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    Oliver Twist
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    Oliver Twist
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    Oliver Twist
    Ebook623 pages11 hours

    Oliver Twist

    By Charles Dickens

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    The classic Dickensian tale of a little boy who wanted more, beautifully repackaged for a new generation by Simon & Schuster Classics.

    Oliver Twist is orphaned and on the streets of London. Alone and vulnerable, he forms a new kind of family with a group of pickpockets, led by the enigmatic Fagin.

    At first Oliver's new family provides a sense of hope, but it is not long before the true colours of London's underclass reveals itself: prostitution, scheming, desperation and greed surround Oliver, making his prospects of happiness seem bleak. But this young boy, who never seems to stop running, is nothing like those he runs from.

    Oliver Twistis a mesmerising story of childhood and, ultimately, of success against the odds.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster UK
    Release dateAug 28, 2014
    ISBN9781471137181
    Author

    Charles Dickens

    Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was one of England's greatest writers. Best known for his classic serialized novels, such as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations, Dickens wrote about the London he lived in, the conditions of the poor, and the growing tensions between the classes. He achieved critical and popular international success in his lifetime and was honored with burial in Westminster Abbey.

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    Reviews for Oliver Twist

    4/5

    130 ratings93 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Great classic.
    • 5/5
      Writing: 5.0; Theme: 5.0; Content: 4.5; Language: 4.5; Overall: 5.0; This was a wonderful volume that shares the rough, yet heart-warming story of Oliver Twist. Oliver travels through life battling the evils of this world while growing up in the poor conditions of a street youth. This story resembles the process that many Christians go through. As Christians, like Oliver, we are persecuted in this life, but in the end those who were the persecuted will one day receive glorious rewards if they live their lives pleasing to Christ. Great tome! Highly recommend. ***March 5, 2019*** (read with Jonathan)
    • 3/5
      The overall ideas of Oliver Twist are intriguing, but the antisemitism and sometimes overlong style made it a slog to get through at some points. Also, most of these people are either terrible or not focused on enough.
    • 2/5
      Oliver Twist wird im Armenhaus als Waise geboren und flieht letztlich vor Ungerechtigkeit und Misshandlung nach London, wo er in die Fänge einer Bande Krimineller gerät, die ihn zu instrumentalisieren versuchen. Schließlich erhält er durch eine glückliche Fügung bei wohlhabenden Bürgern Zuflucht...Ich muss sagen, dass mich das Buch nur bedingt gefesselt hat, zu vorhersehbar ist die Handlung, zu stereotyp die Charaktere. Die übertriebene Schwarz-Weiß-Malerei stört meines Erachtens das Lesevergnügen: Die Bösen sind abgrundtief böse, die Guten derart übertrieben edel, hilfsbereit und gütig und Oliver Twist stets unter Aufopferung ihrer selbst wohlgesonnen, dass die an und für sich großartige, wenn auch sehr konstruierte, an unglaublichen Zufällen reiche, Geschichte sehr unrealisitsch wirkt. Im Roman fehlen die "normalen" Personen, sohin glaubwürdie Charaktere... Übrig bleibt letztlich Dickens' Kritik am Pauperismus des 19. Jahrhunderts und der frühen Industrialisierung, die aber letztlich ebenfalls weniger bewegt, als die Schilderungen anderer Autoren des litarischen Sozialrealismus.
    • 4/5
