Oliver Twist (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))

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Oliver Twist (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))

by Charles Dickens

3.71 · rating details · 48,353 ratings · 1,791 reviews

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

One of the most swiftly moving and unified of Charles Dickens’s great novels, Oliver Twist is also famous for its re-creation–through the splendidly realized figures of Fagin, Nancy, the Artful Dodger, and the evil Bill Sikes–of the vast London underworld of pickpockets, thieves, prostitutes, and abandoned children. Victorian critics took Dic

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Paperback, 96 pages

Published December 8th 2010 by Random House Books for Young Readers (first published 1837)

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Oct 06, 2011

Stephen rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classics, easton-press, audiobook, 1800s, literature, love-those-words, classics-european

I looooooooved this book. Another Dickens...another favorite. 'Please, sir, I want some more.'

Jane Austen and Charles Dickens have been dueling inside my WOW center for some time in a titanic, see-saw struggle for the title of greatest word-smither/story-crafter in all of English literature. Ms Austen previously caused heart-palpitations and a slew of gasms with Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility which left me spent like a cheap nickel. However, Sir Dickens, ...more

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Jun 29, 2008

Mark rated it

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I have in my 37 years of life avoided reading Charles Dickens. My reason: after having suffered through trying to read the so-called English literature of his era--think Thomas Harding, Emile Bronte and Mary Shelly--I figured Dickens would be no better. For some reason I can’t now recollect, I decided to give Dickens a try. I chose Oliver Twist. And was immediately hooked. Far from the boring narrative one finds the works of the other English writers I've already mentioned, Dickens has a v...moreI have in my 37 years of life avoided reading Charles Dickens. My reason: after having suffered through trying to read the so-called English literature of his era--think Thomas Harding, Emile Bronte and Mary Shelly--I figured Dickens would be no better. For some reason I can’t now recollect, I decided to give Dickens a try. I chose Oliver Twist. And was immediately hooked. Far from the boring narrative one finds the works of the other English writers I've already mentioned, Dickens has a very personable, simple, attractive writing style.

As its title suggests, the book itself is about Oliver Twist. He's an orphan who, constantly abused, finally runs away and goes to London for there he figures he'll never be found. During his trip to that city, he meets a youth of perhaps thirteen years who calls himself the Artful Dodger. He's a pick pocket, and he brings poor Oliver into a den of thieves, one headed by a fence named Fagin. Here is a character of very bad reputation. Alas, he also demonstrates Dickens’ obvious anti-Semitism. Fagin represents a caricature of all “bad” Jews. Despite this flaw, Dickens nonetheless makes him a compelling villain. His other primary rogue, Bill Sikes the housebreaker, is even more dangerous and more terrifying.

Poor Oliver is soon used as a decoy while the Artful Dodger and his fellow pickpocket, Charley Bates, steal from a gentleman looking at books at a bookstand. Oliver is caught, taken to the magistrate, then befriended by the very man who thought Oliver had picked his pocket: Mr. Brownlow. From here Oliver’s adventures for the most part recall the terrible things that happen to the poor boy: he’s kidnapped, compelled to be a house breaker, and has a variety of other problems. Along the way he learns that not all the adults in the world are as compassionless as those who ran the Parish orphanage from whence he came.

This book is more than a compelling tale: it is biting social commentary, attacking the terrible conditions that the English masses had to endure in the first half of the 19th century; it is especially critical of the unfair Poor Law. England at that time was in essence what the free market advocates want in America to be today: they want no government interference in business nor the government to manage anyone’s lives’ let the market to take care of it! Thus an orphanage isn’t a place where you keep children until they can be adopted or come of age, it’s a place where you work the them to turn a profit. Oddly, this tale rings very true to our society today, but even if you have no interest whatsoever in society in general and politics and economics in particular, it’s nonetheless a wonderful tale well worth reading.(less)

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Nov 04, 2007

Joe rated it

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Having seen the stage musical and two movie versions, I have wanted for a long time to read the original. It was interesting to see how much was changed from the book. Fagin is a much more loathsome creature in the book--more treacherous, more cunning, more quick to anger, and not the jolly old naughty elf that he is in the musical version. Nancy is also more of a wretch, and not the kindly, big sister figure to Fagin's gang as she is portrayed in the film; making her decision to act on Olive...more

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Aug 27, 2007

Mike H. rated it

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Shelves: literature

So I've finished it, but it was kind of a struggle. There are parts of the story that made me not want to go on (and surprisingly this was often because I didn't want any more bad things to happen to Oliver. Now I know why 'Dick' is in Dickens).

