While I’ve known the story of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, I haven’t read it until now. I’ve watched the movie from 1999 with Patrick Stewart and the one from 2009 with Jim Carrey. My favourite has always been the Disney movie called Mickey’s Christmas Carol, where Uncle Scrooge is Scrooge (of course).

I’ve always wanted to read A Christmas Carol during the Christmas season, but one never seems to have the time. In 2019, however, I decided that it was now or never, so I read it. While the story was pretty much the same as the movies I’d known, the atmosphere was much stronger reading it. That might be because I often feel more atmosphere in books, but I think Dickens has a special way with words and the way he creates atmosphere. Sure, he is very wordy, long winded (is that a word?) and quite boring at times, but it’s a short book and he doesn’t have much room to bore you.

I felt that the part with Christmas Past was not enough, I didn’t really understand everything that was happening and the things that Scrooge was feeling was not described enough, at least not so that I could understand it. So that was not as impactful as the movies. But the other two spirits, Christmas Present and Christmas Future was easier to understand.

It is quite sad that the story tells us that rich people must be scared into doing selfless things, which makes them not selfless at all (has anyone watched The Good Place? That’s basically the same conundrum). Oh, well, I guess we could scare some rich people into being kinder (anyone want to go haunt Jeff Bezos?)

Overall, I liked it. It was a great atmosphere, if a little slow at times. I usually like Dickens, even if he is slower than a sloth sometimes, so if Dickens is not your cup of tea, then this might not be for you. There is not much plot, so even if it’s short it’s not worth it if you don’t like Dickens.

Has anyone watched the HBO series that came 2019? Should I give it a try?

4.75