Inventing Scrooge

"Inventing Scrooge"


During the holidays this blogger starts reading Christmas stories in October! Some favorites include, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," "A Christmas Story," "Humor For the Holidays," and "Mrs. Miracle." Throughout the 7 years where reading 3-5 holiday books during the season, this woman has never read the classic most famous novel by Dickens, "A Christmas Carol." Now, I have seen numerous movies of the story, but never ever read the book, but that is about to change thanks to one book that took me on a journey into the characters of the beloved classic and its author.

Inventing Scrooge by Carlo DeVito, is a fantastic read. The book dives into the history of the man behind the story and how his daily/nightly walks and travels, along with financial fears, helped him pen A Christmas Carol. From Marley and Fred to the three Spirits of Christmas and Scrooge, every character has a personal story from Dickens's past and, in some cases, notable men of England's past. The story was written with such detail, that even the fireplace in Scrooge's bed chamber is based on one from Dickens's favorite childhood home.

Charles Dickens was a well-known, well desired, writer by the time his Christmas tale was written, but what led him to write the tale was the loss of money on a recently developed book that was not very popular with the public. Due to his childhood, Dickens was terrified of not having money and of spending money and time wisely. He grew up in a home where the parents became frivolous in spending, eventually landing his father in debtors prison and the children in child labor. After reading the "behind the scenes" of his life in this book, readers will realize how much of himself is in every novel from A Christmas Carol to Oliver Twist that he has written. Even so, it is not just Dickens life that is featured, it is that of the characters, and one way in which Dickens drew inspiration was by walking.

Dickens took daily/nightly walks to help him physically and mentally. During these walks he went through all sorts of areas, no matter where he may be, but one of his favorite cities to walk was London. Even so, it was during a walk through a grave yard where he came up with the name Ebenezer Scrooge, on another journey he saw a door knob that he decided to describe as the one on Scrooge's door, and it is possible that even Marley's name was thought of during his nightly journey's, but characters such as Fred and Fanny came from his own family.

The character Fred is based on his own brother, a brother who he loved and helped and tried so hard to keep in line in order to keep him from ending up like their father. It is said that the first meeting of Fred and Scrooge in the book was based on the feelings Dickens had for his brother when his brother, who was a joy to Dickens and his wife and children, and him got into an argument and left. This and so much more is why DeVito's book has officially inspired me to read A Christmas Carol.

This is a wonderful novel, some critics say as good as Dickens own story, and will make one see the characters of the story with a whole new light. Highly recommended read. Merry Christmas all year round!!!