Tiny Tim and the Ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge by Norman Whaler

Review by Shwetha H S

Genre: Fiction
Imprint: Tate Publishing and Enterprises, LLC, USA
ISBN: 9781682543054

Tiny Tim and the Ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge by Norman Whaler is a sequel many years into the future from the time in which A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is set.

The storyline of Tiny Tim and the Ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge is sustained mainly by the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge. If you have read A Christmas Carol, then you would know that Tiny Tim is the character that melts the cold heart of the miser Ebenezer Scrooge. In the sequel that we are discussing, Tiny Tim is a grown man, who is still unmarried in the memories of the love he has for a woman who was married off to someone else because Tim didn’t have much wealth. Tim is a depressed young man. Just like the three ghosts appeared to Scrooge on the eve of Christmas to make him a better man, Scrooge’s ghost appears to Tim on the eve of a Christmas, but not to make him a better man because Tim is already a kind-hearted man, but ill-tempered. Then why does Scrooge’s ghost appear to him? Read the story to know, or not. I will tell you why.

If there was a need to write a sequel, the storyline adapted is definitely not the best as there is no story in there. Not wanting to sound cruel or rude, but the writer of this sequel probably wrote this as a tribute to his late wife. Yes, he does mention her in the dedication and in the About the Authors section. It also might be a dedication to his father who went by the same name as the author himself. Wife, the lost love, and the father as Scrooge. I am just guessing. But there are irrelevant double and single quotation marks combinations making reading a struggle. Though the story has already taken place, the narration fluctuates between past and present tenses. Also, the narrator doesn’t even mention Cratchit’s other children i.e. Tim’s siblings, not even once.

I enjoyed reading A Christmas Carol, but not Tiny Tim and the Ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge. I read both the books as an adult, liking one and not the other. I would not recommend this book even for a one-time read.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Review by Shwetha H S

Genre: Historical fiction, Classic
Imprint: Puffin Classics
ISBN: 978-0-141-32554-5

Charles Dickens. The name itself brings tirade of literary works to the reader’s mind. Out of such works, Oliver Twist, Christmas Carols and David Copperfield are few.

A Tale of Two Cities is about a civil revolution, one that takes the good and the bad alike; for personal vengeance leaving rationality, and for benefit of the public without rationality. Though it is supposed to be about two cities, the story takes place in London, Paris and Saint Antoine. There are people moving between these places to bring out the story that is so magnificent and greater than life that one cannot help but sit back and revel in it.

Doctor Alexnadre Manette is brought to civilized life back by his good old friend Jarvis Lorry and daughter Lucie Manette, and brought to London from Saint Antoine. She also aids in saving life of Charles Darnay whom she marries later. Charles Darnay and Sidney Carton, a lawyer and a family friend, are lookalikes. Due to circumstances that were unanticipated, Charles is imprisoned in Paris during the French revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Defarge, the couple who once helped Manette family, now are hell-bent on prosecuting Charles Darnay due to his aristocratic connections in France. How the doctor, his friend and Sidney Carton help in getting Darnay out of prison and escaping from France is the story of this masterpiece.

The outstanding characters of this story are Sidney Carton and Madame Defarge also known as Therese Defarge. The reader will pity Carton for being a loyal person who is in love with Lucie Manette, but little can be guessed about the role he plays in her life. Madame Defarge is a sinister figure who will give you chills even on a summer noon. All other characters are important in their place. There are too many characters in the story, but they are all justified. None of them is unnecessarily stuffed to make the story grow.

A Tale of Two Cities is an astounding book that never lets the reader down and never lets the reader put it down. So captivating is this story that you will regret for not having read it sooner in your life. Love, vengeance and loyalty are personified in the form of characters created by Charles Dickens. It might even turn to be an overwhelming read.

One should never judge a book by its cover, and one should never judge a book by its title too. I thought this must be another story of how two cities tried to be better than one another, but I was proven wrong. This is much more.

If you have not already read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens as a part of your school curriculum, then this moment, right now is the best time to start reading it.