Book Review #696 - Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

The classic story of a young boy who seeks his fortune on the streets of London.

After Oliver Twist asks nasty Mr Bumble for more food, he has to flee the workhouse for the streets of London. Here he meets the Artful Dodger, who leads him to Fagin and his gang of pickpockets. When a thieving mission goes wrong, Oliver narrowly avoids prison and finds himself in the care of kind Mr Brownlow. But Fagin and the brutal Bill Sikes go in search of the young orphan, determined to drag him back . . .

My Rating: 5/5

I have been trying to read a book a month from the 1001 books list for sometime now but have avoided the real 'classics' simply because they intimidate me and I don't have a good record of finishing them.

Oliver Twist was my first Charles Dickens novel I ended up reading it in less than a day which is by far the fastest I have read any book so far from the 1001 books list.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Dickens' writing style. I found he had a rather indirect way of describing things which caused me to have to reread sentences here and there.

Considering that this story was published in increments over the course of 2 years shows how much planning would have gone into creating the story as multiple stories seamlessly weave together in the second half of the book.

Dickens has a way with characters names that make them wholly unique. A favourite of mine was Charley Bates who was referred to throughout as 'master bates'.

Oliver, the character the book surrounds was an interesting and likable character. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as he suffered throughout.

The book has 3 antagonists worth mentioning. The first is the one most people remember which is Fagin, who controversially is referred to as 'the jew' throughout. Fagin was basically just a typical, evil villain who wants to drag Oliver down with him.

The second antagonist was Bill Sykes. This guy kind of sneaks under the radar as at first he just seems like one of Fagin's minions but his actions at the end were purely shocking and unexpected.

The third antagonist was Monks who is introduced about half way through the story. He makes it clear he has a motive for interfering with Oliver's life and happiness and this motive becomes the main plot twist.

Also worth mentioning to a lesser degree is Mr Bumble, the local beedle which from what I gathered is the Victorian era equivalent of a policeman. This guy completely takes advantage of the power he has in his position and takes high amounts of pleasure in doing so. When Mr Bumble was mentioned in the epilogue I couldn't help but fist pump.

Victorian London in this book is such a terrifying place. The poverty and squalor was described in such vivid detail.

The character of Nancy was probably my favourite. She was so complex and enigmatic. She was caught between her loyalty to Fagin who she has worked for pretty much her entire life and her need to protect Oliver from going down the same miserable path she did.

After reading and absolutely loving this book I am excited to read more Dickens. I think my next read will be A Tale of Two Cities as the only other Dickens novels that I currently own seem very similar to Oliver Twist (Great Expectations and David Copperfield).