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Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: A Christmas Carol read by Tim
Curry
Author: Charles Dickens
Narrator: Tim
Curry
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Classic
Length: 3hrs,
31minutes
(Pages: 98)
(Words:
28K)
From Wikipedia.org
The
book is divided into five chapters, which Dickens titled "staves".
Stave
one
A
Christmas Carol opens on a bleak, cold Christmas Eve in London, seven
years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner, Jacob
Marley. Scrooge, an ageing miser, dislikes Christmas and refuses a
dinner invitation from his nephew Fred—the son of Fan, Scrooge's
dead sister. He turns away two men who seek a donation from him to
provide food and heating for the poor and only grudgingly allows his
overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Christmas Day off with pay
to conform to the social custom.
That
night Scrooge is visited at home by Marley's ghost, who wanders the
Earth entwined by heavy chains and money boxes forged during a
lifetime of greed and selfishness. Marley tells Scrooge that he has a
single chance to avoid the same fate: he will be visited by three
spirits and must listen or be cursed to carry much heavier chains of
his own.
Stave
two
The
first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas
scenes of Scrooge's boyhood, reminding him of a time when he was more
innocent. The scenes reveal Scrooge's lonely childhood at boarding
school, his relationship with his beloved sister Fan, and a Christmas
party hosted by his first employer, Mr Fezziwig, who treated him like
a son. Scrooge's neglected fiancée Belle is shown ending their
relationship, as she realises that he will never love her as much as
he loves money. Finally, they visit a now-married Belle with her
large, happy family on the Christmas Eve that Marley died. Scrooge,
upset by hearing Belle's description of the man that he has become,
demands that the ghost remove him from the house.
Stave
three
The
second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to a
joyous market with people buying the makings of Christmas dinner and
to celebrations of Christmas in a miner's cottage and in a
lighthouse. Scrooge and the ghost also visit Fred's Christmas party.
A major part of this stave is taken up with Bob Cratchit's family
feast and introduces his youngest son, Tiny Tim, a happy boy who is
seriously ill. The spirit informs Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die
unless the course of events changes. Before disappearing, the spirit
shows Scrooge two hideous, emaciated children named Ignorance and
Want. He tells Scrooge to beware the former above all and mocks
Scrooge's concern for their welfare.
Stave
four
The
third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge a
Christmas Day in the future. The silent ghost reveals scenes
involving the death of a disliked man whose funeral is attended by
local businessmen only on condition that lunch is provided. His
charwoman, laundress and the local undertaker steal his possessions
to sell to a fence. When he asks the spirit to show a single person
who feels emotion over his death, he is only given the pleasure of a
poor couple who rejoice that his death gives them more time to put
their finances in order. When Scrooge asks to see tenderness
connected with any death, the ghost shows him Bob Cratchit and his
family mourning the death of Tiny Tim. The ghost then allows Scrooge
to see a neglected grave, with a tombstone bearing Scrooge's name.
Sobbing, Scrooge pledges to change his ways.
Stave
five
Scrooge
awakens on Christmas morning a changed man. He makes a large donation
to the charity he rejected the previous day, anonymously sends a
large turkey to the Cratchit home for Christmas dinner and spends the
afternoon with Fred's family. The following day he gives Cratchit an
increase in pay, and begins to become a father figure to Tiny Tim.
From then on Scrooge treats everyone with kindness, generosity and
compassion, embodying the spirit of Christmas.
Most people know the story of A Christmas Carol already. This
review, therefore, is going to be more about the audio side of
things, as I listened to this read by Tim Curry. When I did my
Currently
Reading post about this last month I was very excited to hear
this in Curry's voice.
So how did it turn out? Overall, pretty good.
Listening to this, instead of reading it, allowed me to focus on
different aspects that what I've concentrated on before and brought
to the fore little things. Like the fact that Bob and Tiny Tim
attended church services, or that Scrooge began attending church as
part of his changed nature. Descriptions of the surroundings or of
secondary characters that I'd read over like a steamroller, were
allowed a new lease on life due to the magic of Curry's voice.
I liked Curry's reading of this. Except for one thing. Scrooge's
voice. It's a big thing and that's why I kept this at 4.5stars
instead of bumping it up to 5. Curry turns Scrooge into this whining
voice that just barely avoided being annoying. While he still conveys
the fear, the excitement, the remorse, that is in each of Scrooge's
talks to the various spirits, it is all done in that tone. It is a
big enough thing that I suspect I won't be listening to this version
again but will try the one read by Patrick Stewart, or I'll just read
it myself.
I did find out, in the Currently Reading post's comments section,
that Curry had suffered a major stroke and was wheelchair bound.
Reading his wiki page, that happened in 2012 and this was produced in
2016. I'd never have guessed it from his voice here though.
★★★★✬