by Charles Dickens, first published 1860-1861, Audio Book narrated by Frederick Davidson, 1993, Blackstone Audio, Inc. (checked out from the Collier County Library and downloaded to my Sansa Clip mp3 player)

I hadn’t read much of Charles Dickens other than A Tale of Two Cities back in ninth grade.  I didn’t much like my last experience as I didn’t have any knowledge of the circumstances (I didn’t even know that a French Revolution had occurred back then).  In addition, this was a chance to test my new mp3 player with a download from the local library.

The mp3 player worked fine.  I also had a painting project in the house (what’s new), so this gave me a great opportunity to listen.  In regard to the book, I think it was a much better experience listening because the narrator managed to capture a lot of the personalities with his voice.  Dickens has a good feel for certain types of individuals.  There are those who are just full of themselves, those who are humble, and those who are basically evil among others.  The story is basically about a young boy who grew up under poor circumstances who wants to become a gentleman.  He makes many choices, many of which cause him considerable misery.

Dickens has a great understanding of the brutality of growing up poor in 19th century England.  Also, in some of the passages, he demonstrates an appreciation for the fine line between consciousness and unconciousness as one drifts off to sleep.  These two aspects reminded me a great deal of A Christmas Carol.

The audiobook includes two endings, the first of which was one that was rewritten to make it much happier.  The second ending, which was actually the first one he wrote, is much more tragic.

My only criticism of the book is that Dickens seemed to lose his way a bit toward the end.  There are some passages that are drawn out much longer than necessary.  The book was originally written as a magazine series, so Dickens probably had a certain amount of space to fill for each episode.

Listening to this book was altogether a good experience.