Still one of my favorite books. I loved rereading it. I read it the first time in Jr. High. The power of the words is even greater today. ( )

Written in 1837, during Dickens' astronomical rise to success, Oliver Twist is his third major work, second novel, and the negative counterpart to its exact contemporary, The Pickwick Papers. One could argue it's still the work that has had the greatest impact on the public psyche: Dodger, Fagin, Nancy, and Bill loom large in the collective cultural consciousness, don't they? Who can forget Oliver asking for more, or the climactic tightrope walk? In truth, this is not a brilliant work. Only Fagin has any sparks of internal life, and he's an unfortunate anti-Semitic caricature common to the era. Oliver Twist, carrying the torch from some of Dickens' sentimental Sketches is a rather lifeless little twig. What works in the story is the vividness of "low" culture, and Dickens' already fierce moral stance on the inhumanity of much of 19th century English culture. Certainly a worthwhile read, but possibly the least of Dickens' "Big Fifteen". The relatively straightforward Twist will give way to the diffuse, picaresque Nicholas Nickleby, and then the real Dickens will be formed. ( )

I read this many many years ago and, somewhat surprisingly, I found it to be better than I remembered on re-reading. The circuitous plot is vintage Dickens and the characters are nicely drawn. There is the matter of the casual anti-Semitism relating to Fagin, but unfortunately that is fairly common in these older works. Also, although Bumble's courtship of his future wife is a brilliant piece of comedic writing and Mr. Grimwig's character ("I'll eat my head, sir!) adds a bit of comic relief, I feel as though the novel could have used a few more comic interludes to balance the crassness and cruelty of the workhouse and later the gang of thieves. The episode of Sikes on the run toward the end of the novel is excellent. For someone who the reader might have thought to be without a conscience, Sikes proves otherwise as he is haunted by his worst deed. His actions become manic and panicked and the atmosphere around him reflects that. Oliver is probably the least well-written major character in the book and is often wrapped in sentimentality, but he's a good hearted boy so I can deal with a bit of over-sentimentalizing.

What Dickens does best is to excoriate the institutions of his time that chewed up people and spit them out (or often literally killed them), turning someone like Nancy into the antithesis of someone like Rose Maylie although both had huge caring hearts. Dicken's literary efforts helped to open the public's eyes to the utter waste of human potential embodied by the "poor laws" of the time, helping to assure that positive change would come ... eventually. ( )

Classic Dickens. A must read for anyone interested in the classics. ( )

I read a modern sequel to Oliver Twist, called Dodge & Twist and was bothered by the constant foul language. So, I decided to read the original, to see if there was as much cursing in it.

I was familiar with the story — who isn’t? But I had never read an unabridged version of this before. My father had Classics Illustrated Comics, and I have “read” many of the classics that way, but not many of the originals.

As usually happens when I read the original of one of these great classics, I am amazed at the skill of the author. These have rightly earned their place among the classics, and so-called sequels, written by modern authors, pale by comparison. ( )