Oliver Twist

by Charles Dickens

Libby audiobook 16 hours

Read by: Wanda McCaddon

Published: 1838 (this version 2005)

Genre: realistic fiction . . . for the era

 

***There is one spoiler at the end if you don't know the story!***

 

Although I had seen at least one movie version and read several short / abridged versions, I had never before read Oliver Twist in its entirety. And Dickens is one of my favorite authors!  Listening to this made me sad . . . Dickens must have known some seriously awful adults in his childhood. I know enough about his life to realize that not all of his characters and situations are pure imagination.

Oliver is born to a dying mother in a poorhouse. He is treated horribly. There is, of course, a pretty happy ending for the little guy.

My jottings:

• Hearing Fagin referred to as "the Jew" was jarring! He really was a reprehensible character, but for him to be called this throughout the story was hard to hear! He was also referred to as "the old gentleman." 
• The reader did a fantastic job! All the different characters were brought to life so well. That said, Fagin's repeated "My Dear" grated on my nerves! Yuk!
• The Artful Dodger = John Dawkins. He was a teenager.
• Charlie Bates - comic relief, also a teen
  
• Horrible adults! Keeping money intended for the care of the children to enrich themselves and then being self-righteous about it! How can any human have allowed children to starve to death and used the money to feed themselves fancier food and deny children?! Thin gruel . . . how awful.
• Bill Sikes - I was trying to decide who was most awful between Fagin and Sikes . . . and Bill abused his dog. And Nancy. And then murdered.
  
• "in for a penny, in for a pound" . . . not sure which character said this, but it made me wonder if Dickens created this or if it was already commonly used. (Just looked it up - in use since the late 1600s. Dictionary.com says, "Once involved, one must not stop at half-measures.")
• No value for life! The way people treated starving, dying poor people as just an unpleasant fact of life. It made me so sad for the lack of compassion!
• Nancy telling Rose that "it's too late" also made me sad. No, it's not too late, Nancy! Get out of that abusive situation! Let Rose help you make a new life!
• the locket / Monks . . . such a curious story that I don't remember these details at all!
• Noah Claypole - what a skunk and coward! I never "caught" his code name that he used . . . Charlotte was an idiot to fawn over him!
• Skips in the story . . . sounded like scratches on a CD . . . but it was an efile . . . weird! I even hit the "back" button for 15 seconds and it skipped in the same places . . . 
• The fire - did Bill set it or did he just come across it?
• Spoiler!!! (Rose is Oliver's aunt) - Like I said, happy ending.

 

Now I feel like getting a movie version to  compare . . . 

Also, in some places the serialization was so very apparent! Dickens could definitely draw out a story. It makes me laugh but a lot of his writing could use an editor. 

<Above published 7.22.22. Below added 1.15.25.>

A lot of what I noted this time (listened to the Libby audiobook) is the same as last time!

• Noah Claypool - LOSER
• Charlotte - could have done so much better
• poverty and starvation vs. greed and wealth
• really, really disliked Fagin being referred to as "the Jew" over and over and in a very negative manner
• I started a list of characters from who I liked best to who I liked least, but couldn't maintain it. Oliver, the little orphan Dick, Rose, Mr. Brownlow, Mrs. Bedwin were at the top. Mr. Grimwig and the Beadle Mr. Bumble were in the middle. Fagin and Sikes dead last.
• I noted "Mr. Bumble romancing Mrs. Corney . . . yawn." I think Dickens used it to bridge the gap between the "old hag" confessing that she stole the necklace from Oliver's mother when she died and the change in his circumstances that connected him to Mr. Monks.
• The Inn was called "The Three Cripples" - clearly, Dickens lived in a dramatically different era when "political correctness" (or even basic decency) were not things to be concerned about.
• in chapter 46, Mr. Brownlow is answering Nancy's question about why so many Christians are not kind and charitable like Rose Melee. He says something to the effect of "Between a Muslim and a Pharisee, commend me to the first." He's making a commentary on hypocrisy.

 

I was surprised by how sad I felt during the first chapters of the story. The unfairness, the cruelty, the suffering, . . . at one point I paused it and cried. I have been praying for God to give me more compassion. I think He has answered those prayers!