Several things jumped out at me while reading. The first was the elitist Victorian view of society where the poor are pitied but in the end it is really their fault. Though Dickens does poke fun at this a bit, and he does point out how th...more

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Nov 23, 2011

Peter rated it

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Shelves: classics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The character of Oliver is a bland and tedious milquetoast as are the Maylies but the villains are broad grotesques of pure genius. Mr Bumble, Bill Sikes, Fagin, Nancy, Dodger and even Master Bates ( I wondered if this was a purposeful joke or not?) are such memorable characters. The story is a rags to riches tale about a pure hearted orphan who escapes both the drudgery of the workhouse and a life of crime, by the lucky coincidence of being related to some good hearted toffs (and one evil one,...more

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Oct 04, 2011

Cait rated it

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Shelves: classics, owned, 1001, bloom-canon, victorian-neo-victorian, read-in-2011

I swear Dickens named one of his characters Master Bates on purpose.

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Dec 04, 2008

Kelly rated it

· review of another edition

Please sir, may I have less?

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Sep 29, 2011

Alex rated it

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Shelves: coralie-bickford-smith-covers, 2011, reading-through-history, victorian

First of all, Oliver Twist is a hateful book. Dickens has created in Fagin an embodiment of bigotry; a leering, black-nailed, money-grubbing Jew who's nearly always referred to as The Jew, as though Dickens wasn't sure we'd get it.* Fagin is the most memorable character in Oliver Twist, and he's inexcusable. I've read me some Victorian novels; I'm familiar with the casual anti-Semitism that's nearly unavoidable in them; I understand the context of the time. Dickens is well beyond that context. F...more

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Jun 22, 2011

Ardesia rated it

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Shelves: sp

Ciao, sono Oliver, l'orfanello sfigato immaginato da Dickens.
La mia storia è diventata un classico; un classico esempio di come la gente sia da sempre morbosamente attratta dalle sfortune altrui, dagli intrecci impossibili e dai finali improbabili. Sognare piace a tutti, ma quando i sogni diventano incubi l'importante è che ne sia protagonista qualcun'altro, anche un bimbetto ingenuo, tanto buono e con un faccino da tesorino come il mio può andare bene allo scopo. Anzi, così è pure meglio,...moreCiao, sono Oliver, l'orfanello sfigato immaginato da Dickens.
La mia storia è diventata un classico; un classico esempio di come la gente sia da sempre morbosamente attratta dalle sfortune altrui, dagli intrecci impossibili e dai finali improbabili. Sognare piace a tutti, ma quando i sogni diventano incubi l'importante è che ne sia protagonista qualcun'altro, anche un bimbetto ingenuo, tanto buono e con un faccino da tesorino come il mio può andare bene allo scopo. Anzi, così è pure meglio, perché la gente è anche sempre stata un po' stronza.
Comunque io non mi butto giù. So che prima o poi troverò il mio posto nel mondo, crescerò e magari grazie all'inventiva di un altro autore riceverò un qualche super potere che mi permetterà di vendicarmi di tutti coloro che hanno goduto delle mie sfortune. Lo so che sono tanto buono e certe cose non si fanno, ma non è che se resto buone per sempre poi arriva la fatina e mi trasforma in un bambino vero, quindi qualche soddisfazione dalla vita potrò pur prendermela anch'io.
Come diceva sempre mio Zio Murphy "Se qualcosa può andar male, lo farà", perciò bisogna reagire e non starsene inerti, ipnotizzati dai propri giramenti di palle e piangersi continuamente addosso come faceva quella lagna di Calimero. Sì, ok, lo ammetto, anch'io a volte mi sono fatto prendere la mano dai piagnistei, tanto che qualcuno è arrivato a ipotizzare che la mia mamma fosse una certa Lucia Mondella, che a quanto pare sembrava una fontana, ma io ero solo un bimbetto che prendeva legnate.
L'ho già fatto presente che ero solo un povero bimbetto ingenuo, tanto buono e col faccino da tesorino? Sì? No, perché ero veramente tanto ingenuo e tanto buono. Ma tanto, eh! Tanto cosììì! Anzi, no, di più: cosììììììììììì! Che la gente è anche sempre stata tanto perversa e più ero buono e più godevano delle sfighe che mi capitavano. Ma ve l'ho detto, appena mi arriva un bel super potere ci penso io. È solo questione di tempo. Se le mie avventure vi hanno fatto ridere è meglio che principiate a dormire con un occhio aperto perché prima o poi i miei incubi potrebbero diventare la vostra realtà.
E da ora in avanti potete chiamarmi Oliver Darth Twist, così iniziamo a intenderci meglio.(less)

