Oliver Twist

Rating:
Summary: Charles Dickens' Best Novel
Review: This is my favorite novel by Charles Dickens. The book hooks you in and is a fascinating page turner from beginning to end. It has loads of adventure, mystery, and drama. It also has a lot of melodrama which reminds me of the old silent movies. Dickens writes about the villainous characters with a great deal of sarcasm, often calling them "philosophers." He describes the good characters in angelic terms. I was surprised to read a very virulent description of the Jew Fagin. It reminded me of Nazi propaganda. I got the impression that Fagin's business associates, the merchants who sold the stolen merchandise, were also Jews. This book thoroughly goes over the phenomena of how badly lower class people are treated in their lives. They are constantly abused, verbally and physically, by authority figures. I really wonder what it is about poverty that makes people treat each other so abusively and inhumanely. Some people say Dickens' books are flawed. That doesn't matter whatsoever. The important thing is that Dickens was the greatest storyteller of the 19th century.