Title: A Christmas Carol 2: The Return of Scrooge
Genre: Holiday/Humor
Author: Robert J. Elisberg
Publisher: Third Road Press
Pages: 156
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0615727573
ISBN-13: 978-0615727578
Author: Robert J. Elisberg
Publisher: Third Road Press
Pages: 156
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0615727573
ISBN-13: 978-0615727578
This book is also available as an e-book.
It’s five years to the day after dear old Ebenezer Scrooge has passed away and left his thriving firm to his former clerk, Bob Cratchit. However, Bob’s overly-generous benevolence with lending and charity-giving has driven the company into the ground, on the verge of bankruptcy. And so the ghost of Scrooge returns one Christmas Eve to teach Cratchit the true meaning of money, with the help of visitations of three spirits – not all of whom are happy t be there. (It is Christmas Eve, after all, and they have other plans.) Making the swirling journey through Christmases past, present, and yet-to-be all the more of a chaotic ride for Cratchit are the dozens of characters from other Dickens novels woven throughout the story, together for the first time. God bless them, most everyone.
And it’s all augmented with footnotes of letters between Mr. Dickens and his publisher, along with notes from Dickens’s own hand and scholarly research. At least that’s what the editor tells us, though we're a little skeptical of his honesty.
My take on this book:
"A Christmas Carol 2" is basically the story after the story so to speak. If you have ever wondered what happened to Cratchit and Ebenezer Scrooge after the happily ever after in "A Christmas Carol" then this book is for you. Mr. Elisberg opens this book five years after the death of Scrooge, and Cratchit has been running the business that was left to him, thing is his kind heart is basically running the company into the ground. So Ebenezer's ghost rises to the occasion to teach Cratchit the meaning of money!
"A Christmas Carol " is written in the same style of Dickens and even has many of the characters that Dickens made famous incorporated into the story. While the story had the feel of the original tale Mr. Elisberg's humor added a freshness to the story. Mr. Elisberg's writing is so convincing that I am actually still wondering if this was a lost work of Mr. Dickens? While I thought the addition of the footnotes peppered throughout enhanced the story by providing deeper insight into the Dickens characters that were used in the story, I felt like it stymied the flow of the story for me. I think they could have been grouped together at the end of the story. Overall a fun little read that had me laughing more than a few times, and left me thinking about the original story.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review.
Why not follow along on the Pump Up Your Book Tour to see what other reviewers are saying about "A Christmas Carol 2".
"A Christmas Carol " is written in the same style of Dickens and even has many of the characters that Dickens made famous incorporated into the story. While the story had the feel of the original tale Mr. Elisberg's humor added a freshness to the story. Mr. Elisberg's writing is so convincing that I am actually still wondering if this was a lost work of Mr. Dickens? While I thought the addition of the footnotes peppered throughout enhanced the story by providing deeper insight into the Dickens characters that were used in the story, I felt like it stymied the flow of the story for me. I think they could have been grouped together at the end of the story. Overall a fun little read that had me laughing more than a few times, and left me thinking about the original story.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review.
Why not follow along on the Pump Up Your Book Tour to see what other reviewers are saying about "A Christmas Carol 2".
Monday, October 7 – Book Review at Bibliotica
Tuesday, October 8 – Book Review at Miki’s Hope
Wednesday, October 9 – Book Review at Splashes of Joy
Thursday, October 10 – Book Review at Giving N Sharing
Friday, October 11 – Book Review at Shhh…Not While I’m Reading
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Monday, October 14 – Book Review at Authors and Readers Book Corner
Tuesday, October 15 – Book Review at I’d Rather Be at the Beach
Thursday, October 17 – Book Review at Queen of All She Reads
Friday, October 18 – Book Review at Deal Sharing Aunt
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Tuesday, October 22 – Book Review at Inside BJ’s Head
Wednesday, October 23 – Book Review at Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
Thursday, October 24 – Book Review at Reviews From the Heart
Friday, October 25 – Book Review at WV Stitcher
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Monday, October 28 – Book Review at Blooming With Books
Tuesday, October 29 – Book Review at 4 the Love of Books
Wednesday, October 30 – Book Review at The Book Connection
Thursday, October 31 – Book Review at Jersey Girl Book Reviews
ABOUT ROBERT J. ELISBERG
Robert J. Elisberg has been a commentator and contributor to such publications as the Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, C/NET and E! Online, and he served on the editorial board for the Writers Guild of America. He has contributed political writing to the anthology,Clued in on Politics, 3rd edition (CQ Press).
Among his other writing, Elisberg wrote the comic novella, A Christmas Carol 2: The Return of Scrooge,” which reached #2 on Amazon’s Hot List for Humor/Parody. His most recent novel is the swashbuckling adventure, The Wild Roses. He co-wrote a book on world travel. Currently, he writes a tech column for the Writers Guild of America, west. He also co-wrote the song, “Just One of the Girls” for the Showtime movie Wharf Rat, and wrote the book for the stage musicalRapunzel!.
Born in Chicago, he attended Northwestern University and received his MFA from UCLA, where he was twice awarded the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. Not long afterwards, Elisberg sold his screenplay, Harry Warren of the Mounties. He was on staff of the international animated series, Flute Master, and co-wrote three of the Skateboy films based on it. He also co-wrote the independent film, Yard Sale. Most recently, he wrote an adventure screenplay for Callahan Filmworks.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read "A Christmas Carol 2: The Return of Scrooge," and for your very nice reaction. For those interested in such things, I did consider using endnotes, but what I found is that when early drafts were given to readers, they felt lost by not knowing all the Dickens characters well-enough and appreciated having the footnotes right there on the page to see directly. (Also, since the footnotes tell a sub-plot -- the deteriorating relationship between Dickens and his publisher -- I felt they demanded being set within the text.)
ReplyDeleteThat said, readers should know that for the Kindle version, the footnotes do come at the end of each chapter. (ebooks don't handle footnotes well, hence them having to be endnotes.) So, for people who prefer not to have the footnotes within the text, that option is available.
For what it's worth, I myself am also still wondering if this is actually a lost work by Dickens...