I have loved this story of redemption for as long as I can remember. My favourite film version is the musical Scrooge starring Albert Finney. Not a cool choice, but I’ve always been a sucker for a musical. This is my favourite movie, and we have to watch every Christmas. Now that I’m a grown up, that is. As a child, I found it a little scary.

I have never read the book before, though. I was given it as a child of about eight. However, a classmate had recently brought a video of the Albert Finney film to school for us to watch at Christmas, and the ending with the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come scared me so much, I literally had nightmares about it for a month. So, I was always too afraid to read the book for fear of being scared out of my mind again. Now, though, I decided I am brave enough. (I do watch the film every year, so I thought I would be okay.)

If I’m honest, the book was a bit of a disappointment. I mean, it was Dickens, and in that way, it was wonderful. It had his usual sarcasm, irony, and wit. I enjoyed that a lot. However, it didn’t scare me at all. Compared to the film, it was pretty tame. But, I didn’t want to compare it to the film, so I tried really hard to read it as though I’ve never heard the story before. I can see how it would have been scary at the time it was first published. There are ghosts in it, and the final one is one scary creature. However, I didn’t feel as invested in Scrooge’s outcome as I would have liked. We don’t get to see how he got to be how he is.

I was a little bit confused by when the ghosts were to appear. Marley told Scrooge one would be at one in the morning, the next would be at one the following day, and then the final at two the same day as the second. How utterly weird. As it was, they all appeared in one night because it was Christmas morning when Scrooge awoke. So, why not just say, as the movie does, they would appear at one, two, then three that morning? It would have been so much easier and less complicated.

I did enjoy noticing the sentences that were lifted from the novel to use in the many films that have been made of this. It made me smile each time I came across that. Bob Cratchit was a really sympathetic character. I was so happy when Scrooge gave him his wage increase and helped Tiny Tim to be cured. I was disappointed he didn’t take any presents to the children, though. It made me wonder whether they gave out presents in those days? Maybe, it was just added to the movies to make them more current and relatable.

So, all in all, I think this book is really well written. I love the message about kindness and empathy. I love Dickens’s wit and sense of humour. I love the name Fezziwig; it’s one of my favourites out of the many, many great names this man has given through his books. I probably would have enjoyed this even more, had I read it before watching any of the films. But that would be impossible.

Teaching morals of how to be a good person to children. It would be good to read this as a class before watching any of the films.

Dickens's writing. He is one of my favourites. Everything he writes is filled with wit, and he is very entertaining. I love the transformation in Scrooge by the end of the book.

The lack of presents at the end. It wasn't quite as joyous as the movie. I also didn't like how I kept comparing the book to the movie.

Watch the movie. But it's only August, so I have to wait a few months yet.

Happy.

Dickens. Nothing more I can say.

It's a good story. It could be read for Halloween to scare children a little.

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Created Aug 27, 2021 at 6:09am • Submit your own review...