      This book is about a hard-working orphan in New England named Oliver Twist. In the story, he travels from workhouse to workhouse, and finally he escapes to London. Later, he kidnapped by a group of bad guys who try to steal handkerchiefs from rich people. One day, Oliver goes with the bad guys, and finds out that they are trying to steal things. Then, Oliver ends up with a man who is very nice to him and takes care of him. But later on, they spilt up again and find each other and capture the bad guys.I like this book because it is about an orphan who takes a risk to explore the world beyond him to seek for a place to belong with.
    • 4/5
      I was a late convert to Charles Dickens. Having recently read and greatly enjoyed Dickens’s Great Expectations, David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities, I elected to purchase several other of his works. Oliver Twist was the first of these novels that I read, and sadly found to be not up to the standards of the three works cited above.Many have seen the musical Oliver and other are certainly familiar with the story and many of the characters (Fagin, Bill Sykes and the Artful Dodger). Oliver became an orphan soon after birth and found himself in the tragic, hopeless life that met such destitute characters in Victorian England. After finally escaping from an abusive apprenticeship, he finds himself bounced back and forth between the mean streets of London (under the control of Fagin and Sykes) and the tender mercies of upper class patrons who take pity upon his condition (both physical and financial).Having read several Dickens works prior to this one, I was aware that a period of acclimation is required before becoming comfortable with both the language and the cultural landscape, however the comfort that I eventually attained in the previous novels was more difficult to come by here. Deep into the book I found myself having a problem following some of the prose. Most frustrating, at the key point in the narrative where “all is explained”, I was at great pains to understand much of what was being related. In addition, the book is very predictable and strains credibility in several instances. Quite simply, this is by far the weakest of the Dickens books I have sampled to date.
    • 4/5
      Six-word review: Deservedly classic tale of orphan's survival.Extended review:Despite its verbosity, sentimentality, and exaggerated characterizations, how can you not love this book? Like a dog at your feet, it's there to be loved. What else are you going to do with it?It also turns out to be much more satirical than I ever realized. Social commentary, yes, expected; but satire? I didn't know. For example:Mr. Bumble...had a decided propensity for bullying: derived no inconsiderable pleasure from the exercise of petty cruelty; and, consequently, was (it is needless to say) a coward. This is by no means a disparagement to his character; for many official personages, who are held in high respect and admiration, are the victims of similar infirmities. The remark is made, indeed, rather in his favour than otherwise, and with a view of impressing the reader with a just sense of his qualifications for office.Dickens misses no opportunity to underscore the social ills of his time and place and to distribute ample helpings of blame freely up and down the social scale. He also holds us captive with a story that keeps us reading and soaking up his message.So here they all are, the characters we know so well in so many incarnations, embedded as they are in the cultures of the English-speaking world and probably well beyond: the ever-so-good good guys: tender, mistreated Oliver; kindly, open-hearted Mr. Brownlow; sweet, sweet Rose, so impossibly angelic that it's a wonder she doesn't suffocate of her own virtue; and poor brave, doomed Nancy, without whom nothing could have turned out right; and the bad guys, not one of whom is without at least some small spark of sympathetic humanity to argue for redemption: sadistic Mr. Bumble; cocky Artful Dodger; unregenerate, duplicitous Fagin; mysterious, menacing Monks; and cruel, brutal Bill Sikes, a monster who comes to a fitting end that yet inspires horror.Of the rambling story with its odd, protracted word-count-stretching digressions and amazing coincidences I have no comment to add to the immense body of commentary on the literature of Dickens: but to say that the story is brightest in single scenes and episodes, with the long arc serving mainly to string those together. It's in those vignettes that the brilliance of Dickens' characterization is displayed, and that, indeed, is why we fall in love.
