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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

Introduction and Notes by Dr Ella Westland, University of ExeterDickens had already achieved renown with The Pickwick Papers. With Oliver Twist his reputation was enhanced and strengthened. The novel contains many classic Dickensian themes - grinding poverty, desperation, fear, temptation and the eventual triumph of good in the face of great adversity. Oliver Twist features some of the author's most enduring characters, such as Oliver himself (Who dares to ask for more), the tyrannical Bumble, the diabolical Fagin, the menacing Bill Sykes, Nancy and 'the Artful Dodger'.

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