A Christmas Carol by Charles DickensMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a childhood favorite. Though my first experience of the story is through an animated TV movie, it only fueled me to read the book. As always, the printed format provides a different experience.
Reading the beginning line, Marley was dead: to begin with, filled me with intrigue and made me laugh. How can a Christmas story begin with death? Surely, dead men tell tales. Ebeneezer Scrooge, Marley's business partner, had it all coming. Not only did Marley's ghost haunted him on Christmas Eve, but three ghosts of Christmas past, present and future paid him a visit as well. What a haunting! This is the best part, at least to me, in the novella. The ghosts were used to mirror Scrooge's need for reflection and introspection. It had made all the difference for him to change his heart. The man who has forgotten how it is to be human redeemed himself in the end.
A Christmas Carol is one of the few books I re-read at Christmas. Now that I am older, I take the book as my reminder to be brave and courageous. The need to constantly face our demons or the ghosts that haunt us is a recurring phase we all need to go through life. I still laugh at the wit and dry humor of Charles Dickens, that hasn't changed at all. But while some visitations of the past afford us resolutions to help us see perspectives in the present time, the experience may not at all be Scrooge like. I suppose, what matters is journeying on with life with a smile and a steadfast heart. Because, really, that is what hope is all about.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment