Rating: Summary: mean people can change Review: This is a great book by Charles DIckens. It shows you that no matter how people are to you be nice to them. One day htey might turn around if u just keep encouraging them. Just because there a bad person dont mean u have to be. So if u wanna be like scrooge go ahead, but i wouldnt reccomend it.
Rating: Summary: Feel Good Book Review: This book not only taught me a lesson in life, it also made me feel great to have a great family that is very caring. The one lesson this book taught me was to be nice to all people and be a good person. If you aren't ghosts will haunt you. Just kidding on that last sentance, but being a mean person will come back to get you in various ways.
Rating: Summary: "May It Haunt Their House Pleasantly" Review: The one question I continually asked myself while reading this was 'why didn't I read this any sooner?!?!'. I won't go into the plot, because I'm sure everybody knows the concept of this book. I've seen so many television and movie versions of A Christmas Carol, that I decided to sit down and read the original, and I'm sure glad I did. Not only does this book have a great lesson to it, but it is also beautifully written. I think everyone should read this book - and not just at Christmas time. Sure, the story takes place at Christmas, but it's a great book to read any time. I highly recommend it!!
Rating: Summary: Overhyped letdown Review: I'm a great fan of the movie, "(A Muppet) Christmas Carol", so it was with great eagerness and cliched anticipation that I opened this heady tome to see if it could surpass my enjoyment with the movie. Boy was I disappointed! First, there were a lot of inconsistencies between the book and the movie. This novelization of the film failed to capture the irreverent humor and physical antics of the loveable muppets. Even simple details escaped this hack author: he left out Bob Marley in the first apparition scene! I felt Scrooge stayed pretty faithful to Michael Caine's character in the film, but not having those boisterous, loveable muppets turned this book into a drab, preachy holiday polemic. Trust me, if you're not Christian and like a few yuk-yuks when you flip the pages, there's not a whole lot in this book for your tastes. Tentacles down on this one.
Rating: Summary: A book that everyone should read Review: There is no reason to go into the plot or particulars of A Christmas Carol: I know of no one who is not conversant with it. Almost everyone, from young children to senior citizens, has at least seen it in a screen adaptation. It has become an integral part of the Christmas season, an immortal classic, beloved by both young and old. That said, if you have never read the original text, you owe it to yourself to do so. This story, though short and simple, is a timeless classic for a reason: it is immaculately written, has a great theme, and is undeniably heartwarming. Dickens is at his brief best here, deftly and skillfully weaving this immortal story in a spellbinding manner, making great and timeless art out of what would have been an overly-sugary-sweet mess in the hands of a lesser writer. This story is good enough, and well-written enough, to melt the cold hard of any cynic. The prose style he uses in this book is just about perfect: it makes for a fast-paced read which can easily be read in one setting, while also managing to be entertaining, and even suspenseful -- with a fine moral to boot. The story is also more than it seems: in addition to the simple morality tale, Dickens manages to weave in some social criticism, while also intermixing elements of horror and not a slight bit of humor. This is one of the few books that I truly recommend to everyone. Everyone can read it, and everyone can enjoy it. An essential classic.
Rating: Summary: The original "Carol" Review: It's hard to think of a literary work that has been filmed and staged in more imaginative variations than Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"--there's the excellent George C. Scott version, the delightful Muppet version, the charming Mr. Magoo version, etc., etc. But ultimately true "Carol" lovers should go back to Dickens' original text, which remains a great read."Carol" tells the story of cold-hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who despises the Christmas holiday and scorns all who celebrate it. But a visit from a series of supernatural beings forces him to reevaluate his attitude--and his life. With this simple plot Dickens has created one of the enduring triumphs of world literature. It's a robust mix of humor, horror, and (most of all) hope, all leavened with a healthy dash of progressive social criticism. One thing I love about this book is that while it has a focus on a Christian holiday, Dickens puts forth a message that is truly universal; I can imagine this story resonating with people of any religious background, and also with more secular-oriented people. This is a tale of greed, selfishness, regret, redemption, family, and community, and is enlivened by some of the most memorable characters ever created for English literature. Even if Dickens had never written another word, "A Christmas Carol" would still have, I believe, secured his place as one of the great figures of world literature.
