I know it’s a bit late to be talking about Charles Dickens’s classic Christmas ghost story, but since I listened to the audiobook on Christmas Eve, you’ll have to cut me some slack for taking my time getting around to writing and publishing the review, what with everything that’s been going on with the holidays. Besides, Christmas Eve is the perfect time to listen to this audiobook, especially if you happen to be using the time to make Christmas cookies.
To start at the beginning, I grew up watching “A Muppet Christmas Carol”. My family watched it every year, and I still watch it at least once a year because it’s tradition and because I love that movie.
I remember reading the original A Christmas Carol as a kid and not liking it at all. My initial Goodreads review had it at 2 stars. I remember it being very different from the Muppet version, and that turned me off.
This year I saw Audible was offering a version of A Christmas Carol narrated by Tim Curry and that was just too tempting to pass up, so I decided to give it another try.
Imagine my surprise when I realized that the Muppets actually adhered very closely to the original text for the entire story. So what was my problem with it on my original reading of the text?
There are a few small differences between the original and the Muppet version (not counting the fact that most of the characters are played by stuffed animals), but there’s one that I distinctly remember from my first reading of the book and that is the Ghost of Christmas Past. In the Muppet version, it’s a floating, glowing white ghost who looks kind of like a child and has the voice of a girl or young woman. After Scrooge’s ex-girlfriend breaks up with him, Scrooge says “leave me” and the ghost just kind of fades away, leaving Scrooge back in his bedroom.
In the book, it’s likewise a small, childlike, floating ghost, but with a candle on its head. After the ghost shows Scrooge his ex-girlfriend happily married with a bunch of adorable children, he becomes so enraged that he grabs a nightcap, shoves it over the candle on the ghost’s head and pulls it down until the ghost’s candle is smothered. That’s really the only part of the book I remembered from my first reading and I think it was so violent and unexpected that it turned me off the rest of the book.
Turns out, listening to this one as an adult is super enjoyable, especially in Tim Curry’s voice. I don’t have to tell you how talented he is, or that he is exceptionally good at creating the voice for Scrooge that Dickens describes in the text, or that he’s really good at doing distinct voices for each character. It was a delight to listen to him, and I’m glad the fact that the book is on Audible means I can listen to it every year if I want.