Title: Oliver Twist
Author:
Charles Dickens
Read
by: Fiona Hardingham
Publisher:
AmazonClassics Edition
Length:
Approximately 16 hours and 14 minutes
Source:
Purchased from Amazon.com.
Oliver
Twist was the Back to the Classics pick for January. While I’ve read several Dickens novels, I had
never read Oliver Twist. I have a hatred
for the musical after being forced to watch it in middle school, but I
surprisingly didn’t remember much of the story besides, “Please Sir, I’d like
some more.” I both read and listened to
this book. I really like the Amazon
feature that links together the audiobook and the kindle edition. It was a great way to experience this novel.
We
had a small book club gathering in January due to the warm weather of the South
calling away some of our members from our northern Wisconsin clime. We still had a good discussion and I look forward
to discussing Dickens again in the future with the Back to the Classics Book Club.
Oliver
Twist was a surprising look into the dark side of Victorian England. The Poor Act had just been passed as society
was sure that the poor were taking advantage of the system. Dickens used his experiences as a child to
show what life was life for the poor in England. Oliver Twist was born in a poor house by his
unwed mother who passes away shortly after his birth. Oliver lives in a system where those in
charge take advantage of the system.
They complain about the poor while they feast on fine food with fine
silver. The woman attending his mother
at this birth stole the medicine that was left.
Alcohol meant for medicine for the poor was used for fun by those in
charge. I was horrified, but it was
interesting to see corruption has not started just in modern times.
After
a series of unfortunate events, Oliver runs away to London, he was taken in by Fagan’s
gang. Fagan is referred to as “The Jew”
throughout the novel, which was jarring.
This novel was published as a serial.
Audiences reading it at the time complained and Dickens lessoned his use
of the term. Oliver is an innocent
amongst the thieves. It had a great adventure story with Fagan’s gang, and how
Oliver kept getting swept into and out of the gang. Bill Sykes is one of the evilest villains in
literature. The story of his and Nancy’s
relationship is an interesting and sad look into domestic abuse.
This
was only the second novel written by Dickens, and we discussed that you could
certainly tell. The end of the novel was
very scattered, and frankly parts did not make sense. I also watched a couple of film versions of
Oliver Twist. It was interesting how
they tightened up the ending and made it make more sense. I thought it was interesting that the 2005
version didn’t look at all in Oliver Twist’s heritage, which was a major focus
of the novel. We also discussed how this
would have been one of the first “social” novels that took a look at how the
lower classes lived at the time. It
would have been very different than other literature at the time.
Favorite
Quotes:
“Please,
sir, I want some more.”
“For
the rest of his life, Oliver Twist remembers a single word of blessing spoken
to him by another child because this word stood out so strikingly from the
consistent discouragement around him.”
“You
shall read them if you behave well,” said the old gentleman kindly; “and you
will like that, better than looking at the outsides, - that is, in some cases,
because there are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best
parts.”
Overall,
Oliver Twist was a great look into the dark depths of social despair in Victorian
England as well as a good adventure story. I’m glad I read it, but David
Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities are still my favorite Dickens novels.
After decades I am reading about Oliver Twist. Thanks for this post.
ReplyDeleteThank-you! It was good to finally read this one.
ReplyDelete