A Christmas Carol

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Benjamin May

Length: 3 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

The timeless tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his adventures on Christmas Eve continue to teach an important lesson, even to this day. Author Charles Dickens introduces us to the main character by painting him in a negative light, a selfish and miserly old man who will barely pay enough money to keep his office heated. When Scrooge returns home after work, the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, visits him and tells him that because of the wrongdoing he had done during his life, he has been condemned to walk in his ghost years shackled by chains. He warns Scrooge that the same fate might await him. The ghost leaves, allowing Scrooge to fall asleep.

Scrooge is then visited by three different ghosts: first comes the Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him to revisit various scenarios from his past Christmases, including one event that makes Scrooge shed tears. Next he is taken around by the Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows Scrooge what Christmas will look like this year, and he sees scenes of the Christmas dinner held by his clerk, Bob Cratchit, who has a crippled son. The final visitor is the Ghost of Christmas Yet, and while the two of them are on their journey, they overhear people speaking about a dead man and his assets. Scrooge yearns to know who has passed away, finally figuring out that the deceased man is himself. After the initial shock and a promise to change his ways, Scrooge finds himself back in his bed with a brand-new outlook on life.

Public Domain (P)2015 A.R.N. Publications

A Fine audio Interpretation

I have read this book every year of my life at Christmas for the past 60 years. This edition meets with my approval, and I think Dickens himself would have but a few improvements to make.

Highly recommended.

I loved listening to "A Christmas Carol"!

I've only watched various movies of "A Christmas Carol" in the past, but so enjoyed listening to this wonderful story.

not a great version

first, there is a decided laziness or just complete lack of editing as the narrator stumbles on his words several times and instead of going back and cutting then repeating those mistakes they were left in.
second, i am not a fan of the voices he uses for some of the charactets. just a bit too much, though his voices aren't the worst by any means.

in short, this is one of the few versions that, although not offensive to my ears, i actually walked away from while it was playing and didn't feel the impulse to rewind it. i didn't listen all the way through and i don't plan to listen to it again.