Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva filled my category: Holiday Classic in the TisTheReadson Read-A-Thon. I assumed that would be the right category for it since I love A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I read it every year and it still takes my breath away. The synopsis of this book is as simple as this: Mr. Dickens finds inspiration to write a Christmas Carol. That is it. The author does dive into the family strife. His wife just gave birth to their fifth child, family and friends are requesting money, and his latest work is a flop. There is a demand for a Christmas story and Charles must get it finished or be subject to dire financial straits. This is stressful, so he lashes out on his family, causing all those he loves to leave him until he meets a young woman and her son that inspire him.

My word of advice: just read A Christmas Carol. If you really want to know the behind-the-scenes of A Christmas Carol, read Les Standiford’s The Man Who Invented Christmas. But I am clearly in the minority here. This book has received raving reviews. It just didn’t work for me. I have always been amazed at how Charles Dickens created this Christmas novella (a total of 104 pages) with characters that had so much depth that the characters are still so beloved 178 years later. This edition is 271 pages of taking those characters and making them into caricatures. It was obvious when a new character entered Charles Dickens’s life, who they were destined to be in his Carol. For me, it came off cheesy.

Then there is the issue with the pace. It is devastatingly slow. Even the fantastic narrator: Euan Morton could not save it for me. He was fabulous, but the useless detail and obvious revelations just seemed to make the story drag. Overall, I rate this book 2 out of 5 stars.