patchworkbunny reviewed Marly's Ghost by David Levithan
Review of "Marly's Ghost" on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
It’s A Christmas Carol retelling that has nothing to do with Christmas. The idea had potential but was maybe let down by the melding of modern day teen life with the original prose. The story is a mix of new, some paraphrased and some completely lifted out of the original. Maybe it was more noticeable to me as I had recently read A Christmas Carol. Some of it works, some of it seems forced.
I’m not sure how Ben’s anti-love grumpiness is meant to break up Tiny and Tim, a gay couple this time rather than a sickly child. Ben just happens to have gone to school with them and been a bit of a nob to their faces. But if they were actually in love, surely that would make no difference to them in the long term?
I know Christmas has become quite commercial but Valentine’s Day has even …
It’s A Christmas Carol retelling that has nothing to do with Christmas. The idea had potential but was maybe let down by the melding of modern day teen life with the original prose. The story is a mix of new, some paraphrased and some completely lifted out of the original. Maybe it was more noticeable to me as I had recently read A Christmas Carol. Some of it works, some of it seems forced.
I’m not sure how Ben’s anti-love grumpiness is meant to break up Tiny and Tim, a gay couple this time rather than a sickly child. Ben just happens to have gone to school with them and been a bit of a nob to their faces. But if they were actually in love, surely that would make no difference to them in the long term?
I know Christmas has become quite commercial but Valentine’s Day has even more of a please-spend-money vibe about it. It’s something lots of people don’t celebrate. Some of the things Ben was supposedly missing out on seemed a bit materialistic. I didn’t see a problem with him not liking the day, which differs to Scrooge making everyone’s life miserable at Christmas which is a holiday.
There are some little gems and wonderful snippets amongst the story. Some of it focuses on Ben’s grief, still raw. Imagine having Valentine’s Day shoved in your face when the girl you love is dead? He’s bound with chains to Marly’s memory and the idea of letting her go is a better one than some fabricated message of Valentine’s Day. I loved that Marley found out he was also the saint of beekeeping. Now that’s what I’ll be celebrating every February 14th.
Review copy provided by publisher.