    • 5/5
      I am hard pressed to think of what you find in later Dickens that you don't find in this, his first complete novel. That is not to say a lot isn't much better (the imagery of London, the complexity of the characters, and the even more sprawling multiple plots come to mind) -- and that some of the worst of this novel (of which the absurd and unnecessary coincidence of Rose Maylie being related to Oliver is just about the worst). But Dickens already had the combination of comic, tragic, melodramatic, moralizing, satirical, and several other ingredients that he successfully mined in different proportions in all his future books. Although none of them top the stark brutality of Oliver Twist, and especially Fagin and Sikes.
    • 5/5
      I heard it said somewhere once that a first novel is always the author's most personal. Not so with Dickens, who had to let his thoughts churn over the concept behind "Oliver Twist" while experimenting with the earlier "Sketches by Boz" and "Pickwick Papers." It can definitely be said, though, that "Oliver Twist" is the first novel that Dickens gets right. Instead of feeling like you're reading chapters in isolation that stretch the story for the sake of getting paid for additional instalments, everything fits together beautifully. The plot is by turns tragic, comical, philosophical, romantic, and suspenseful. Dickens manages to follow different characters on their own particular arcs rather than just presenting everything through Oliver's point of view, but there are very few sections that feel like they are dragging the reader away from the main story. The message reflects the developing sensibilities of the new Victorian era while addressing concerns about poverty, morality, and charity that remain relevant to this day. In spite of its time period, however, it shows progressive tendencies, most notably in the excellent characterisation of Nancy, a vast improvement over all the simpering and fainting women of "Pickwick Papers." And while the story is very likely familiar from a number of different adaptations, I found that the author was still able to pull me out of the cynicism of saying "yes, I know what's going to happen" and to surprise me, both in terms of plot details and style. This is a book that stands in conversation with the author's later works and with the other great works of literature that take on the moral questions of their time. It has, as Calvino said, never finished saying what it has to say.
    • 4/5
      There were certain points in the story where I found it hard to follow what was going on. I found the ending especially confusing. But other than that, I enjoyed the story. I plan on watching a couple movie renditions to see if I can better understand what was going on.
    • 3/5
      Language was awesome. The story was not connected enough and the point that the author intended to place, that morality in not class dependent was not fulfilled.
    • 1/5
      First of all, Oliver Twist is a hateful book. Dickens has created in Fagin an embodiment of bigotry; a leering, black-nailed, money-grubbing Jew who's nearly always referred to as The Jew, as though Dickens wasn't sure we'd get it.* Fagin is the most memorable character in Oliver Twist, and he's inexcusable. I've read me some Victorian novels; I'm familiar with the casual anti-Semitism that's nearly unavoidable in them; I understand the context of the time. Dickens is well beyond that context. For his time, he was a hater. This is a hate crime of a book.

