. His wife won’t see reason and insists on throwing the annual gala, his children are young and he doesn’t want to disappoint them, all the local vendors assume he’ll be making the usual orders, his family (no matter how distant) suck him dry every chance they get, and even the poor of London are counting on his sizable donations and handouts. Which leaves Charles feeling more like a Scrooge than a nephew Fred. Although neither of those two characters exists yet, bound up in Dickens’ grumpy, isolated, lonely head where only a beautiful, young, new muse can reach them.
Much has been discovered and speculated about Dickens’ real-life relationships with Eleanor Picken (in the book in name but not as much in story), Nelly Ternan (his mistress), and Mary Scott Hogarth, among others. And we also know that he was married (to Catherine Hogarth) and had ten children. That doesn’t make it any less disappointing when his affair(s) make it into the fictional movies and books about his life. Mr. Dickens and His Carol does something similar to 2017’s The Man Who Invented Christmas (released and published the same year), and that is to soften the relationship to a flirtation or an emotional affair and give it the urgency of her being his muse. Ehn. Still not romantically satisfying. Still disappointing.
Especially when the Charles seen in Mr. Dickens is such a normally stand-up guy, goofy, family-oriented, generous, and even playful. I found myself really liking this Charles character, only to be nervous every time Eleanor showed up, knowing she had the potential to ruin everything, including my reading experience. And in the end, their relationship was weird. And basically unnecessary from the romantic angle. And why did the wife have to disappear? And not really care about it? And him being all like, “I don’t know what’s happening with my marriage! I’m so confused!” Bah humbug.
Then there was the twist. As with most stories, the twist comes near the end. While Silva may be good at writing clear, even beautiful words (and is excellent at whisking us away to Victorian London), she did not set us up for this twist. How I wish she had! It would have made for a much better story if we had tonal hints at what was coming. I’ll have to leave off there.
Also, one theme of this book is generosity, a mirror of what Ebeneezer Scrooge would learn in A Christmas Carol. But Charles was a pale image of the rock-hard, jagged edges of Scrooge. There is a difference between having Christmas spirit and counting one’s blessings and being generous, and being financially oblivious/suicidal! Dickens set up a story situation where Scrooge could well afford to be more generous. Charles, in this story, needed (along with the surrounding people) to learn to be frugal and to count his blessings instead of spending money frantically because it was the holidays! So, when this theme persisted to the end, I was not willing to swallow it. There is a season for everything. Including showing your wife and children that they can be joyful—at Christmas or otherwise—without trappings. And generosity comes in ways besides penny farthings.
Bottom line: while I found so many things about the book fun and immersive, the plot (and even the characters, in the long run) were uncompelling. Good idea and excellent setting, but strung together too fitfully, I think.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Samantha Silva is a filmmaker and film and theater writer. Her short stories and articles have appeared in some very prestigious places. And her debut novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, was a best-seller. Her second novel, Love and Fury, focuses on writer Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of feminism. Her website can be found HERE.
QUOTES:
“Because there are times in a man’s life when no knock on any door will divert him from the thing at hand, in particular when that thing is a goose-feather pen flying across the page, spitting ink” (p4).
“Dickens recalled those days at Furnival’s with fondness, too, how they’d live well with less, pretending it was more” (p22).
“If there were those who believed no one should be a writer who could be anything better, John Forster believed no one who could write should be anything but” (p25).
“We must think not of those who have more than we do, but of those who have less!” (p33).
“Fury falls away in dribs and dabs” (p50).
“He knew that every person was a fiery furnace of passions and attachments, unknown to every other. He had stepped too close and been burned” (p118).
“What a simple request, to shut one’s eyes. Yet it had been so long since he’d trusted anyone through and through, at least without satisfying his own curiosity first, gaining assurances, wanting to suggest terms, if not dictate demands” (p129).
“The distance between him and Catherine, as in all marriages, was sometimes an inch, but other times the great expanse between hill and valley, ocean and desert” (p134).
“But I am your father, Charley. Perhaps not a father to be proud of, but not one to be ashamed of, either” (p168).
“Even a grown man can be an orphan” (p182).
“…the truth at the bottom of every illusion, every fiction, every lie: our own great desire to believe” (p185).
“Never mind necessity, melancholy is the mother of invention” (p192).
“But he knew, too, for the first time, what had always been true—that he wanted them to love him” (p248).
“’Oh, son. I only wish I’d been a better father. And a better man.’ / ‘As does any father. And every man.’ He hesitated. ‘As do I’” (p261).
“But I’ve learned, in these days of your absence…that whatever I suffered was a poverty of my own vision” (p269).
MOVIES AND SHOWS:
I don’t imagine they’ll be making this book into a movie anytime soon because, as I said earlier, a similar movie came out the year this was published, The Man Who Invented Christmas. I liked it. It didn’t do amazingly well at the box office.
***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***
ericmayle's review against another edition
5.0
Jesus. An absolute tour-de-force of a debut novel. A perfect love-letter to Dickens and a Christmas Carol. Cannot recommend highly enough.
mcolangelo's review against another edition
1.0
Honestly I quit about 2/3 done. What a disappointment. After the Dickens character lied to his wife about their finances, started stalking a stranger, then mused how put upon and misunderstood he was, I was done.
rungrlreads's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book!! A telling of how Mr.Dickens came about to writing A Christmas Carol. Although some things are true but most is a work of fiction, it was well done. Gave you a heart warming feeling. Gives us the true meaning of Christmas that it's not all about the material things but the simple things and most of all our family and friends dear to us.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Merry Christmas everyone!
ijk003's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75