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Jan 17, 2011

Malbadeen marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Before you judge my son let me tell you a few things about him: he surfs, he skateboards, he listens to music I disapprove of, he wants his hair much longer than I will allow and he doesn't pick up after himself. My point? He's not some handkerchief wearing, brief case carrying, Alex P. Keaton nerd. But he reads, a lot and it is reason 1,199 I love him so much!

The other day we were in a book store and I, being the shallow gal that I am, was admiring the new covers on a set of classic...more

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Nov 24, 2007

Rafe rated it

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Shelves: books-about-saps

I hate Oliver Twist. AND I hate Oliver Twist. I can stand neither the character nor the book. One thing that one is taught over and over again in literature classes and in writing classes is that characters must change, that protagonists must be organic and developing, not round. So what's the deal with Oliver? He starts as a twit, and ends as a twit. I know that the point is how his purity is untouched by the gangrenous society in which he is enveloped, but... But books like this, and es...more

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Nov 06, 2011

Anthony Bellaleigh rated it

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The biggest problem I have, when I try to read Dickens, is that he uses really long sentences, that start off merrily enough - though you wonder where he might be going - then meander like some ancient stream across the pages, complete with eddies and side currents - and occasionally random wildlife or characters - then, eventually, several lines later, somehow find their way back to whatever it was that he started talking about right back at the very beginning... :)

My second proble...more

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Apr 21, 2010

Jen Padgett Bohle rated it

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Shelves: victorian-lit

We all know Oliver Twist somehow, either from pop allusions or musicals or BBC productions, but actually reading Oliver Twist and experiencing the story firsthand definitely gave me a special appreciation for Dickens’ sentence structure, imagery, and portrayals of Victorian London, plus I get to claim obnoxious bragging rights (and I’ll start off being a little haughty right now: Oliver never actually says “please, sir, may I have some more?” he says “please sir, I want some more.” Now you, to...moreWe all know Oliver Twist somehow, either from pop allusions or musicals or BBC productions, but actually reading Oliver Twist and experiencing the story firsthand definitely gave me a special appreciation for Dickens’ sentence structure, imagery, and portrayals of Victorian London, plus I get to claim obnoxious bragging rights (and I’ll start off being a little haughty right now: Oliver never actually says “please, sir, may I have some more?” he says “please sir, I want some more.” Now you, too, can make people look stupid when they misquote the novel! We all win here.)

So anyway, I enjoyed Oliver Twist immensely and I had difficulty setting it aside to go to bed at night. The suspense and action and twists of fate in every chapter kept me completely enmeshed in the novel. Like, seriously addicted in the evenings. German television’s paltry offerings drove me to Dickens, but now I understand how literate people before the mid twentieth century stayed entertained. The text was originally published as serials in a monthly paper so Dickens relied on soap opera suspense techniques to keep readers interested. And his writing has this certain inexplicable, charming quality.

That said, both Dickens and Oliver Twist are a little problematic for me. Modernity and the passing years have rendered Dickens a trifle trite and he has become kind of like the Thomas Kincade of literature. He's just oozing sentimentality. And he's safe. Sure, there'll be whores and murders, and drinki’n and thievi'n, but in the end everything is always alright. The good guy always comes out ahead. And your protagonist remains a saint. A sweet, tender-hearted saint who somehow never sours on life. You're not exactly taking any chances with Dickens.

For modern readers, sometimes Dickens feels hopelessly outdated. Fagin's absolutely black and white portrayal as an evil Jew street gang leader is appallingly anti-semitic. But, as usual in my head, nothing is ever clear and I’m stuck between admiring Dickens’ handiwork in creating such a chilling villain in appearance, deed, and speech and loathing the way he characterizes Fagin as first and foremost a Jew. In fact, most of the time he’s simply called the Jew by our narrator and various characters. Can we still like the crafting of a character who is this outdated and wrong? Can we overlook the anti-Semitism? I tend to with, for example, Merchant of Venice, because Shakespeare’s portrayal of Shylock is a least a bit more nuanced and sympathetic, but there’s nothing redeeming about Fagin. No easy answers on this one, though I don’t think we can overlook the positive political impact Dickens’ body of work had on the Victorian social code and the political movements and laws they inspired. Dickens is, after all, the guy who practically began the whole notion of Victorian charity and inspired child labor laws.

Two of the important characters of this work, providing some comic relief and relatively sophisticated satire are The Beadle, Mr. Bumble, leader of the orphanage and workhouse, and his eventual wife, a manager of the workhouse for the poor. These two, through their dysfunctional marriage and misguided ideals of public service, satirize the banally evil and officious bourgeois who are only concerned with status, title, and their own material comforts. Nancy, one of the female members of Fagin’s gang of thieves, is also subtle and well-written and she may actually be one of the only truly round characters in the work.

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Oct 13, 2011

Craig rated it

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Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

"It is wonderful how Virtue turns from dirty stockings; and how Vice, married to ribbons and a little gay attire, changes her name, as wedded ladies do, and becomes Romance" In his preface to the third edition of Oliver Twist, Dickens seems to call out those who criticized his descriptions and characterizations of the criminal element. Before reading this work, I had entertained ideas that maybe Dickens dark worlds would have no impact on modern reader's minds. The dark, dank, neigh...more

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Dec 13, 2010

April the Cheshire Meow Gavey rated it

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Shelves: literary

Not Dicken's best, but yet worth reading. The cinematic possibilities jump off every page; I don't wonder this novel in particular has been turned into plays and movies. I found myself musing if the images depicted so vividly by Dicken's prose fired the mind's eye of the folks creating the silent movie technology. Not only is the timing right, but the scene action in the book actually appears to have been replicated in movies as standard action sequences. however if you are sensitive to literatu...more

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Jan 08, 2009

Ross rated it

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Mr. Dickens is a master wordsmith with an extraordinary sense of plot, which is keen on display in Oliver Twist. The novel is also populated with remarkable characters; alas (and the reason for four, rather than five stars) the novel's namesake is not one of them. Poor Oliver remains a naive bourgeois little boy for the entirety of the novel, although he survives horrid abuse and undergoes vigorous adventures. There is nothing to suggest that his mind is filled with anything but piety and pro...more

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Sep 14, 2008

Anh Mai rated it

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Recommends it for: another friend

If I could ask Oliver Twist a question, I would ask him "why he did not change his characteristic even though he was forced to be a thief in a gangster group?". And I would asked Charles Dickens the reason why he decided to build Oliver Twist's characteristic like that? In my opinion, a person who grew up without parents, lived in a housework with many disadvantages, and jointed in a gangster group was difficult to keep his personality to be a good person like Oliver Twist. Therefore,...more

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Feb 13, 2008

Nicole rated it

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Shelves: classic

Reading this novel was a delight. Perhaps, it was so wonderfully moving because of some personal dilemmas occurring in my life at the time. My good friend, Christina deJong had just passed away from a horribly debilitating disease, cancer, and I was having problems grieving. And then I read this moving passage:

'but this should give us comfort in our sorrow; for Heaven is just; and such things teach

impressively, that there is a brighter world than this; and that the passag...more

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Jul 31, 2010

Paul rated it

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Shelves: novels

Oliver Twist THE BOOK is crap and has NO songs in it, I couldn't believe it. So I googled and get this, it turns out they put those in the movie and Dickens had nothing to do with it! But since they were the best bit of the film, you can understand my bereft sense of disappointment when I finally came to pick up the book.

How could Dickens NOT have thought of having little Oliver sing Where Is Love when chucked into the cellar or Who Will Buy This Loverly Morning when he wakes up in...more

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Sep 15, 2007

Jwala rated it

· review of another edition

While a bit entertaining, the book feels much longer than necessary. Though there aren't any descriptions of the flowers and trees and buildings but there are a long series of events which seem to take a long time which are equally boring.
Most of the characters in Oliver Twist are one dimensional i.e they are either pure good or pure evil. There are those individual storylines that lead to nowhere.I did not care much for Oliver, either. There is too much melodrama and the sentimental scene...more

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Jul 14, 2008

Tara Lynn rated it

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Shelves: booklist-for-2008, classics-necessary-for-any-library, personal-favorites, amazing-child-teen-reads

I have started re-reading some of my antique books, and have found the language and expressions amazing. I honestly have to wonder though, if Dickens even knew what a period was. For example, this passage from the first chapter of Oliver Twist:

Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhou...more

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Nov 27, 2008

Terence rated it

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Shelves: historical-fiction

This is the book that began my loathe affair with Dickens. I tried at least four times, as I recall, to read this but was never able to get past the first few chapters.

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Apr 27, 2009

Carol added it · review of another edition

Another Dickens read in high school. This one brought
home the cruel treatment given to children in England
during this time.

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Aug 02, 2011

Barbara Ellison added it · review of another edition

I avoided writing a review of "Oliver Twist" until I read a few critical analyses of it vis-a-vis the character of Fagin and in particular, how scholars view Dickens' obvious anti-semitism. Without citing any of these scholarly essays in particular, generally it is acknowledged that while Dickens, for all of his progressive campaigning through his art for social reforms, the standard stereotypes of Jews especially as were evidently accepted in Victorian Society were part of his mindse...moreI avoided writing a review of "Oliver Twist" until I read a few critical analyses of it vis-a-vis the character of Fagin and in particular, how scholars view Dickens' obvious anti-semitism. Without citing any of these scholarly essays in particular, generally it is acknowledged that while Dickens, for all of his progressive campaigning through his art for social reforms, the standard stereotypes of Jews especially as were evidently accepted in Victorian Society were part of his mindset. Additionally, Dickens also wrote essays in which he supported the legal marginalizing of Jews in English society. For all of Dickens genius at pointing out the hypocrisy of human institutions, he himself missed the fact that if a Jew was prohibited from engaging in commerce, going to university, or sitting at the bar of law, then he was forced into making a living in the city in unsavory ways. And these underworld ways, inflicted upon them became, for Dickens, and his society became what it meant to be a Jew.

I was relieved to learn that later in Dickens' career he changed these ideas, which is more than we can say about many of todays worse demagogues ultimately worked for Jewish social reform. So that by the time he wrote "Our Mutual Friend" he was then portraying Jews as "good" characters as opposed to evil ones.

Even to know this now, to read "Oliver Twist" and be confronted with the character of Fagin in which "Jew" is a descriptor as strong as any evil adjective Dickens could concoct, is jarring for a modern reader. Indeed Fagin is evil, but his "religion" which he does not practice, has no more influence on his depravity as does say the presumption that an even worse character, Bill Sikes, a Christian is the abusive murderer that he is because is he an Englishman and a Christian

Dickens was too smart to not change his sensibilities. For me the mark of a great writer is one who creates characters who change throughout the narrative. We certainly see even Fagin vulnerable and attempting to be kind, but always self-serving. Therefore, we have to say yes Dickens was a anti-semite at one time in his career and like a character he created, he himself reformed himself and became a better human.

Oh yes, this novel is genius.(less)

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Aug 02, 2011

Alun Williams added it · review of another edition

Since Charles Dickens has an unassailable position in the canon of English literature, it is perhaps hard to remember that he was first and foremost a popular author of his time, and that Oliver Twist was the work of a very young author. Nowadays, if an author has a successful first novel he or she would be under strict instructions to produce a second that was as nearly as possible the same, but Dickens consistently had enough faith in his readers and his own powers to try completely new appr...more

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Jul 02, 2010

Anh Cat added it · review of another edition

Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens
1. Sometimes we are pulled toward one or two characters I the story. We identify with them of feel sympathy for them. With which characters do you identify in the book, and why do you believe you identify with them?
When reading the Oliver Twist I saw that there many characters, but one of them made me pay more attention. That is Nancy, one of the women in the Fagin’s room. She must always obey to Sikes like “a lamp”. She saw that Oliver was badly trea...moreOliver Twist
Charles Dickens
1. Sometimes we are pulled toward one or two characters I the story. We identify with them of feel sympathy for them. With which characters do you identify in the book, and why do you believe you identify with them?
When reading the Oliver Twist I saw that there many characters, but one of them made me pay more attention. That is Nancy, one of the women in the Fagin’s room. She must always obey to Sikes like “a lamp”. She saw that Oliver was badly treated, and he was so many times caught by them to make him do bad things. These things led she make a hard decision that could take her life away. One day, she came to meet Miss Maylie to ask her helping Oliver. That meant she was doing opposite to Sikes, a cruel men. And finally, she was killed by him. That was such a great grief result. A woman just wanted to live better and give up her sinful life before, but what happened with her! In every man always exist on bad and good things. When she realized that she must do something good to Oliver as well as to have a clear conscience and that was the last day of her life. How pitiful she was!

2. Why do you think the author wrote this story? Where did he or she get the idea or the characters? What message do you think the author is trying to share?

Some of reasons I think Charles Dickens wrote this story are to describing partly the London scenes, London character at that time and to sympathize with the poor people especially the street child.
He might get the idea or the characters of his story by the time, he met people – the man he worked for and the boy he worked with, he had learnt many things about life in London at that time. Because he had lived a hard life when his father was in prison, he must earn money to alive. His education was interrupted. So he understood the poor and lower class better than anyone else.
I think through this story, Charles Dickens wanted to share the idea that even though the life hardly overcome and some of man is so bad or cruel; there are still kind-heart, gracious or good people and the justice is always being.

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Feb 07, 2012

Stephanie C. rated it

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It's interesting that Google celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Charles Dickens on 2-7-2012. I was unaware of this milestone when I decided to reread "Oliver Twist" this past week.

I hadn't read the book since I was in middle school, so many of the details had been overlaid by memories of the musical movie "Oliver!" (1968), which I saw in cinemascope when it opened. But I saw one of the silent versions on Turner Classic Movies recently, with many de...moreIt's interesting that Google celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Charles Dickens on 2-7-2012. I was unaware of this milestone when I decided to reread "Oliver Twist" this past week.

I hadn't read the book since I was in middle school, so many of the details had been overlaid by memories of the musical movie "Oliver!" (1968), which I saw in cinemascope when it opened. But I saw one of the silent versions on Turner Classic Movies recently, with many details I had forgotten and thought I'd give it another read through.

I still love the melodramatic pace of the book; which alternates light chapters with dark, like a good mix tape. The anti-Semetism of the depiction of Fagin stands out to a modern sensibility, but Sikes is no better - indeed he is considerably worse. The chapter where Nancy the prostitute meets Miss Maylie is my favorite, and here Dicken's forgiving and compassionate view of those who are ground down by poverty and ill-use is never more sharply depicted. Nancy clings to the only piece of dignity she has left, loyalty to the man she loves. It is an act of sacrifice which will encompass her death, but which shows a strength of character which still has resonance.

Dickens is heavy handed when it come to the hypocrisy and pettiness of those who are paid to help the poor such as the beadle Mr. Bumble, but perhaps - considering the temper of his time - he needed to be so. In some ways; I found this depiction to be timely still, if you consider the sanctimonious attitude of those today who consider the homeless on our street corners today to be either scam artists or lazy people who prefer such a life.

All in all, Dickens still speaks to me however much the tastes of our time make the structure of his works seem quaint. He had a gift for making people who otherwise would have turned away from these scenes of human degradation to instead examine them closely and open their hearts to people who they otherwise may have never been willing to give more than an uncomfortable glance toward if they crossed paths on the street.

Frankly, we could use another one like him for our own time. For the poor are always with us, it's just that we can roll up our tinted windows and drive on more quickly now.(less)

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Feb 06, 2012

Ben Dutton rated it

· review of another edition

And so we come to Charles Dickens’s most famous work. Oliver Twist was serialised in Bentley’s Miscellany beginning in February 1837 and ending in April 1839 and it introduced some of Dickens’s best loved and known characters, from the titular Oliver, to Fagin, Bill Sikes, Nancy, and The Artful Dodger. It is impossible to approach this work without knowledge of it – whether through one of the innumerable screen adaptations, the stage musical or simple osmosis from public knowledge. I approached ...moreAnd so we come to Charles Dickens’s most famous work. Oliver Twist was serialised in Bentley’s Miscellany beginning in February 1837 and ending in April 1839 and it introduced some of Dickens’s best loved and known characters, from the titular Oliver, to Fagin, Bill Sikes, Nancy, and The Artful Dodger. It is impossible to approach this work without knowledge of it – whether through one of the innumerable screen adaptations, the stage musical or simple osmosis from public knowledge. I approached this novel hesitantly – I thought I knew the story, and much of it was extremely familiar – the workhouse where Oliver asks for more, the den in which Fagin hides his stolen goods, the robbery gone wrong, the kindness of Mr Brownlow. I could see them all from Carol Reeds film, from David Lean’s film. What was the point, it seemed, of finally reading a work I thought I knew so well?

Dickens was twenty-five when he began Oliver Twist. He was riding high off the success of The Pickwick Papers and it seems with his second novel that he wanted to address some of the injustices he knew of and sensed in Victorian Britain, such as the Poor Law, which stated that poor people must be employed in work houses – places whose conditions were so dire that those people seconded to them suffered greatly The early chapters of this novel which describe Twist’s life in a workhouse and then in the employ of Mr Sowerberry, the undertaker, and they reveal Dickens’s scathing portrait of poor society, of families crammed into one room, of people living with so little food or basic comfort, of a class despised by the bourgeoisies. Society at this time was in dire straits, and the treatment of the poor was soon to become a national problem – Friedrich Engels in just a few years would publish his Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, with a focus on Manchester, and though Engels would portray this society with more skill than Dickens, Dickens’s early contribution to this social discussion is of great importance.

Because of so much prior knowledge not only of this books content, but of its position in social discussion and because of its obviously manipulative language, I found Oliver Twist a not wholly successful novel. Oliver seems to almost vanish from his own tale in the second half, following the botched robbery in which he is finally separated from Sikes and Fagin – something that the film versions have corrected, much to the narratives enjoyment I find.

Also, the 1948 film version was accused of being anti-Semitic, when Alec Guinness based his character on George Cruickshank’s illustrations, but the anti-Semitism seems more heightened in the novel. Fagin is rarely referred to by name, but by racial epithet only – he is always “the Jew”. I know that Dickens responded to this at the time and that the last instalments of his work he referred to Fagin more by name, and in a later novel had ‘friendly Jews’, but nevertheless it is something that sours ones reading of this classic tale.

