A Christmas Carol (Great Stories)

It may come as a surprise to a lot of people, but this is my first ever read by Charles Dickens. Of course I know all about his work: I know who Miss Haversham is, grew up watching 'Oliver Twist', and what would Christmas truly be without 'The Muppets Christmas Carol'. The last is a Christmas film that really makes me feel festive, but songs aside, I decided to see how close it was to the actual original source, and whether that would give the same kind of feeling! The short answer is: yes! I was surprised by how many direct quotes I recognised and this is definitely a festive story, to be enjoyed at Christmas time. I've decided through this small glimpse of his work that Mr Dickens had a WONDERFUL sense of humour and a gift when it came to writing. I was totally engrossed in the story! I meant only to load it up on my Kindle ready, but ended up reading the whole thing quite by accident! Even better, there really are some wonderful messages here, buried deep if you know where to look. For example, this is probably one of the best portrayals of female characters with ACTUAL PERSONALITY I've seen written by a man in the Victorian era. As with all Victorian novels (thanks to the 'paid by word' rule for serial writers, or so I'm told) this is pretty wordy and repetitive at times. However, as I've said, Dickens was pretty brilliant in his method and there was almost a self awareness about this and he turned it into a humorous joke. I didn't find it irritating like I usually do, that's for sure! This book had fantastic character, and I loved the story, the spirits, descriptions and heartfelt, festive conclusion.

Review of A Christmas Carol: With Original Illustrations in Full Colour. Pub: Suzeteo Enterprises. I was looking for a hardback replacement for my battered old paperback edition. This looked like a quality edition from the photo. It isn't. Despite the photo appearance, the cover is completely smooth and cold to the touch. The "gold" is printed yellow. The binding is stiff and looks likely to split with use. The whole thing looks and feels like a school book. Inside, the paper is dazzling white and the print stark black. It is not comfortable to read. For some reason, the publishers have changed the original spacing of the punctuation. Although the original spacing looks odd to modern eyes, it spaces the text nicely, and the modernisation makes the text a bit cramped and seems to change the reading rhythm. I won't be keeping it. I also wanted to review the DELUXE EDITION Pub: Arcturus, which is vastly better and beautifully presented (and cheaper). Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't distinguish between different editions and won't let me post a separate review. The last four photos above are of that edition.

This is a beautiful little book which exceeded my expectations greatly. It is just what I wanted, embossed, gold foiled (book titles and page edges), original illustrations by John Leech and original font. Mine came shrink wrapped in cellophane. The sticker on the back came off with a bit of care. I'm so happy with it I bought another for a Christmas gift 🎄☃️❤

We all know Charles Dicken's work is a timeless classic. That is a given, and so my review will only be about the quality of the overall book and artwork. Fantastic. Such a well put together edition of this amazing story. Strong binding, sturdy stock. And the artwork by PJ Lynch is stellar. I instantly bought another book with his illustrations after buying this one. He creates such a strong mood fitting with this iconic Christmas Ghost story. And there aren't just a few pictures, the book is filled with his art. Very happy with this purchase.

My review is for the item I received, not the book in general. The pictures of the item are not what I received. The pictures in this book look like blurry photocopies of an original. Extremely cheap product. I bought this item based on the pictures and amazing reviews, but apparently did not receive the same product. I purchased the book as a gift and would be embarrassed to give it. Returning immediately.