The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain by Dickens

Title: The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain


Author: Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870)
Originally published:  1848
Page count: 99 (Av. of several versions: 110)


Dates read: 10/31/19-11/10/19; 11/18/19-11/19/19
2019 book goal progress: 32 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: 
Classic Novella (under 250 pages)

Read my other Dickens at Christmas reviews HERE.

Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.


Description on back of book:
Mr. Redlaw often broods over wrongs done to him and grief from his past. A phantom twin of himself haunts Redlaw and offers to let him forget all the sorrows and wrongs in his life. Redlaw accepts the offer. Because he can no longer remember the grief in his life, he is overcome with anger and indifference that spreads to the families around him.

First sentence:
"Everybody said so."

Favorite quotes:
[Mr. Redlaw feels sorrow due to being wronged and wishes he could forget the bad memories.]
"Your wisdom has discovered that the memory of sorrow, wrong, and trouble is the lot of all mankind, and that mankind would be the happier, in its other memories, without it."

[The ghost grants Mr. Redlas's wish and he becomes grumpy and indifferent.]
"Where I felt interest, compassion, sympathy, I am turning into stone. Selfishness and ingratitude spring up in my blighting footsteps."

[Mr. Redlaw realizes he can't fully enjoy happiness without experiencing contrasting sorrow.]
"I have read in your face, as plain as if it was a book, that but for some trouble and sorrow we should never know half the good there is about us."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 8.1 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters      - 9
Atmosphere   - 7
Writing Style - 10
Plot                - 8
Intrigue          - 9
Logic             - 5
Enjoyment     - 9
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

This is a great book! It's actually during Christmas time and there is a personified ghost, usually referred to as the Phantom. The characters and story are described and told wonderfully. There's also a great moral about the importance of remembering one's sorrow, wrongs, and troubles. It's important for two reasons: one - because without sadness you cannot really enjoy happiness, and two - because it allows you to forgive and to mature as a human being. I did find the story a little confusing at times, but that might've been due to the week-long break in the middle of my reading it. Nonetheless, Dickens is really an incredible writer and I greatly look forward to reading more from him!

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Charles Dickens have the last words:

"In the material world, nothing can be spared; no step or atom in the wonderous structure could be lost, without a blank being made in the great universe. I know, now, that it is the same with good and evil, happiness and sorrow, in the memories of men."