I had expected to enjoy Oliver Twist, and it is true that there is much to enjoy here – the employment of dramatic cliff-hangers; the twisting, tense narrative; the wonderful characterisation – but ultimately I found the novel an unsatisfying one. Maybe because of my over familiarity with it, maybe because its faults seemed larger because I found I could focus on them because I knew the story too well, or maybe because I find for about a hundred pages in the middle the books seems to lose all momentum (I admit to almost putting it down and not finishing it at this point), and maybe because at the end of the day it is all too neat – the good get what they want and the bad die – that it bordered on cliché (but cliché only because Dickens created it).

I am excited by the idea of some of Dickens’s later novels, some of which I do not know at all other than by name, that I am willing to overlook this slight disappointment. Nicholas Nickleby is next, a book he had started while still finishing Oliver Twist, and it is one of those that I do not know much of. I can’t wait.(less)

· see review

Jan 29, 2012

Ollie rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: people interested in London's history

Recommended to Ollie by: bookclub

I heard a critic once compare Stephen King and Jackie Collins to Charles Dickens. This critic wondered which of today's current popular authors would survive the centuries and still be read in the future. I didn't understand the comparison at the time because in my mind Jackie and Stephen appeal to people who want a quick thrill without the danger of having to think too hard. I thought Dickens' novels were classic because there was more to them than their soap opera plot lines. But this was b...moreI heard a critic once compare Stephen King and Jackie Collins to Charles Dickens. This critic wondered which of today's current popular authors would survive the centuries and still be read in the future. I didn't understand the comparison at the time because in my mind Jackie and Stephen appeal to people who want a quick thrill without the danger of having to think too hard. I thought Dickens' novels were classic because there was more to them than their soap opera plot lines. But this was before I read my first Charles Dickens novel - this one.

The sentimentality in this novel is so sickly sweet that it's very hard for a modern reader to sympathise with Oliver or any of the other heroes. All the children in the story, including Oliver, are little men in thoughts, words and looks - even down to the original illustrations by George Cruikshank. This is more believable in the Artful Dodger and his gang because they live very adult lives as thieves on London's streets, but with Oliver it comes across as a pleading, whiny, goody goody personality that grates.

My boyfriend pointed out how all productions of Oliver Twist throughout the years have tried to invest some humanity into Fagin, some light. There's none of that in the original creation - he's a repellent villain with no redeeming features. But does that mean that Dickens was antisemitic? Some of the Christian characters are evil too (especially the ones entrusted with orphan children) but at least they are counterbalanced by the goodhearted ones that save Oliver. The Jews that work with Fagin though are just as evil as him, which is a problem in the novel I think.

Dickens used Oliver Twist to raise public awareness of exploited children in his time and even went on to defend the creation of asylums for prostitutes (thus the reason for Nancy's existence in the novel.) I've also heard that Dickens loved walking around London and it was through these walks that he conjured his stories. This comes through beautifully in the novel and is its saving grace - the city's riches and poverty are perfectly captured by his prose.(less)

· see review

Oct 07, 2011

Johanna is currently reading it · review of another edition

While in college, I took a Victorian/British literature class which I was unsuccessful in. I ended up withdrawing from the course because the reading required was WAY TOO extensive and I just could not keep up. However, as I always do, I did save all of the books that I purchased for this course, Oliver Twist being one of them.

I am not too far into the book, but I will say this-- thus far, it seems as though Oliver, the main character (protagonist), has had a very rough life. As a read...more

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About Charles Dickens

A prolific 19th Century author of short stories, plays, novellas, novels, fiction and non; during his lifetime Dickens became known the world over for his remarkable characters, his mastery of prose in the telling of their lives, and his depictions of the social classes, mores and values of his times. Some considered him the spokesman for the poor, for he definitely brought much awareness to thei...more

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