A Christmas Carol [Audio Connoisseur Version]

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Charlton Griffin

Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

The spirit of Christmas has never been captured better than by Charles Dickens' masterpiece about Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit, and all those wonderful spirits, especially the ghost of Jacob Marley. It can be fairly stated that Dickens was so successful with A Christmas Carol, that his characters have become more well known than the title itself. In no other work of his has the recurrent them of social injustice and poverty been more powerfully and economically presented.

Although the original book is only about 100 pages in length, its compact plot structure and wonderful narrative velocity are so perfectly contrived as to make this novella an icon in world literature. Once the story begins, there is no getting off this mad dash around the fog beclouded city of gloomy London.

The story was written in 1843 in the wake of a series of "poor laws" directed at changes in the British welfare system. Dickens tried to alert his readers to the plight of those persons who had been displaced and driven into poverty as a result of the rapid changes taking place during the early years of the Industrial Revolution.

In A Christmas Carol, Dickens points out that the wealthy have a greater obligation to the poor than to merely pay their taxes and go on about their lives. But the greatest thing about the story is the powerful spirit of Christmas, and the healing virtue of believing in something outside of one's self.

Public Domain (P)2008 Audio Connoisseur

Critic reviews

"Charlton Griffin's inspired reading of this 1843 novella should be mandatory holiday listening." (AudiFile Magazine)

I listen to this story every Christmas

This is an excellent version! I think this is my second time of listening through this one, and I don't plan on changing versions, any time soon.

Favorite Christmas story

I love this story of repentance and redemption. Narration was wonderful with some music and sound effects that added to the story telling.

Enjoyable retelling

It was a pleasure to listen to. I’m glad I selected it. I’m sure I’ll listen again.

Not bad at all

Sound effects are a bit cheap sounding ch aracter voices are OK, and help distinguish between the different members of the story. A Christmas Carol is a classic for a reason.

Close to almost perfect

Very good version of a Christmas Carol. Narrator's voice is engaging and he uses good inflection etc. only 2 things detract from the story.
1. there are longish pauses between segments that are just a tad too long. its annoying.
2. the narrator does "voices" for the female characters and when he switches to the distinctly different "female" voice it is pretty jarring. after a few sentances you get used to it and can nearly think it is normal as his voice does sound significantly different, but until then it just sounds oddly unnatural.

Little Fan's voicing is the stuff of nightmares

What didn’t you like about Charlton Griffin’s performance?

I listen to the audio version of this classic Dicken's tale every year. Usually I listen to Simon Prebble's version but I had a copy of Grifin's version I hadn't listened to in years and thought I'd switch things up. Griffin's voice is generally quite good, BUT he unfortunately does the most horrendous, artificial little girl's voice for Scrooge's little sister Fran that I had to stop listening. I've listened to this version several years ago and somehow had forgotten how terrifying Griffin's children's voices are. Simon Prebble's version is significantly better.

Excellent

Would you listen to A Christmas Carol [Audio Connoisseur Version] again? Why?

I read or listen to this story at least once a year -- at Christmas, of course. It is an excellent reminder of just what the season is about.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Scrooge goes through such a transformation during his experiences. Through his story, we can learn to think about our actions (and how we lead our lives) in a different sort of way.

I'm happy with my choice

I listened to all the samples on this book and they all sounded great to me. I chose this one because there were some sound effects that I didn't hear in the others. I was thrilled with my choice. The narrator was amazing. Many times I thought there was a cast of characters but it was just one man. I think I would have liked any of the narrators but I loved this one. I listen to many books but this is my first review.

The Greatest Of All Time

loved it
do not read at all and so glad to be able to listen to books like this

What the Dickens?

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Everyone should read this among all the other classics.

If you’ve listened to books by Charles Dickens before, how does this one compare?

I am not a Dickens follower, but I find this typical of his other books in that he identifies a personality or type and tells us we should try not to be like that.

Which character – as performed by Charlton Griffin – was your favorite?

Griffin is wonderful. You don't realize that one person is doing all this. I like the voice of naration best. Scrooge was also outstanding.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

One has seen it so many times--

Any additional comments?

I think Dicken's message is that if we dislike someone he must be bad. I don't buy it. I don't think a real Scrooge could be as flat as C.D. makes him.