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    Oliver Twist
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    Oliver Twist
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    Oliver Twist
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Oliver Twist

    Written by Charles Dickens

    Narrated by Alex Jennings

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

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    About this audiobook

    Penguin Classics presents the audiobook adaptation of Charles Dicken's timeless tale, Oliver Twist, read by the actor Alex Jennings.

    The story of the orphan Oliver, who runs away from the workhouse only to be taken in by a den of thieves, shocked readers when it was first published. Dickens's tale of childhood innocence beset by evil depicts the dark criminal underworld of a London peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the arch-villain Fagin, the artful Dodger, the menacing Bill Sikes and the prostitute Nancy. Combining elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, Dickens created an entirely newkind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.

    Part of a series of abridged, vintage recordings taken from the Penguin Archives.

    Affordable, collectable, quality productions - perfect for on-the-go listening.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin UK Audio
    Release dateDec 1, 2007
    ISBN9780146901249
    Author

    Charles Dickens

    Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and grew up in poverty. This experience influenced ‘Oliver Twist’, the second of his fourteen major novels, which first appeared in 1837. When he died in 1870, he was buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey as an indication of his huge popularity as a novelist, which endures to this day.

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    Reviews for Oliver Twist

    4/5

    3,749 ratings95 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Great classic.
    • 5/5
      Writing: 5.0; Theme: 5.0; Content: 4.5; Language: 4.5; Overall: 5.0; This was a wonderful volume that shares the rough, yet heart-warming story of Oliver Twist. Oliver travels through life battling the evils of this world while growing up in the poor conditions of a street youth. This story resembles the process that many Christians go through. As Christians, like Oliver, we are persecuted in this life, but in the end those who were the persecuted will one day receive glorious rewards if they live their lives pleasing to Christ. Great tome! Highly recommend. ***March 5, 2019*** (read with Jonathan)
    • 3/5
      Written in 1837, during Dickens' astronomical rise to success, Oliver Twist is his third major work, second novel, and the negative counterpart to its exact contemporary, The Pickwick Papers. One could argue it's still the work that has had the greatest impact on the public psyche: Dodger, Fagin, Nancy, and Bill loom large in the collective cultural consciousness, don't they? Who can forget Oliver asking for more, or the climactic tightrope walk? In truth, this is not a brilliant work. Only Fagin has any sparks of internal life, and he's an unfortunate anti-Semitic caricature common to the era. Oliver Twist, carrying the torch from some of Dickens' sentimental Sketches is a rather lifeless little twig. What works in the story is the vividness of "low" culture, and Dickens' already fierce moral stance on the inhumanity of much of 19th century English culture. Certainly a worthwhile read, but possibly the least of Dickens' "Big Fifteen". The relatively straightforward Twist will give way to the diffuse, picaresque Nicholas Nickleby, and then the real Dickens will be formed.
    • 1/5
      seemed really predictable, hackneyed, lacking dimension. Oddly, the movie is so much better.
    • 5/5
      Still one of my favorite books. I loved rereading it. I read it the first time in Jr. High. The power of the words is even greater today.
    • 4/5
      It had been many years since I read Charles Dickens, but this is pretty much exactly what I remember of him. This was a classic story where the good guys end up being good, and the bad guys end up being bad. The writing style and the atmosphere are where Dickens makes his money, and I loved being transported back to 19th century London. The story itself was not really a page-turner for me, but I did enjoy the characters enough to have no trouble getting through the novel. I will certainly be reading more of Dickens.
    • 4/5
      'Oliver Twist' is the first book on my personal "Books that have been on my shelf for way to long" reading challenge for 2011.I've always viewed Charles Dickens with some trepidation having once seen his picture in the dictionary next to the definition of "verbose". The only other Dickens book I've read is 'A Christmas Carol' which starts out with the sentence "Marley was dead." Okay, that's short and to the point but then he went on for three pages explaining exactly how dead he was. I get it, Chuck. He's dead already. That said, I was very pleasantly surprised by Oliver Twist. I hated the blatant anti-semitism in Dickens' treatment of Fagin and gagged on his saccharine sweet portrayal of Oliver but I really enjoyed reading what is, its core, a witty and biting social satire. I'd also really like to know if Dickens' constant referring to on of Fagin's minions as 'Master Bates' was his subtle way of telling us this character was really a wanker.
    • 4/5
      I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable book...until the end. The deus ex machina wrecked it for me. Oliver may as well have turned out to be the long lost prince of England or something. It just seems very roughly thrown together in the end.
    • 4/5
      Moments in this made me cry.
    • 5/5
      I received this book from the Junior Deluxe Editions Book Club at about age 7, but wasn't able or willing to read it till I was 10 or 11. It's a while since I've read it, and having seen Oliver! a couple of times since, it's always a little hard to recall that first reading. The scenes where Oliver is a professional mourner for a funeral home always stuck in my mind. I should read it again some day. I should note that I do have the fancy Franklin Library edition too, but the Junior Deluxe is one I can't bear to part with unless someday a grandchild will want it.
    • 3/5
      I admit, my opinion is colored by being dragged thru this book very unwillingly while in High School.
    • 4/5
      oliver was born in 1800 in place called workhouse in england, but after that his mother died, so he lives 8 years in the same place where his mother died, after that they deside to make him work picking oakum. when he start to complain about the food they chased him, but the manager forced him to work with him, after a while he escaped from from him and traveled to london. in london he start a new life and new adventure.
    • 3/5
      It's hard not to like Dickens. He creates these eccentric supporting characters that are quirky, bizarre and totally lovable. But unlike so many of his masterpieces, Oliver Twist lacks a complex hero or main character. The book begins with Oliver's birth in a poor work house. His mother dies in child birth and his father is unknown. Oliver grows up under horrible conditions forced to work and is poorly fed - and yes, that famous line that we all remember from the Broadway musical and movie, 'Please, sir, I want some more' is a line from the book! After some failed apprenticeships, Oliver escapes to London and is taken in by a group of children pick pockets, trained by Fagin. As the book progresses, Oliver gains many allies among both his band of thieves as well as some wealthy families, who coincidentally are related to Oliver's unfortunate mother. What I found lacking in this Dickens' novel is that Oliver, although a sweet and innocent child, doesn't really grow and develop the heroic personality of some of Dickens other main characters - David Copperfield, Pip from Great Expectations, or my favorite, Esther from Bleak House. Definitely Oliver Twist is still a book worth reading, but I didn't find it as strong as some of his other works.

      I listened to the audio version performed by John Lee who has a deep soothing British voice. His skill at accents from the cockney dregs of London to the upper class was very well done.
    • 4/5
      Dickens' second published work (after Pickwick Papers) and the author has 'arrived'. Confidently and exuberantly written, this is a real novel, a big step up from the miscellany that made up the earlier work. The characterisation is more assured - Fagin is a great study in calculated manipulation, the Artful Dodger a gifted comic creation; and the plot is more coherent, although the plot coincidences and contrivances that plague later books are starting to become evident here. Dickens is quite outspoken in his views - his disgust for the hypocrisy of the callous behaviour of many outwardly religious persons; his hatred for the bullying of petty officialdom such as the precious Beadle, while at the same time unwittingly reflecting the prejudices and standards of his time - such as the two orphans (Oliver and Rose) being able to maintain the innate "gentlemanly" character of their origins in spite of the appalling upbringing they endured. great stuff. Read December 2011.
    • 3/5
      A bit longer than it needed to be, but still has some interesting moments. Fagin is a hilariously offensive caricature, and most of the other characters are only the latter.
    • 4/5
      [Oliver Twist] is the story of an orphan boy who is sent to several workshouses and finally ends up in the home of a benevolent widow and her female companion. The plot and ending of the story are very predictable. Compared to Dickens' [Bleak House] and [A Tale of Two Cities], [Oliver Twist] leaves much to be desired.
    • 4/5
      Dickens' novel reads like a Beethoven Symphony [No.9] or a very rich chocolate cake. A magnificent tale but one that leaves you sated for at least a few months (I won't return to Dickens for a bit longer than that I would imagine). Dickens does a good job weaving what I would consider a complex fairy-tale. Oliver is our purely good protagonist who is the victim of the evil Fagin and Monk's machinations. Although the characters don't give the reader much to ponder over, I think the deep plot and satisfying conclusion justify its title of masterpiece.
    • 4/5
      I always loved Oliver Twist the most of the Dickens books I've read. He seemed to come to life in my head the most of all Dickens' characters.
    • 5/5
      First time all of the way through, although I have done portions of the book before. As with other recent Dicken's reading, Colledge's God and Charles Dickens was very helpful in putting this into context.The most interesting thing about Oliver Twist is that it works so well without any great character development. The good are good, the bad are bad, and there are very few who do not fall into one of these two categories. The good get rewarded, the bad (finally) get what they deserve. It very much is a morality tale - using the definition of a morality tale as one that exhibits the conflict between good and evil while offering moral lessons. And it excels in this category.This e-book was originally released in serial format, to match how the book was originally released. That gave me a greater appreciation of how the book was originally experienced.
    • 1/5
      First of all, Oliver Twist is a hateful book. Dickens has created in Fagin an embodiment of bigotry; a leering, black-nailed, money-grubbing Jew who's nearly always referred to as The Jew, as though Dickens wasn't sure we'd get it.* Fagin is the most memorable character in Oliver Twist, and he's inexcusable. I've read me some Victorian novels; I'm familiar with the casual anti-Semitism that's nearly unavoidable in them; I understand the context of the time. Dickens is well beyond that context. For his time, he was a hater. This is a hate crime of a book.

      * To clarify my context: I'm an atheist, so I think all religions are equally imaginary, and I think prejudice against any religion is equally distasteful.

      Second, Oliver Twist is a shitty book. His second, following the comedic Pickwick Papers, it shows Dickens reaching for new territory: exposing the hopelessness and injustice of destitute life in London. But it's maudlin, obvious, predictable, lame. Oliver is such a simpering bitch that it's impossible to give a shit about him. Bad people want to use him; good people want to pamper him; readers are bored. Dickens will write great books, but not yet.

      To be fair, not that I want to be, in the last chapters of Oliver Twist, he's figured it out. Nancy and Sikes suddenly take over the book, although I doubt Dickens knew they would, in a denouement of terrific power; and Fagin's last scene is equally powerful. But it's way too little, way too late.

      It's Banned Book Week as I write this, and I don't think Oliver Twist should be banned. I think people need to know that the most loved British writer since Shakespeare wrote this. I wouldn't assign it in a class, because it sucks, but I would make sure my students understand that Dickens is responsible for it.

      It's a shitty little book. It makes me think less of Dickens. I wish he'd known better.
    • 3/5
      Oliver Twist is, certainly, often maudlin and excessively sentimental. I confess I skimmed over most of the passages where one character or another feels the need to blubber on at length about how wonderful things are and how blessed they are! Ugh!But I had forgotten how dark much of the book is - the descriptions of poverty and crime in the nineteenth century London rookery make you feel the grease and filth and smell the offal. If your vision of Fagin has been charmed by Ron Moody's portrayal in the film musical "Oliver!" your eyes will be opened here, where Dickens portrays him as a vile, dirty, evil and unrepentant villain. A Jewish villain, of course, and the antisemitic side of the character's description cannot be escaped, even though Dickens himself emended the book in later publications to try to de-emphasize Fagin's "jewishness."Probably the reason the antisemitic aspect of the book gets so much attention is that the character of Fagin, like that of Sikes, and the other criminals, is far more interesting than any of the "good" characters. Oliver himself exists almost as a little puppet, to be buffetted about and rescued like a rag doll with about as much personality. Mr. Brounlow, Oliver's first patron, exists only to act as the Deus Ex Machina and explain the (many and ridiculous) coincidences that propel the plot. Even Nancy seems to become less interesting as she becomes "good," and the one false note in her otherwise shocking murder is her plea to Sikes to spare her and seek prayerful repentance.As an early work of Dickens (his second novel, and written as he was finishing his first up), this book lacks the power of his later works. But when he is in the streets with London's criminals, or describing the ludicrous scenes in a police court (where he cut his teeth as a journalist), you see where this young man was heading.
    • 4/5
      I admit that I've been avoiding Dickens for quite a while now. My experience with him, aside from a few illustrated, abridged children's versions, consists of two encounters: A Christmas Carol (easy and short) and Hard Times (not that easy, not as short, although shorter than most of his books). I was quite disinterested in subjecting myself to more Dickens after Hard Times - so much so that Oliver Twist was my first tentative foray into his works since 1990. Whether I've just grown up, or grown more patient, or read more 19th century novels since those days, I was pleasantly surprised to find that reading Oliver Twist was not the torturous experience I was convinced it would be.There's no point in discussing the plot, since everyone knows it. But I found Oliver himself kind of annoyingly limp and high-strung. I guess that's to be expected when you're doing a classic good vs. evil setup. Evil is just always much more interesting than good. But a surprising amount of the book doesn't really involve Oliver all that much, except as a pawn everyone else is trying to do something with. Some of the turns in the plot, I didn't see coming (no, I've never seen a movie/musical version), so that was kind of fun. Also, I enjoyed the amount of snide social commentary that Dickens worked in. The worst part was probably my frustration that after everything was over, there was still a "wrapping up" chapter to go, but I suppose that's pretty standard with this sort of book. I'll be less hesitant approaching the next Dickens book, although I wouldn't call myself an enthusiast either.Recommended for: Dickens-o-phobes, fans of melodrama and mustache-twirling.Quote: "He had a decided propensity for bullying: derived no inconsiderable pleasure from the exercise of petty cruelty; and, consequently, was (it is needless to say) a coward. This is by no means a disparagement to his character; for many official personages, who are held in high respect and admiration, are the victims of similar infirmities. The remark is made, indeed, rather in his favour than otherwise, and with a view of impressing the reader with a just sense of his qualifications for office."
    • 5/5
      Beautiful, flowing language
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite Dickens novels, and Simon Vance's narration does it justice :)I have read this book several times, but the last time was maybe 25 years ago. The basic plot is (I hope!) well-known but I was surprised by how much of the details I had forgotten. What I hadn't forgotten, and enjoyed just as much this time around, was Dickens mordant sarcasm
    • 2/5
      Dear FSM! What a hard read this was -- and I didn't even read it, I listened to it on audiobook during my commute. I've seen several movie adaptations of this book - NONE of them capture the dark, depressing rone that this book sets. Read it if you're looking for a challenge.

