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  • For me, this is where Dickens hits his all-time low point. I really hated this book. It displays very little of his characteristically superb irony and exquisite writing. The most that can be said for it is that it's easily accessible, but his shameful treatment of the Fagin character and the anti- ... Continue

    For me, this is where Dickens hits his all-time low point. I really hated this book. It displays very little of his characteristically superb irony and exquisite writing. The most that can be said for it is that it's easily accessible, but his shameful treatment of the Fagin character and the anti-semitism embodied therein is severely off-putting. (though Dickens atoned for this later by his fine speech given to the character of the Jewish gentleman in "Our Mutual Friend). Nevertheless, the character of Oliver himself is far from lovable - he's saccharine to point of cloying.

    Although OT is a standard of many middle-school English class curricula, it doesn't really display Dickens at his full power. (For a story about a sad-sack orphan you can actually like, try David Copperfield.)

    

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• ― guaddess said on May 30, 2007 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

Paul Scofield, one of Britain's most distinguished actors reads Oliver Twist. He won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons, a role he originated on stage.

Dickens' Twist, a pauper's child reared in a workhouse serves an apprenticeship in a loveless home. He runs away and is befriended by a gang of young pickpockets who offer him the only welcome he's ever known. Oliver Twist is one of Dickens' greatest achievements, a vivid depiction of London's outlaw society with an array of memorable characters.

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