Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

20 reviews

lillygabriella's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I had only read an abridged children's version of this before and seen several movie adaptations, including a BBC miniseries, which upon reading the book I discovered was actually fanfiction. Only France goes hard for accuracy in their national literature I guess.  

So, if like me you have only seen movie versions, know that there was a lot of serious character rehabilitation performed in all of the movies, especially where Fagin, Nancy, and Jack Dawkins aka The Artful Dodger are concerned.

Other than that, it is pretty standard for a nineteenth century novel: Never use one word when fifty will do. Clearly the man was paid by the word. And was in this work definitely on the side of Nature over Nurture.

I'm glad I read it. It's good to know how the classics actually go.

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chimwemwe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.75


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mpbookreviews's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0


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matt_needs_medicating's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I really enjoyed the beginning, but found much of the rest to really draaaaaaaaaag on. Just watch the musical tbh, it’s a better time.

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sword_spider's review against another edition

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Endless, endless gratuitous injury done to a young child. This consisting of the writer - from the onset - having continual, and consecutive, awful things happen to the young child protagonist; without reprieve. He also keeps up a trend of bestowing physical beatings upon the child. 

This book (figuratively, and literally as there is also animal abuse) really, really enjoys kicking a dog when it's down. I got to the end of chapter 15 and could bear no more.

To Dickens' credit however, I will say that the world and scene-painting were very rich. He creates fascinating characters and his writing is extraordinarily witty. There was also seat-edging suspense. I find it unfortunate to have to put the book down.

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timmytunter's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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the_bookwormhole_'s review against another edition

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adventurous sad medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0


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belou's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


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mnasadoo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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littleredherring's review against another edition

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dark sad tense

4.5

I was fairly bored for the first half, but then I got really into it. Quite grim, but it makes the peaceful parts all the more beautiful

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