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A review by writings_of_a_reader
The Chimes by Charles Dickens
3.0
Charles Dickens 1844 novella that concerns the disillusionment of Toby "Trotty" Veck, a poor working-class man. When Trotty has lost his faith in Humanity and believes that his poverty is the result of his unworthiness he is visited on New Year's Eve by spirits to help restore his faith and show him that nobody is born evil, but rather that crime and poverty are things created by man.
For December for book club we picked two short books, and since it's the holidays we decided one of them would be The Chimes by Charles Dickens. I had never read it, and overall I find Dickens can be tedious to read, even though I've enjoyed movie adaptations of several of his books, but I wanted to give this one a try. This story felt similar to A Christmas Carol in some ways, so it was inevitable that the two would be compared. While The Chimes is about the new year with resolutions and change being the major themes of the story, there are the sequences where the main character sees what the future could be like for his loved ones, and that reminded me a lot of A Christmas Carol. It's not a pretty picture, but of course I wasn't expecting it to be, this is Dickens after all. This story is more heavy handed and dreary feeling than A Christmas Carol and I did not enjoy it as much, but the overall theme and message was a good one that I could appreciate.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
For December for book club we picked two short books, and since it's the holidays we decided one of them would be The Chimes by Charles Dickens. I had never read it, and overall I find Dickens can be tedious to read, even though I've enjoyed movie adaptations of several of his books, but I wanted to give this one a try. This story felt similar to A Christmas Carol in some ways, so it was inevitable that the two would be compared. While The Chimes is about the new year with resolutions and change being the major themes of the story, there are the sequences where the main character sees what the future could be like for his loved ones, and that reminded me a lot of A Christmas Carol. It's not a pretty picture, but of course I wasn't expecting it to be, this is Dickens after all. This story is more heavy handed and dreary feeling than A Christmas Carol and I did not enjoy it as much, but the overall theme and message was a good one that I could appreciate.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader