e-Book Oliver Twist (Great Illustrated Classics) download

I thought I'd never buy anything from Focus on the Family, but the production is really good. Fans of British sitcoms will recognize actor Geoffrey Palmer as Mr. Brownlow. He played Lionel Hardcastle in As Time Goes By (1992-2002) with Judi Dench. Of course, all the voice actors do an outstanding job communicating the intrigue, sarcasm, moral conflicts, and social inequalities of the novel.

However, the production does reflect an additional, curious irony: lots of violence, but no cussing. In the book, Oliver suffers physical and psychological abuse as an orphan, a child laborer, and a child criminal. The audio presentation is unsparing in its depiction of this sadistic underworld of Industrial England, but don't expect the novel's occasional profanity.

Most of the time, the intensity of the criminal characters, such as Fagin, Monks, and Bill Sikes, covers the fact that all the actors are minding their verbal manners, but it does seem odd that Mr. Bumble isn't allowed to famously protest "...the law is a ass --a idiot," (sic). Instead, Focus on the Family uses the lesser known novel quote "...the law is a bachelor..."

At any rate, the five CDs include an interpretive foreword and afterword, which serve as bookends of the Radio Theatre production. There's also a DVD of a behind-the-scenes look, as well as a documentary about the "modern day Olivers" of the foster care system. The set makes a great gift --for yourself, as well as someone else.

It is a well constructed tale literally wise. It gives insight in the common speech and language of the English People in Dicken's time. It brings to remembrance words I have not heard for several years. I started reading Dickens after reading an article about his works being dropped from College Courses as they were too complicated for modern readers. I did not find them complicated but very refreshing reading and much above a lot of the garbage of modern writers.

Kindle edition
Is written like this with lots of words on one line then
two words
on next line then on and on and on making it difficult to read
I would
Not buy this again and I wish I could get my money back.

Poor Oliver Twist has quite a tough life in the beginning. He is an orphan who is brought up in one bad home after another with pretty much no love at all. Like Harry Potter and many other sympathetic characters, Oliver's youth is not one to be envied. The tale primarily deals with his early life for the first half until he is drawn in with a band of criminals and makes a few friends and meets a few good people along the way until befalling a near tragedy. The second half of the book is more about the other characters involved in his saga.

Oliver Twist starts off very down and gloomy in many parts and while that scenery doesn't change, the tone definitely does toward the end. It is worth reading for sure and another tome in the classics of Charles Dickens. This version contains some illustrations as well which were very well done and appropriate.

I've always loved the story of Oliver Twist-now I finally have an illustrated copy I'm even happier. This book is an unabridged copy and is searchable-a great feature. The cover has a picture of Oliver, all ragged with his little bundle. The table of contents takes you to Charles Dickens' preface, which is well worth reading, and to any chapter in the book. Alas, it does not take you to any of the illustrations, but they are beautifully rendered and very clear. I have the most basic Kindle and I have no trouble seeing all of the detail in the illustrations. The chapter headings list not only the number of the chapter, but the brief description Dickens wrote for each chapter, so that if you want to find a particular spot-say, when Oliver runs away to London, you can see that Chapter VIII has the summary "Oliver walks to London. He encounters on the road a strange sort of young gentleman." This makes it very easy to go to any part of the book you want to read.

Warning: SPOILERS!!!!

The story is one of a poor orphan boy, sold to an undertaker and abused until he runs away to London. He falls in with thieves and through a strange twist of fate is rescued by the man who was his father's best friend. It's a long story, filled with reversals of fortune and amazing coincidences, and although it has a happy ending, there is some genuine tragedy. It's a very sad scene when Oliver returns to the orphanage to get his best friend, Dick, who saw him off on his journey to London, only to find that Dick has died of untreated sickness. The prostitute, Nancy, has all the attributes of a character in a Greek tragedy-you desperately want her to leave the streets and her brutal boyfriend, Bill Sikes, and when she refuses to go, you have a sinking feeling that she isn't going to last much longer. When he beats her to death in their little room, it's a gruesome scene, but not a surprising one. The only relief from Fagin's gang comes from Charley, who reforms and leaves London to become a grazier.

A word about Fagin-some might find the constant description of him as "the Jew" offensive. It is not meant as a pejorative, but rather as a handy label to define the arch-criminal. While it is true that Fagin is constantly described as a Jew and is one of the most repulsive Jewish characters in literature, it was not Dickens' intent to cast slurs upon Jewish people. He wrote in good faith and was troubled later, after becoming friends with Eliza Davis, the wife of the Jewish banker he sold his London house to, by the way he had portrayed Fagin. Eliza wrote to him in 1863 that she considered the way Dickens had portrayed Fagin a great wrong to the Jewish people. Dickens started to revise Oliver Twist, removing over 180 instances of the word "Jew" from the first edition text. He also ommitted sterotypical caricature from his public readings of Oliver Twist and a contemporary report noted, "There is no nasal intonation; a bent back but no shoulder-shrug: the conventional attributes are omitted." Dickens was finally able to write to Eliza, "There is nothing but good will left between me and a People for whom I have a real regard and to whom I would not willfully have given an offence." Fagin might still give offense to those looking for it, but personally I have always seen him as an example of a bad man, not a Jewish man, and I believe that is how Dickens meant to portray him.

I enjoyed the story very much, never having read it as a younger reader. I found the language very difficult with much use of old English slang. I read it because I had just seen "Oliver," and didn't care for the production. The book is so much richer with some lovely characters to counteract the bad ones. In "Oliver" Fagan is made out to be a protector of the young pick-pockets. He is actually quite despicable. I can see how influential Dickens was in making social changes in England.