[fantasyfan]

I thought it was the Victorian equivalent of a soap opera. Dickens pulls out a whole series of clichéd plot elements such as the long-lost brother (and lover), moralistic fantasy, and two varieties of the Autumn/May romance with a touch of "After the Ball is Over". The characters are typical of what one finds in a Dickens work, and many of them create a sense of Déjà vu. The blind girl is one of Dickens's "sweet" women. She just doesn't work for me. I find Dot and John reasonable enough though it seems odd that Dot would wait so long to share vital information with a dearly loved husband--a fact which makes their reactions plot-forced.

Dickens cheats a bit early on by implying that Dot is involved in some illicit affair which sets up the reader for her meeting with Edward. Of course, the reader would have to be gullible to be fooled.

In no way does this match A Christmas Carol and it isn't really a Christmas story at all. Nonetheless, even minor Dickens is worth reading and there are some nice turns of phrase; I like the play on "founding" and "fondling" which reminds us of his social conscience. And, of course, he neatly ties everything up at the end.