Whether or not we like this choice as a character beat, portraying morality with these rules undercuts the original story. William Bennett and a great selection of similar New, Used and Collectible Books available now at great prices.

The worst part is, Marley is told that he can enter Heaven because of a deathbed repentance, but instead he chooses to suffer for a chance to help Scrooge. It even misses some things that make it into many film adaptations.īecause here is where this one goes completely off the rails - it adds in a bunch of explicit and complex rules around the ghosts and penance and forgiveness. And it doesn't even use its extra (downright excessive) length to explore the parts of the original that are often glossed over or rushed through. Instead the book proceeds to recap all of A Christmas Carol except with additional unnecessary commentary. Marley warns Scrooge of the fate he will suffer if he doesnt. So far, so good.Īnd if it had ended, as the other book did, with Marley's death, I could give it a cautious recommendation: not a great book or anything brilliant, but a nice little piece of derivative (i.e., fan) fiction. Scrooge goes home where he is visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Jacob Marley. This Scrooge and Marley choose to act greedily within the letter of the law (unlike the mess in the other book), showing that the law is not enough when you don't care about anything but wealth and your own advancement - capitalism without human kindness leads only to exploitation, loneliness, and misery. It occasionally flirts with stylish prose without trying too hard.

It creates a plausible backstory for Marley and his relationship with Scrooge that works with the original, while expanding aspects of it. The first half or so of this book was actually pretty good. After my first attempt at reading a Christmas-Carol-adjacent novel led me to a pile of trash masquerading as a book, I just hoped this one would be better. Add to Wish List Link to this Book Add to Bookbag Sell this Book Buy it at Amazon Compare Prices.

Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett