Jon Clinch's take on the backstory of A Christmas Carol's Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge.

Recently, and for far from the first time, I found myself reviewing a book that I actually did mostly enjoy but, when I the time came to sit down and talk about it, I realized most of the specific things I had to say sounded pretty negative. Well, here's a somewhat rarer example of the exact opposite thing. I find most of what I have to say about this one is very positive, and yet somehow it just didn't add up to a reading experience I loved.

The good stuff? The writing is rather lovely: not showy, but self-assured and smooth. The way the novel answers the question of just what sins Marley committed in his life to merit the chains that would later bind his spirit is so perfectly apt that I can only imagine that the entire book was written just to use that particular idea. Scrooge's character is explored a bit in a way that gives us some insight into how he became the miserable (but not irrevocably miserable) person that he was. The work engages with Dickens without feeling the need to ape his style, and certainly without being remotely parodic. It also raises some questions about themes of redemption and changes of heart that are much more subtle, and much more interestingly uncomfortable, than those in Dickens' feel-good tale. There are even a few rather poignant moments, towards the end.

All of which is great! And yet, I confess I just... kept wanting to put it down. And for all that good stuff, it felt like it lacked something I very much wanted it to have. Or maybe a couple of somethings, the first of which is a sense of narrative drive. For all that we do, in fact, know exactly where this story is going, for much of the novel it still doesn't seem to be going much of anywhere. There's also some sense of groundedness or detail that's lacking, too, which I felt most keenly once Scrooge starts working around to clock to deal with some problems Marley's caused him. We know what goal he's working towards, but never how he's working towards it, and all that scribbling and calculating he's doing just feels like an empty placeholder. (Really, he might was well just be muttering "business, business, business" to himself all day.)

Some part of me is wondering whether Clinch didn't have that fantastic idea about Marley's awful history but then just wasn't entirely sure what to actually do with it, while some other part is wondering if it's not just me being a big ol' hard-to-satisfy humbug. ( )

I have a new perspective on why Marley is weighed down with so many chain links. A great background story about Jacob Marley and what made Scrooge, well, Scrooge. Worth the read! ( )

What was the story before the story? An interesting prequel of sorts of the relationship between Marley and Scrooge told through their business ventures and their relationships with others.

Marley is a con man involved in the slave trade amongst other trades between the UK and US. Scrooge is the book keeper to Marley’s business and is obsessed with his work. Marley and Scrooge’s relationship is tense as they are very different people, but are bound to one another since childhood.

We hear of Belle, Fran, Freddie, and eventually Bob. It was a creative backstory which dragged a bit at times, but overall was a good read. ( )

As soon as I saw Simon Callow's enthusiastic review of this one, I put it on hold at the library. I'm often leery of these "spinoff" novels - prequels, imaginative sequels, famous tales told from other points of view - but if Dickensian Extraordinaire Callow is on board, sign me up. So, no, this is not a sad dog story, but the life and times of Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge from Dickens's Christmas Carol (probably my least favorite Dickens of all, but never mind that).

Marley was a slaver, to begin with. The money hauled into the coffers of Scrooge & Marley is largely made by outfitting the ships that pack black Africans into the hold for sale in America, and filled on the return journey by rum, molasses, and other such useful but less profitable commodities. He was also a masterly business crook, shuffling shell companies, false ship registrations, and bank accounts in a wizardly fashion. Even as a youth, he indebts the shy, unhappy boy Scrooge at their dreadful Dickensian boys' school and ties him up well and truly. So far, so good. Clinch writes in a vaguely Victorian tone well enough, but even Dickens didn't use as many adjectives and adverbs as he does. We get a plausible filling-in of Scrooge's youth, that feels faithful to Dickens's allusions in Carol. But it starts to go a little wobbly over the slave plot. Scrooge's intended father-in-law forbids his marriage to daughter Belle unless he divests completely from this endeavor. Now, Dickens has no problem with selfish, demanding fathers thwarting their overly-dutiful daughters (Madeline Bray in Nickleby, Little Dorrit, et al.), but he is careful to build a relationship that causes the daughters to acquiesce (appropriately or not, we see why they do). Belle's father is a non-entity, and has virtually no relationship with Belle to speak of, so why she patiently waits for years is not believable. And Scrooge too, who really doesn't actually care about the slaves, goes along with it too - and here Clinch misses another opportunity: Scrooge really buckles into months and years of disentangling the business mostly because his heart really isn't into the marriage, though Clinch wants us to think it is. Sort of. It's just murky and disappointing, and I for one thought Belle should have cut him loose a LOT sooner.

Meanwhile, Marley is pretending to get out of the slave business while remaining actively in it, working at cross-purposes with Scrooge. There is a fairly creepy enmeshment with Scrooge's sister Fan, which of course ends badly. But it just all gets muddled and nasty, and by the time it was over, I was glad.

So, three stars because it doesn't quite succeed at what it set out to do, but worth the read for some smoky atmosphere, some illumination of Scrooge (there's a rather lovely passage about his affinity for and devotion to the beauty of numbers for their own sake), and a little fun for those of us who do love Dickens. Simon, you were a little too kind, but thanks for the heads-up on this one anyway. ( )

Most everyone is familiar with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Even if you haven’t actually read the book, you’ve probably seen at least one version in a movie. Marley is a prequel of sorts with the main character being Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge’s business partner. The book starts when they meet at a boy’s boarding school, where Marley is already bad news. Scrooge is a naïve boy that he takes advantage of without Scrooge even knowing it. Their lopsided relationship continues when they go into business together. Marley makes all the shady business deals while Scrooge handles the books, blissfully (maybe willfully) unaware that most of their business is unseemly at best.

One of the most horrible businesses they are involved in is slavery. When Scrooge becomes engaged to Belle, her father tells him he won’t consent to her marrying him until Scrooge and Marley are divested of the slaving business. Scrooge sets to work on that much to Marley’s consternation. Scrooge is actually a sympathetic character for most of the book. He loves money and accounting but he loves Belle too. It’s Marley that has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

This book is actually darker and gloomier than A Christmas Carol. A couple of parts are downright horrifying. And that’s what makes it so good. A Christmas Carol is a wonderful book of course, but it’s a spare novel focused on Scrooge and his redemption. Not much is made of the other characters. Luckily for Clinch, there is a lot of room to be imaginative. And he fills in the space wonderfully. Scrooge’s sister Fan and his fiancé Belle are full-fledged characters in their own right. I haven’t read much Dickens but my friends who have tell me that there are Easter eggs related to other Dickens novels throughout. I’m sure they are fun to come across for Dickens fans.

My book club read this book and had mixed reviews as a whole but I really liked it. I was impressed by Clinch’s creativity in crafting Marley and Scrooge’s backstory. Recommended. ( )