Rating: 4/5
A little boy was born in the workhouse. His mother died during his birth, and his father had died long before that. The parochial beadle, Mr Bumble, named him Oliver Twist.
Oliver grows up with many different people. First, he is sent to work where he was born, in the workhouse, where he famously asks for ‘more’. There he is mistreated and punished cruelly before being sold to anyone who would take him. He ends up with Mr Sowerberry the coffin-maker, where he is tormented by Sowerberry’s apprentice, Noah Claypole, from whom he eventually runs away. But his life does not improve when he ends up in the home for boys, run by the mean old widow called Mrs Corney.
Oliver runs away to London, ending up in the hands of a group of malicious thieves, into whose grasp he is led by the Artful Dodger. Fagin the Jew, the nasty leader of the little troupe, sends the unsuspecting Oliver out with the other boys to steal from rich Victorian gentlemen. But Oliver gets very lucky after he is first arrested, when he is taken in by the kindly Mr Brownlow and nursed back to health by the good housekeeper Mrs Bedwin, who is very much charmed by the little boy.
But cruel machinations are at work! Someone is determined to be Oliver’s undoing. Nancy, a kind-hearted young woman who has fallen into sin, is persuaded to snatch Oliver and take him back to Fagin. Here he is imprisoned in the den of thieves, because a mysterious man by the name of Monks pays Fagin to corrupt Oliver. Oliver’s first assignment is to go with the gruff and terrifying Sikes to rob the house of the wealthy Maylies.
Sikes escapes, leaving Oliver for dead in a ditch. but again, Oliver is rescued and taken pity upon by the kind-hearted Rose Maylie and her loving aunt. Here Oliver spends many happy months during which the story of his life unfolds – and we realise why the world seems out to get him. Nancy redeems herself by putting her life at risk by approaching Rose with the nasty truth – a deed for which she pays a heavy price…
To conclude, Oliver inherits the fortune his deceased parents left him. Monks, a man with a hideous true identity, is given a chance to redeem himself – a chance which he flings away without hesitation. He finishes with a sticky end. Sikes and Fagin die more than appropriately; Charley Bates, a member of Fagin’s crew, follows Nancy’s footsteps and leads a life of honesty and good; Rose and Harry Maylie marry and live happily forever after along with Mr Brownlow, Mrs Bedwin and of course, Oliver Twist himself.
I thought that the plot was slow but not uninteresting. Dickens’ novels appear to be more about characterisation, descriptive text and the interweaving of the lives of the characters. I thought that the overall book was captivating, but Dickens did tend to ‘go on a bit’ at places!