Product Description

Edited with an Introduction by Philip Horne.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22090 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-29
• Released on: 2003-04-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

From Library Journal
Oliver Twist was Dickens's second novel and one of his darkest, dealing with burglary, kidnapping, child abuse, prostitution, and murder. Alongside this gallery of horrors are the corrupt and incompetent institutions of 19th-century England set up to address social problems and instead making them worse. The author's moral indignation drives the creation of some of his most memorably grotesque characters: squirming, vile Fagin; brutal Bill Sykes; the brooding, sickly Monks; and Bumble, the pompous and incorrigibly dense beadle. Clearly, a reading of this work must carry the author's passionate narrative voice while being flexible and broad enough to define the wide range of character voices suggested by the text. John Wells's capable but bland reading only suggests the rich possibilities of the material. Restraint and Dickens simply don't go together. The abridgment deftly and seamlessly manages to deliver all major characters and plot lines, but there are many superior audiobook versions of this material, both abridged and unabridged. Not recommended.
-John Owen, Advanced Micro Devices, Sunnyvale, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
This abridged version of the trials of Oliver Twist makes the tale quite accessible to young listeners. Dick Cavett does an excellent job of moving from his familiar, level voice in the narrative passages to the true vibrancy of the dialogue. He handles British accents of the more lowly characters quite well, his characterization of Fagin being especially insidious and distinct. Mr. Brownlow and Monks are less developed, and their characterizations rely more on the text. The abridgment is quite a feat, having reduced a tumultuous tale into a tight storyline. However, some of the final sequences require more careful listening to absorb plot developments. E.S.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Russ and Beth Oullette
We recently purchased three of your classics series hardcovers for our 15 year old daughter's birthday, and she was estatic. The books are beautifully done, and it was nice to see that they used the original versions' formatting. We anxiously look forward to any new volumes you may add. If we might make a suggestion for a future addition to this series, please consider Treasure Island, as this would be a most welcome addition to her new collection. Thanks for producing a wonderful product.

Customer Reviews

Citizens of Victorian England
Charles Dicken's classic tale of Oliver Twist and the people he comes across is a definite must-read. The poor orphan is one of the most memorable protagonists in English literature. The supporting cast is something worth mentioning, also. The distinctive portrayals of Master Bates, the artful Dodger, Fagin (who is sadly a Jewish caricature), and Bill Sykes make this novel a page-turner.

Much of the satire in this story involves the 19th-century English social class, political upheaval, and daily life in the slums of London. And they work so well here.

A-

A powerful story. One of my favorite classics.
Originally published in a serialized format, OLIVER TWIST represents some of Charles Dickens very first writings. It is easy to imagine his first readers eagerly (and impatiently) awaiting the next installment of little Oliver's saga. Evocative of so much compassion, this powerful tale has reached the hearts of readers for over 150 years, and is every bit as powerful now as it was originally. Both its message of personal triumph despite overwhelming odds, and its broader admonishment for us all to look more closely at the plight of the destitute and homeless, speak powerfully to every reader.

This book gives you a very disturbing glimpse into life in England during the early 1800s (or at least Dickens' view of that life). Dark, cold, dangerous, and filthy are some adjectives that are nearly always at the fore when reading OLIVER TWIST, as Dickens employs his unparalleled talent for bringing his settings to life with words. The worst in human attributes are also on prominent display in this work, with Bumble, Fagin, and Sikes being the epitome cowardliness, cruelty, and brutality, respectively. Rather uncomfortably, this book also highlights the all-too-common failures of society in general. While we may have come a long way since the time of Dickens, there remains much that we would rather not have to face about our own culture. Abuse and neglect of innocent children has not altogether faded away, but maintains its evil hold on parts of society.

Not to make you think that this book is all about the negatives of humanity. It is also a tale of triumph over evil, goodness coming from love and compassion, and innocence being preserved. Oliver's friends in the second half of the book represent all the best things about humankind and turn this tale into an essentially happy one. That being said, I actually liked the first half of the book (prior to the failed house-breaking attempt) better than the second, primarily because from that point on, while events occur at an increased rate, they are essentially taken out of Oliver's hands.

This is a great book, highly enjoyable, humorous, and evocative of powerful emotion. The famous wit of Charles Dickens is in full display here, with puns (Master Bates), sarcasm, and all manner of plays on words and phrasings, being found throughout. It is also a good example of Dickens' penchant for overly verbose writing. Sentences that simply HAVE to be run-ons are found in nearly every paragraph, to the point where you forget the subject of interest as you get lost in flowing descriptive writing (was that a run-on?). For that reason only, I'd suggest this book for more experienced readers looking to sit down and enjoy one of my favorite classics.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted ...

What is it about Oliver Twist that keeps people coming back to it so often and for so long? Oliver Twist is actually one of my favourite all-time reads. I try to read it once every few years, and every time I decide to re-read it, I go in search of a copy that I don't already own because it's fascinating the different publishers, typefaces, bindings etc, that this book has gone through. Maybe I'm like Mel Gibson from Conspiracy Theory, collecting all those The Catcher in the Rye copies, but at least I'm reading them. Mel was just trying to save the human race ... or something like that. Poor fool.

A few years ago, I thought that I had run my course with the young Rascal and had actually come away feeling pretty badly about the development of the ending of the story, which, in my honest opinion, is not as strong as the beginning or the arc of Mr. Brownlow. But Dickens was writing in a time when books were not as prevalent and Twist, as we all may know, was a Newspaper column that had developed into a bound and published work due to its popularity. Standards have changed and agents and publishers are more discriminating. But in no way should anyone let that stop them from the experience of reading Oliver Twist as it really is a masterpiece before its time.

Recently though, watching MSNBC (a new hangout for me, I admit), I saw a documentary regarding the global sex trade of young woman forced into boarding, shipped around, mistreated, taken advantage of, stolen, uprooted, you name it ... and my mind wandered to a comparison of Young Oliver and the Ageing and scheming Fagin. In the lives of the girls they covered, there always seemed to be the `Artful Dodger' character who would start off as the mentor, but meet a bad end eventually, and the `Fagin', who controlled the roost and kept the girls feeling dejected and trapped, thus benefiting monetarily from their toils and of course the 'Sykes', who was the one who met head-first with the law. I felt incredibly bad for those girls and disgusted about the habits of some of my fellow "men".

It really is a shame that in 150 years, this year, Dickens moralist tale of child abuse is still just as prevalent, just as relevant and unfortunately just as insidious and heart-breaking as it was on the cold night that he penned the first article.