The spirit of Christmas is still with Ebenezer Scrooge, even twenty years after he was famously visited by his own three spirits. He walks about town, wishing everyone good tidings but is often met with scorn. People are too busy to think about Christmas or to take time off. And so Scrooge decides he needs to help teach some people the meaning of Christmas. To do so, he calls upon three spirits to help spread the word.
This is a very quick and easy read. It’s a little over-the-top and didactic. I suppose, thinking back on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, it too is didactic, but the difference is that Dickens’ characters feel like real people, whereas author Charlie Lovett’s characters feel like characters in place to make a point. It seems like a small difference, but it is enough to separate the reader from getting involved in a story and caring about what the characters are doing from simply reading and being given a message.
The idea is fun and it’s an easy twist on the original idea. It will not have the same impact that Dickens’ book has had and although the characters are the same (in name) as those in the original story, they will feel like strangers who act very differently than those we’ve come to know and love through Dickens book and the myriad film and stage adaptations.
If you want something quick to read with a Christmas theme to it, this might be just the right thing, but it will never have the lasting power of that which it spins from.
Looking for a good book? The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge by Charlie Lovett is a quick spin on the original with all the roles being reversed as lacks the draw of the timeless classic.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
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The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge
author: Charlie Lovett
publisher: Viking
ISBN: 0525429107
hardcover, 107 pages
