Rating: 3 stars
Cover synopsis: Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. The book imediately caused a sensation and it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor.
The synopsis for this book sounded incredibly interesting. Unfortunately, the book was incredibly dull. I often felt that I was reading a history text book, or even a graduate student's thesis.
I also felt like the title and synopsis were misleading. This isn't a book about A Christmas Carol and how it revitalized the Christmas season. There is, I think, a chapter or two about that. But the rest of the book is a general biography of Dickens -- his writings, his business dealings, his debts... Which may be interesting, but it wasn't what I thought I signed on for.
I gave the book 3 stars because it is thorough, and I learned some things about both Dickens and Christmas that I had never known before. But I was so disappointed in this read, I probably should have given it 2 stars.
