I have a confession to make. Usually I try to push myself to read any classics I missed growing up, but there are some authors out there who intimidate me. I appreciate the impact that Charles Dickens' writing has had on English literature and in exposing several of the social evils of his time. Still, when it comes to his stories -- I'd rather read someone else interpretation. His prose is just so dense that I have a hard time making it through to the story part of the story.I was excited to hear that this special edition of A Christmas Carol was coming out, with side-notes and chapter discussions by Stephen Skelton. The book is laid out well so that the inner part of each page is Dickens' original text (which I had never read) and the outer 2 inches are set aside for commentary.
I really enjoyed having side-notes, rather than footnotes, too. One of my favorite books growing up was an annotated version of Black Beauty with pictures of the parts of the horses and equipment being described in the original book. I wasn't disappointed with the Christmas Carol version, either. It was easy to jump back and forth between the notes and the story without feeling interrupted (which is one reason I like side notes better than end notes).
The notes are a combination of explanation of historical references, stories about Dickens' life, performance notes, and Christian religious commentary. I wouldn't have thought of A Christmas Carol as being "Christian fiction" before reading this special edition. It doesn't surprise me that Dickens was a Christian, just based on his time period (this was published in the 1840s) and location (urban England), but before reading excerpts from Dickens' letters and biographies in the side-notes, I wouldn't have known that he wrote this story specifically to extol Christian virtues. The religious leaders of Dickens' day worked to keep references to God out of fiction writing to avoid heretical liberties or blasphemies being presented to audiences. There are lots of Biblical references in Dickens' original language, but most of them are somewhat veiled and have been dropped from the adaptations I have seen before (along with the British political commentary that appears in the original.
I was reading this book on my own, so I found the discussion guides at the end of each chapter less helpful than the side notes. They are set up to encourage discussion of the themes that appear in the previous chapter and lead in applying those same themes in the reader's life. I did think it was a great idea that each section has different levels of questions with "A" and "B" in each section being good for discussions with kids and "C" and "D" being aimed more at adults. I can see these being good for spurring book club discussions or even family discussion about the meaning of the holiday.
Bottom Line: I'd highly recommend that anyone who's a fan of this classic tale check out Dickens' original language with the commentary added by Skelton. In fact, I've already passed on my version to another friend, who now wants to buy her own copy and one for her church library.
(Thanks to FSB Associates for sending me this review copy.)
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