Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

6 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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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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kathyovalle01's review against another edition

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

3.5

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theskyisthelimit's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Overall, the writing and story were phenomenal. In fact, a certain misfortune upon a certain character made my eyes water just a little for a book (or movie, or story) for the first time. Absolutely terrific! The only things that really kept it from being five stars was the romance, as it felt rushed and unnecessary, and the slight lack of depth in Oliver’s character. I would have liked to see Oliver’s personality other than simply his morals or attitude (i.e. his interactions with Dick, the orphan boy Oliver became good friends with). I also find it worth mentioning that while some have commented on the misogyny in this book as a negative quality, I must disagree. You’ll notice the characters clearly depicted as “bad” are the misogynistic ones and those that are good or at least somewhere in the middle oppose it. Not to mention, some of the kindest and bravest characters are women, so if anything, I would say this book, while not necessarily feminist, is certainly anti-misogyny. 
Nancy’s death made me quite sad (even though I knew what was going to happen ahead of time) and the death of Sikes stood out to me as singularly grotesque save for deaths written by Poe himself, and I greatly applaud Charles Dickens for his spectacular writing in these two instances specifically.
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jrjohnson1408's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

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avisnoctua's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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