Review of "Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Very classical. I read the original English version as native German speaker...
Paperback, 490 pages
English language
Published March 9, 1988 by Penguin Books.
Oliver Tivist was a huge popular success.
It was Dickens's second novel with recognizable antecedents in the Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama. But out of these elements the 25 -year-old writer created an entirely new kind of novel, scathing in its exposure of contemporary cruelties, always exciting, and clothed in an unforgettable atmosphere of mystery and pervasive evil. Its major characters — Fagin, Bill Sykes, the Artful Dodger — have become creatures of myth, and its great scenes have lost none of their power to terrify and move.
Very classical. I read the original English version as native German speaker...
I don't consider myself an especially sensitive person, I grew up in a Gentile neighborhood so I've heard it all forever, and I knew ahead of time about Dicken's bigotry and who Fagin was, but I was surprised to be so put off. After a while, I felt like things would be going along OK and then I would be slapped in the face. So here are two stars, don't spend them all in one place.
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I think I've selected the wrong edition. I read the Norton Critical Edition and the included essays are very good.
Over all, I thought this was an alright book. I will say though that I've got to be in the mood for Dickens. There was a lot of conversation in the book, and at the beginning I thought Oliver cried a whole heck of a lot. The story was pretty good though, and it did have a happy ending.