      Audiobook.
    • 5/5
      The master has done it for me once again. I can't imagine an English reader in the 19th century not feeling downright shameful and disgusted at the existing social conditions, upon finishing this read. The events evoke such a feeling of horror and injustice that at times you can't help but feel like the impetuous Doctor Losberne, who left unchecked would be dealing out vigilante justice in spades.If I could wring the Bumbles' necks from my couch, I think I just might. Little Dick's innocent plea to leave a message for Oliver before his death is so powerful and moving, I was fighting off tears. As monstrous as Fagin and Sikes are made out to be throughout, their final demise tears at you, and almost has you begging for mercy...almost. Masterfully done!
    • 4/5
      Surprisingly readable. Good satire, good humor, good story. Nice, though forced, surprises
    • 4/5
      This was the first book I read over the summer and I enjoyed reading this book. This book was more than a tale; it addressed and criticized the social injustice during the 19th century. This book portrayed how injustice our society was by introducing the character Oliver Twist. He was one of the victims of society as he faced social injustice just because he was an orphan and he was poor. He was often looked down by rich people and he was mistreated by his looks and backgrounds.
    • 4/5
      Having developed an aversion to Dickens having been forced to read Great Expectations at school, I was pleasantly surprised by how good this book is. Some of Dickens' characters are hilarious and he describes their idiosyncrasies beautifully!
    • 5/5
      Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens was published 175 years ago in 1838 and there's no doubt it's an enduring classic. Most people know Oliver Twist is an orphan and of course his well-known request for "more".I don't know why it's taken so long for me to read Oliver Twist, perhaps because I didn't really enjoy Great Expectations. Having said that, I fell in love with Oliver Twist and am now a true Dickens fan.Rather than share some of the plot (which most people know one way or another), allow me to share some of my favourite quotes/excerpts.On considering sending young Oliver to sea on page 20: "the probability being, that the skipper would flog him to death, in a playful mood, someday after dinner, or would knock his brains out with an iron bar, both pastimes being, as is pretty generally known, very favourite and common recreations among gentlemen of that class."Page 52, regarding Oliver's drowsy state: "There is a drowsy state, between sleeping and waking, when you dream more in five minutes with your eyes half open, and yourself half conscious of everything that is passing around you, than you would in five nights with your eyes fast closed, and your senses wrapped in perfect unconsciousness. At such times, a mortal knows just enough of what his mind is doing, to form some glimmering conception of its might powers, its bounding from earth and spurning time and space, when freed from the restraint of its corporeal associate."Page 176, this had me laughing for ages: "Unembellished by any violence of gesticulation, this might have seemed no very high compliment to the lady's charms; but, as Mr Bumble accompanied the threat with many warlike gestures, she was much touched with this proof of his devotion, and protested, with great admiration, that he was indeed a dove."I could go on, but I hope that's enough to influence you to give Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens a try if you haven't before. The language was such a delight, I couldn't do it justice by reading it at my normal pace, and really had to slow right down to savour his words and his writing.I savoured being amongst the pages and recommend Oliver Twist to all who appreciate the English language.