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grahambailey89's review
3.0
"A Christmas Carol" is brilliant, but the other two Christmas stories included here ("The Chimes" and "A Haunted Man") are lesser known for a reason. They still shine with moments of great humour and the writing is strong throughout, but they seem like weaker riffs on the redemption story arc that underpins Christmas Carol.
Dickens rails against cynicism but it would take a stronger stomach than I have not to cringe at the endings - by the time he gets to "The End", everything has been tied up in such a sentimental way that it will have you reaching for the sick bucket. A Haunted Man, for example, has just about every character who has been mentioned over the previous 100 pages turning up for a slap-up Christmas meal. Still, it's Charles Dickens and even when he's bad, he's quite good. It's interesting to see some of his lesser writings but A Christmas Carol is the main attraction here.
Dickens rails against cynicism but it would take a stronger stomach than I have not to cringe at the endings - by the time he gets to "The End", everything has been tied up in such a sentimental way that it will have you reaching for the sick bucket. A Haunted Man, for example, has just about every character who has been mentioned over the previous 100 pages turning up for a slap-up Christmas meal. Still, it's Charles Dickens and even when he's bad, he's quite good. It's interesting to see some of his lesser writings but A Christmas Carol is the main attraction here.
nikshelby's review
5.0
I read Dickens' Carol every winter. It never gets old. It's always good. I LOVE A Christmas Carol. Thank you, Charles.
Nephew Fred: “There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, Bless it!”
Nephew Fred: “There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, Bless it!”
panger97's review
4.0
I read the Penguins Classics 2003 Paperback print edition. Overall, while I don't think all the stories were that interesting, its certainly fascinating to learn about the different Christmas works that Dickens had in general. I bought this to re-read A Christmas Carol, which we all know the story of, but of the eight stories presented here, I found a few other interesting stories otherwise. In particular, I also enjoyed reading the other longer story in this called The Haunted Man. This particular story is about a man who decides to asks a spirit to allow him to forget painful memories, but he is cursed to also pass on some of the pain, at least as far as I understood it.
The prose can be a bit tricky to follow, so some of the stories I found I didn't FULLY get, but I'll probably re-read them separately at some point.
Definitely recommend this collection.
The prose can be a bit tricky to follow, so some of the stories I found I didn't FULLY get, but I'll probably re-read them separately at some point.
Definitely recommend this collection.
infinite_tbr's review against another edition
3.0
The inclusion of A Christmas Carol brought this up by 1.5 stars. It was a 5 star read, the rest was disappointing.
shhh_thisisalibrary's review
5.0
I did this as an audio book for a new experience and I love it so much!
thekingcrusoe's review
3.0
I'm giving the whole of this collection a 3 star rating average, although the actual rating may be closer to 3.5. Let's just say that there's a reason that this is called "...Other Christmas *Writings*", not "Stories", because several pieces of this are not stories, for better or worse.
Christmas Festivites; A Christmas Tree; What Christmas Is, As We Grow Older; & The Seven Poor Travellers are all rather mixed, because they draw the line between story and writing so vaguely that I had a hard time truly understanding what it was I was reading, let alone what I was supposed to get out of them, depending on which writing it was.
A Christmas Episode from Master Humphrey's Clock was just a chapter from one of Dickens' other novels, so the impact the story had was not high; in fact, I actually complete forgot about the story's existence in the collection up until 5 seconds ago.
So the sum total rating of all the previously mentioned stories is low, like 2-3 stars maybe. Was not particularly enjoying myself with any of them, NOR was I getting anything out of them (since not all writings are meant to be "enjoyed").
However, the remaining 3 stories are great:
The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton was delightful in its brevity, and in its dismal storyline that still felt light and charming in a weird, somewhat twisted kind of way, and was nearly the fastest reading story of anything in the collection. (easy 5 star)
A Christmas Carol is obviously super iconic and well known, and it definitely lives up to it, especially thematically. I wasn't expecting to be thinking so much about the content while reading this as I did because of my familiarity with the story. It is right on the verge of 5 stars, and has a FANTASTIC final chapter, but I grew up with a fantastic adaptation (the 1970 "Scrooge" musical film starring Albert Finney as the titular character), that expanded especially on the final spirit's stave that holds this thing back SLIGHTLY. (about 4.5 star)
The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain is a special one. Chapters 2 and 3 weren't quite as amazing as Chapter 1 was, but the whole story culminated in something unexpected and very thought provoking, especially Chapter 1, which is likely my single favorite part of this entire collection. (4 star overall, but Chapter 1 is probably like 6/5 star lmao)
I definitely recommend A Christmas Carol, The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton, and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain; everything else? Eh. Not worth it.
Christmas Festivites; A Christmas Tree; What Christmas Is, As We Grow Older; & The Seven Poor Travellers are all rather mixed, because they draw the line between story and writing so vaguely that I had a hard time truly understanding what it was I was reading, let alone what I was supposed to get out of them, depending on which writing it was.
A Christmas Episode from Master Humphrey's Clock was just a chapter from one of Dickens' other novels, so the impact the story had was not high; in fact, I actually complete forgot about the story's existence in the collection up until 5 seconds ago.
So the sum total rating of all the previously mentioned stories is low, like 2-3 stars maybe. Was not particularly enjoying myself with any of them, NOR was I getting anything out of them (since not all writings are meant to be "enjoyed").
However, the remaining 3 stories are great:
The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton was delightful in its brevity, and in its dismal storyline that still felt light and charming in a weird, somewhat twisted kind of way, and was nearly the fastest reading story of anything in the collection. (easy 5 star)
A Christmas Carol is obviously super iconic and well known, and it definitely lives up to it, especially thematically. I wasn't expecting to be thinking so much about the content while reading this as I did because of my familiarity with the story. It is right on the verge of 5 stars, and has a FANTASTIC final chapter, but I grew up with a fantastic adaptation (the 1970 "Scrooge" musical film starring Albert Finney as the titular character), that expanded especially on the final spirit's stave that holds this thing back SLIGHTLY. (about 4.5 star)
The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain is a special one. Chapters 2 and 3 weren't quite as amazing as Chapter 1 was, but the whole story culminated in something unexpected and very thought provoking, especially Chapter 1, which is likely my single favorite part of this entire collection. (4 star overall, but Chapter 1 is probably like 6/5 star lmao)
I definitely recommend A Christmas Carol, The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton, and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain; everything else? Eh. Not worth it.
finsternuss's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
dominic_p085's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0