      * To clarify my context: I'm an atheist, so I think all religions are equally imaginary, and I think prejudice against any religion is equally distasteful.

      Second, Oliver Twist is a shitty book. His second, following the comedic Pickwick Papers, it shows Dickens reaching for new territory: exposing the hopelessness and injustice of destitute life in London. But it's maudlin, obvious, predictable, lame. Oliver is such a simpering bitch that it's impossible to give a shit about him. Bad people want to use him; good people want to pamper him; readers are bored. Dickens will write great books, but not yet.

      To be fair, not that I want to be, in the last chapters of Oliver Twist, he's figured it out. Nancy and Sikes suddenly take over the book, although I doubt Dickens knew they would, in a denouement of terrific power; and Fagin's last scene is equally powerful. But it's way too little, way too late.

      It's Banned Book Week as I write this, and I don't think Oliver Twist should be banned. I think people need to know that the most loved British writer since Shakespeare wrote this. I wouldn't assign it in a class, because it sucks, but I would make sure my students understand that Dickens is responsible for it.

      It's a shitty little book. It makes me think less of Dickens. I wish he'd known better.
    • 4/5
      Like an awful lot of people I have seen the film version of this story numerous times and even the stage version once as well but had never got around to actually reading the original. To mark Dicken's 200 birthday I felt that it was time to put things right just to see how much of the story had been altered.Dicken's was obviously a great wordsmith and this could be seen in his depiction of the conditions in the workhouse which were so vivid it was frightening but in truth I found this portion a little dull and just wanted to race through this part to get to when Oliver goes to London and meets Fagin and the gang. For it is there that the story really begins for me. Can a sweet natured boy who has had a very rough upbringing, where he was shown little affection and no little brutality, remain honest and upstanding or would he turn out a wrong 'un like the rest of them. A question of nurture or nature.The book holds some great characters who are given such a three dimensional feel by the great writing ( anyone who can get away with a character called Master Bates must be good). I did feel a little uncomfortable with Fagin constantly refered to as the Jew, although I realise that it is hard to expect the same standards of today 150+ years ago.On the whole I really enjoyed the book although it could be argued that this was not one of Dicken's best and am glad that I finally got around to reading it. Some parts I found a little slow but once it really got going I felt that the story raced along nicely. If I could have given it 4.5 stars I would have but finally came down on the side of a 4 but in the end as far as Dicken's himself is involved 'Can I have some more?'
    • 4/5
      It’s a story that make everyone think about Oliver, like a brave man. He escaped from the workhouse, have a rich family that he never knew, a brother try to harm him, his mother die in workhouse, he never ‘ ew he had a family, a father or even a brother. He been with the thief, but he was benn help by a kind young and old lady at the house where he try to steal things. The thief never forgive him, they try to catch him back, they think he one of them for ever. But he met nice people who willing to help him out those thief.This is amazing story, poor Oliver
    • 3/5
      Overheersend: humoristische en vooral sarcastische stijl. Sterke zwartwit-tekening van de karakters. Oliver is uiteraard de held, maar eerder schaapachtig; alleen in het begin aanzet tot eigen karakter, daarna drijft hij mee en evolueert zijn karakter niet (is grote zwakte van de roman)Uiteraard is er een sociale achtergrond: de achterbuurten van Londen, de schandalige Poor’s Law, de hypocrisie van de kerkelijken. Lichtelijk melodramatisch, vooral op het einde nogal melig.
    • 3/5
      Agree that it's not Dicken's best. Social criticism and sarcasm but it feels a bit too sloppy and naïf. Plus you get bored about the whole oh so poor little child saga, even if put against the industrial revolution's harsh realities.
    • 4/5
      This was the first book I read over the summer and I enjoyed reading this book. This book was more than a tale; it addressed and criticized the social injustice during the 19th century. This book portrayed how injustice our society was by introducing the character Oliver Twist. He was one of the victims of society as he faced social injustice just because he was an orphan and he was poor. He was often looked down by rich people and he was mistreated by his looks and backgrounds.
    • 5/5
      The master has done it for me once again. I can't imagine an English reader in the 19th century not feeling downright shameful and disgusted at the existing social conditions, upon finishing this read. The events evoke such a feeling of horror and injustice that at times you can't help but feel like the impetuous Doctor Losberne, who left unchecked would be dealing out vigilante justice in spades.If I could wring the Bumbles' necks from my couch, I think I just might. Little Dick's innocent plea to leave a message for Oliver before his death is so powerful and moving, I was fighting off tears. As monstrous as Fagin and Sikes are made out to be throughout, their final demise tears at you, and almost has you begging for mercy...almost. Masterfully done!
    • 3/5
      It's hard not to like Dickens. He creates these eccentric supporting characters that are quirky, bizarre and totally lovable. But unlike so many of his masterpieces, Oliver Twist lacks a complex hero or main character. The book begins with Oliver's birth in a poor work house. His mother dies in child birth and his father is unknown. Oliver grows up under horrible conditions forced to work and is poorly fed - and yes, that famous line that we all remember from the Broadway musical and movie, 'Please, sir, I want some more' is a line from the book! After some failed apprenticeships, Oliver escapes to London and is taken in by a group of children pick pockets, trained by Fagin. As the book progresses, Oliver gains many allies among both his band of thieves as well as some wealthy families, who coincidentally are related to Oliver's unfortunate mother. What I found lacking in this Dickens' novel is that Oliver, although a sweet and innocent child, doesn't really grow and develop the heroic personality of some of Dickens other main characters - David Copperfield, Pip from Great Expectations, or my favorite, Esther from Bleak House. Definitely Oliver Twist is still a book worth reading, but I didn't find it as strong as some of his other works.

