Friday, January 1, 2016

A 19th Century Classic - The Chimes (1844) by Charles Dickens

When I found out that this story is a New Year’s Eve story not a true Christmas story I thought it would be just the one to  start my 2016 challenge. Of course I have read A Christmas Carol but did not know that it was the first of 5 Christmas stories that Dickens wrote in the 1840’s. The Chimes is the second written in 1844. The Chimes are bells in a church near where the main character Trotty Veck, a messenger, waits for the gentry to employ him to deliver messages. He gets his name from his gate, a fast trot. You can help but continually compare it back to A Christmas Carol. There is the theme of injustice of the rich to the poor of the time, the ghosts, and the flight over the town to see into homes. I think it is fine and worth the read but not as good as the first. I feel a bit like I cheated because it was a quick read, about 4 hours.


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