Rating: Summary: More Then A Christmas Story!!! Review: This is the best book I have read as long as I can remember. If you don't think Christmas or don't know the "true" meaning of Christmas, this is the book for you. It is one of those books that makes you really think. You can pictue everything in the book in full detail and after you read it you want to make sure you read it every year. A key novel to read and I promice that you will never celebrate Christmas the same way again.
Rating: Summary: A Christmas Carol Review: Well, I finally read it (instead of just watching it on the TV screen). This is what you can call a simple idea, well told. A lonely, bitter old gaffer needs redemption, and thus is visited by three spirits who wish to give him a push in the right direction. You have then a ghost story, a timeslip adventure, and the slow defrosting of old Scrooge's soul. There are certain additions in the more famous filmed versions that help tweak the bare essentials as laid down by Dickens, but really, all the emotional impact and plot development necessary to make it believable that Scrooge is redeemable--and worth redeeming--is brilliantly cozied into place by the great novelist. The scenes that choke me up the most are in the book; they may not be your favourites. I react very strongly to our very first look at the young Scrooge, sitting alone at school, emotionally abandoned by his father, waiting for his sister to come tell him there may be a happy Christmas. Then there are the various Cratchit scenes, but it is not so much Tiny Tim's appearances or absence that get to me--it's Bob Cratchit's dedication to his ailing son, and his various bits of small talk that either reveal how much he really listens to Tim, or else hide the pain Cratchit is feeling after we witness the family coming to grips with an empty place at the table. Scrooge as Tim's saviour is grandly set up, if only Scrooge can remember the little boy he once was, and start empathizing with the world once again. I especially like all Scrooge's minor epiphanies along his mystical journey; he stops a few times and realizes when he has said the wrong thing to Cratchit, having belittled Bob's low wages and position in life, and only later realizing that he is the miser with his bootheel on Cratchit's back. Plus, he must confront his opposite in business, Fezziwig, who treated his workers so wonderfully, and he watches as true love slips through his fingers again. It all makes up the perfect Christmas tale, and if anyone can find happiness after having true love slip through his fingers many years ago, surprisingly, it's Scrooge. With the help of several supporting players borrowed from the horror arena, and put to splendid use here.
Rating: Summary: Short & To The Point ! Review: Dover Thrift Editions of Charles Dickens Christmas Classic, "A Christmas Carol" is short and to the point. My kind of book. The world over knows the premise of Dickens classic but (especially) at this time of year is a story most people will enjoy reading again. The slim 68 pages makes it possible to share this story with a love one in less than an hour. Puts even the most hateful love one in the holiday spirit.
Rating: Summary: 5 Stars Review: A Christmas Carol is about an old bitter man named Scrooge, who in decades has not showed any compassion to any living creature for uncountable years. Ebenezer Scrooge owns a firm called Scrooge and Marley - Jacob Marley being his business partner and sole confidant who passed away years ago. On the night of Christmas Eve, while preparing to retire from his busy workday, he hears boisterous noises and frustrated and frightened answers simply by Bah! Humbug's! Marley's ghost, tied to heavy chains, appears in front of the stupefied Scrooge and alerts him that three ghosts will be visiting him that night and he must follow and obey them in order for him not to suffer the same consequence as his partner Marly. That night all of the three visit and show him his past, present, and future. Scrooge, alarmed from his future outcome changes to become the caring, charitable, and socially conscious man he was years before. Christmas morning he shocks everyone around with his Christmas spirit. Later that morning he gives Bob Cratchit - worker of Scrooge - the honor of being his equal partner in the firm and gives Cratchit's children the best Christmas they'd ever been the witness to. I enjoyed A Christmas Carol very much, I give this piece of Charles Dickens work five stars because it is a heart warming, extremely well written novel that anyone and everyone should read in their lifetime.
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