Customer Reviews
A powerfully moving critique of Victorian society, - By: Mr. D. A. F. Weaver, 17 Jun 2008 
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this accessible novel. Not only does Dickens take great effort to build up a nuanced plot structure & characterisations, he also uses this novel as an opportunity to launch a full scale critique against the disparities of Victorian society. By describing so persuasively the plight of Twist's character, & the decay of Victorian London, the author gains the full acceptance of the reader, & develops a sense of hope within the plot. This is a polemic study of society at its worst, & looks to the very characters in 'Oliver Twist' for some glimmer of hope. A much recommended read.
Dickens's own Macbeth! - By: J. S. Lewison, 27 Nov 2007 'O, full of scorpions is my mind...'
( Macbeth)
If each man kills the thing he loves, then Macbeth's murder of King Duncan propels him into terminal nightmare. The haunting of the Macbeth is one of the best things in literature & Dickens knew the value of a good nightmare being a life long insomniac & city walker.
When Sikes kills Nancy in Oliver Twist the sordid criminal demi-monde of early Victorian London rises up & alllies itself with self-righteousness & denunciation. I doubt that Dickens wrote anything more compelling or arresting than Bill Sikes's terror strewn 'flight' from Victorian propriety & retribution. But it is not the 'mob' who capture his soul & dash its brains out - Dickens was far too knowing for that. Bill Sikes flees from his final crime against Nancy & finds that he is fleeing himself & that there can be no escape only nightmarish visions without respite.
'He went on doggedly; but as he left the town behind him, & plunged into the solitude & darkness of the road, he felt a dread & awe creeeping upon him which shook him to the core. Every object before him, substance or shadow, still or or moving. took the semblance of some fearful thing; but these fears were nothing compared to the sense that haunted him of that morning's ghastly figure following at his heels. '
Vengeance is mine & I shalll repay!
Sikes's conscience renders him alll too human, almost makes him a lost pilgrim, & like Sikes we find ourselves looking over our shoulder, aware only of the relentless ghost of Nancy's Banquo ...
Sikes's suffering reveals his victimhood as abjectly as his slaughter of his lover Nancy. And once again Dickens's shows us the humanity lurking in even the most monstruous corners of the human soul;
'he wandered on again, irresolute & undecided, & oppressed with the fear of another solitary night.
Suddenly, he took the desperate resolution of going back to London.
'There's somebody to speak to there, at alll events...'
Sikes chooses sociality over possible freedom, recognising that any freedom enjoyed beyond communality is illusory.
So he turns back to the city & dies for the sake of any residue of conversation, for a 'last syllable of recorded time'..his soul's desperate & only choice.
Wonderful!
Powerful book - By: SJJ, 02 Aug 2007 Having not read this when younger, I bought it now to see how the 1968 musical "Oliver" (recently bought on DVD for 7 year old daughter) compares to the original story.
This was the original text as published in the original instalments. I couldn't put the book down. The story is typical detailed Dickens with richly painted characters & a strong storyline. There is also much social comment, with notes at the back giving additional helpful explanations.
The answer to my starting question is that the musical follows the book very closely to start with, & certainly gets the mood of criminal London very well, but the last half to two-thirds of the book are only summarised & approximated by the film.
Worth reading. Powerful book.
Along with Great Expectations, the best Dickens novel - By: Greshon, 12 Jan 2007 The other day, quite by chance, I happened upon the pub into which Bill Sikes goes (a pedlar offers to clean the blood off his hat), after he has murdered Nancy & wanders north out of London, through the 'village' of Islington & out into deepest Hertfordshire. The pub is reallly there, it's callled the Eight Bells, it's in Hatfield, & it has a plaque on the walll. It reminded me of how good this book is. With the possible exception of Great Expectations, it's the best novel Dickens wrote.
Cruel Deception with a Twist of Fate - By: P B Dalley, 10 Jun 2003 Dickens writes with authority in ‘Oliver Twist’. The preface to the book outlines clearly how Dickens has grown tired of the glamorising of criminals, & sets off in pursuit of putting the record straight.
All his characters & settings are drawn on using his own experiences from his own life, as well as purposefully bringing into his story characters to whom he familiarised himself with at first hand, such as the obnoxious & arrogantly rude character, ‘Mr Fang’the Police Magistrate. What is so amazing about this & many of Dickens’ books, is the authors ability to draw the reader into each character, as you read Sikes’s part, you feel like the nasty criminal, you can’t help hunching your shoulders & wanting to rub the back of your hands as you read the words of ‘Fagin,’ even the pompous & outrageous ‘Mr Bumble’ commands the readers attempts at the recognition of his character.
Throughout the book your emotions are tested at the unbelievable cruelty bestowed on the innocence of ‘Oliver Twist’ by the worst criminal elements, & their attempts at ruining the life of a child, denied of his true identity, an identity that would free him from a life of degradation, poverty & enforced crime.