      I listened to the audio version performed by John Lee who has a deep soothing British voice. His skill at accents from the cockney dregs of London to the upper class was very well done.
    • 5/5
      First time all of the way through, although I have done portions of the book before. As with other recent Dicken's reading, Colledge's God and Charles Dickens was very helpful in putting this into context.The most interesting thing about Oliver Twist is that it works so well without any great character development. The good are good, the bad are bad, and there are very few who do not fall into one of these two categories. The good get rewarded, the bad (finally) get what they deserve. It very much is a morality tale - using the definition of a morality tale as one that exhibits the conflict between good and evil while offering moral lessons. And it excels in this category.This e-book was originally released in serial format, to match how the book was originally released. That gave me a greater appreciation of how the book was originally experienced.
    • 5/5
      I received this book from the Junior Deluxe Editions Book Club at about age 7, but wasn't able or willing to read it till I was 10 or 11. It's a while since I've read it, and having seen Oliver! a couple of times since, it's always a little hard to recall that first reading. The scenes where Oliver is a professional mourner for a funeral home always stuck in my mind. I should read it again some day. I should note that I do have the fancy Franklin Library edition too, but the Junior Deluxe is one I can't bear to part with unless someday a grandchild will want it.
    • 1/5
      If this had been my first Dickens novel, I never would have read another. The protagonist, for the most part, is acted upon instead of acting. His great heroic moment takes place when he runs away from home and walks 70 miles to London (a moment he remembers in great excitement at the end of the book). But for the remainder of the story, he merely suffers, miserably and passively, as he is humiliated, degraded, hunted, starved, sickened, and beaten. As a reader it is too much to bear, because Oliver has no way to fight back. If he only had an internal monologue that kept him strong, mentally, that might have been enough to maintain my empathy; but when he is just a simple, blank slate of a suffering child, his misery does not make a satisfactory read. Even in the chapters of the happy ending, he sits passively as adults explain his (convoluted) history. Fair disclosure. I did not manage to finish the book. I got up to the point where Oliver has to relinquish his clean, new suit of clothes for the rags he had thought were gone forever; and I just couldn't bear his suffering anymore and had to stop. I read the rest of the plot on wikipedia; and then read the last few chapters, to decide whether the ending was brilliant enough to justify trudging through the novel. When I discovered, instead, that the ending was just long passages of exposition regarding missing members of Oliver's family, I felt satisfied with the decision not to continue. Normally, I don't post a review when I haven't finished the book; but this time I decided to go ahead just to encourage anyone who agrees with me about this book not to give up on Dickens altogether: I can recommend Hard Times and Great Expectations, and will give the remainder of the oeuvre a try.Side note: Perhaps if I had read this with my eyeballs, instead of by audiobook, I would have been able to finish it; since I could have read it very quickly. But by audiobook, you are forced to completely digest each sentence.
    • 2/5
      I am not a big fan of Dickens, and Oliver Twist did nothing to persuade me. After the first third, the story began winding here and there (it was a serial after all), and I just lost the plot, especially as more and more characters were introduced.
    • 4/5
      Not one of Dicken's stronger novels in my opinion. The ending is pat. However its a pleasant enough light read despite the poverty portrayed.
    • 4/5
      Moments in this made me cry.
    • 4/5
      I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable book...until the end. The deus ex machina wrecked it for me. Oliver may as well have turned out to be the long lost prince of England or something. It just seems very roughly thrown together in the end.
    • 4/5
      Surprisingly readable. Good satire, good humor, good story. Nice, though forced, surprises
    • 4/5
      I always loved Oliver Twist the most of the Dickens books I've read. He seemed to come to life in my head the most of all Dickens' characters.
    • 4/5
      Frankly, I thought Oliver Twist would be a bit of a chore, but instead I really looked forward to it each night (I chose to read most of the book following the original serialization breaks marked in my edition). The story is melodramatic and sentimental, and the coincidences in the plot are extremely far-fetched, but it’s a fun ride and an interesting exposure of social welfare and the criminal justice system of the time.

      It’s admittedly difficult to read Dickens’ characterization of Fagin (“the Jew”) today, but there were other “bad” characters who were exceptionally drawn, such as the Bumbles or Bill Sikes, and other characters I would have liked to see more of, such as Mr. Grimwig or Jack Dawkins (who disappears unceremoniously from the narrative at a certain point). The portrayal of the relationship between Nancy and Bill Sikes is particularly strong and sadly relevant even today.
    • 3/5
      A bit longer than it needed to be, but still has some interesting moments. Fagin is a hilariously offensive caricature, and most of the other characters are only the latter.