A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens.
One or two of us confessed to not being great lovers of Dickens.
Some had not read any of the great man’s works.
Nonetheless, whether confirmed Dickens aficionados, Dickens agnostics or erstwhile abstainers we all, to a bookworm, enjoyed this archetypal seasonal tale.
This story of redemption, many remarked, is appreciable on many levels
and it is perhaps sad that the word “Scrooge” has entered the language commemorating the miserly and misanthropic rather than the redeemed and life-affirming protagonist of the story’s conclusion.
It is a masterly tale – at times genuinely scary but also funny, sentimental and with, at its core, a generous and optimistic morality that surely most people would wish to adhere to.
A wonderful and enduring Christmas yarn.
NS December 2010
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