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***Marly's Ghost

A Remix of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol

by David Levithan

illustrated by Brian Selznick

Reviewed April 24, 2006.
Dial Books, New York, 2006.  165 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (J MCN F LEV).

This book takes Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol and adapts it for Valentine’s Day.

Ben’s girlfriend, Marly, recently died after a long illness.  He is convinced he will never know love like that again, and the loss has destroyed him.

So when Marly’s ghost shows up, at first he thinks that’s a good thing.  But she’s dragging a chain made of mementoes of their relationship.  Ben is holding her back.  He needs to learn to honor their love by living his life.

So, you guessed it, he’s visited by three spirits, the Ghosts of Love Past, Present and Future.  What he sees changes his life.

Half the fun of this book is the delightful way he modified Dickens’s story just slightly, yet made it fit.  There are many places where he even used the same wording.  It carries its own punch, a new message from an old idea, and a beautiful story.

Reviews of other books by David Levithan:
Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Wide Awake
Every Day
Another Day
Answers in the Pages

Copyright © 2006 Sondra Eklund.  All rights reserved.

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