Christmas Books

The Chimes
The Haunted Man
The Cricket on the Hearth
The Battle of Life
A Christmas Carol

I read this collection of stories for a Book Club and we all agreed that none of the other stories is a patch on "A Christmas Carol". I'd advise anyone not to start by reading "The Battle of Life" like I did, as it's possibly the most annoying story I have ever read!

The Battle of Life
This was the first of the stories I read and I hated it! The main reason I hated it is all the stupid self-sacrifice. Who in their right minds would think that pretending to have eloped abroad while in reality hiding out at their aunt's house for SIX YEARS was a good idea? I certainly didn't spot that plot twist! It is so far-fetched as to be totally ridiculous.

The Cricket show more on the Hearth
This is a suspenseful story of possible infidelity. I was getting a bit stressed reading it, as I couldn't see how things could possibly turn out ok, but I needn't have worried. I especially liked the way that the guardian spirits of the home tried to convince the carter that he had a happy home and a loving wife.

The Chimes
This story was written a year after "A Christmas Carol" and has a similar story, with Trotty who has supposedly fallen to his death from the church bell tower being shown three future New Years by the spirits of the chimes and the ghost of a young girl who dies in one of those future visions. I was impressed by how subtly Dickens implied that Lillian had become a prostitute - it was immediately obvious even though he never actually came out and said it. I suppose that an open discussion of prostitution wasn't the done thing in Victorian stories! And the idea that the spirits of the chimes were active only as long as the bells chimes actually lasted and disappeared as the last echoes died away, was inspired.

The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain
Having finished this story, it struck me that there are three stories in this book (the other two being "The Chimes" & "A Christmas Carol") in which various types of spirit show the protagonist the error of his ways, with a happy ending on the Christmas Day/New Year's Day followed by a celebration for friends and family. In this story, unlike the other two, it appears that the changes resulting from Redlaw's bargain with his doppelganger are real and not just visions, but Dickens hedges his bets right at the end: "Some people have said since, that he only thought what has been herein set down; others, that he read it in the fire, one winter night about the twilight time; others, that the Ghost was but the representation of his gloomy thoughts, and Milly the embodiment of his better wisdom. _I_ say nothing."

A Christmas Carol
Reading all these stories so close together, one thing that comes across very strongly is how much Dickens sympathises with the poor and uses his stories too point out the hypocritical attitudes of the Victorian establishment towards them. For example, in 'A Christmas Carol", Scrooge berates the Ghost of Christmas Present, saying that people are campaigning for the bake houses to be closed on Sundays, thus depriving the poor of a hot meal, and the Ghost says although people claim to be doing it in his name, their bigotry and selfishness are nothing to do with him. show less

The Christmas Books, while not always being set during the festive season, each exemplify some aspect of the spirit of charity and "goodwill to all men" that Dickens felt so important in the celebration of Christ's birth, and which he did so much to forge into what is now seen as "a traditional Christmas".

The Battle of Life: Self-sacrifice and familial love are the messages here. Some wonderfully drawn characters in Clemency Newcome (servant) and Messrs. Snitchey and Craggs (lawyers). Expectations are nicely confounded in this one.

(It had been my intention to write a review of each story as I finished them - clearly that project is 'in progress'. Hopefully, the next time I read them...)

A Christmas Carol has been adhered to fairly well in the adaptations I've seen -- I was a bit surprised. All of the others had a disturbing bent as well. The Haunted Man, though, would be the one I considered to be the best. The basic premise is that one can not truly appreciate the good things in life unless one has experienced adversity and hardship. Otherwise the good just doesn't mean as much. Powerful imagery throughout. I liked the line, "My mind is going blind."

I reread A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens just about every Christmas. I love the story of personal redemption as Ebenezer Scrooge learns from his past, recognizes the facts of the present, and learns to hope for the best in the future. For me, the appeal of this ghostly tale is the recognition that I likewise forget the past, present, and future; hopefully I can recognize my errors before I become a “ba-humbug!”.

More on my blog

Some of the other Christmas novellas were more interesting than others. The superiority of A Christmas Carol makes it clear to me why it has lasted as a “classic” through the years, and while most of these others have not. Thoughts on the other novellas here

Review of “The Chimes.”
“Christmas Yet to Come,” a series of dire consequences resulting from the Utilitarian views of local authorities, is previewed to Trotty Veck by church bells. Since he, unlike Ebenezer Scrooge, has no influence over any of the events, it is unclear why he undergoes this experience. To the relief of the confused reader, it is all a nightmare and everyone in fact lives happily ever after.
I found this pretty lame.

This collection has the short stories "A Christmas Carol," "The Chimes," "The Cricket on the Hearth," "The Battle of Life," and "The Haunted Man." All are seasonally evocative, but it is easy to see why Christmas Carol remains the one that endured in public consciousness.

A Christmas Carol is a perennial favourite. The Chimes has its moments, but the rest of what I read is rather dull. Unfinished and now listed on bookmooch