"Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens || Book Review

"Oliver Twist" is one of these books that I've wanted to read for a long time, but never got around to it. I'm very happy I finally read it and even more excited to write a review about it!

The writing is simple, clear, and easy to understand, yet well-structured and concise. It makes sense why it would be a recommended read for school for young students and English learners. The plot, while fairly simple, is tight and solid. The plot points are tied seamlessly with strong narration and beautiful prose, thus making the story even more compelling. The language is easy to understand and beautiful as well.

The characters are well-written, distinct, and memorable. You can clearly see the symbolism and connections between characters and the themes/morals they represent. Oliver represents kindness, pureness, and hope. In short, he represents everything good and positive, trying to survive in this dark and negative world, full of bad and negative people trying to take you down and full of hard circumstances. 

However, as likable and good as Oliver's character was throughout the story, my favorite character has to be Nancy. Nancy starts in a bad place in the story, life has brought her there to survive and she has become cruel herself. She manages, however, to see the error in her ways, to understand what's right, and even to stand up against all evil forces. I loved her character development, I loved how she changed the course of events with her actions/decisions and I was really sad about her ending. To me, she represents all the people who - even in the hardest, darkest of circumstances - make the choice to stand up and make a difference.

The villains were all really disgusting, each one of them representing different bad qualities and all of them equally well-portrayed.

There's some mystery in the story regarding Oliver's real identity and it's interesting how it slowly unravels with each page. The outcome of the story is not the most unpredictable or surprising but it does have quite a bit of suspense and holds your interest well.

I guess, the main message of the story is that goodness, kindness, and mercy can survive through every kind of hardship and will, in the end, prevail. Life is unfair and cruel but Oliver stays strong, grows out of humiliation and abuse, and holds on to his virtues. 

I rated this book 4/5*. It's not hard to see why this book is so widely loved and recommended. It's one of these books that are not only worth your time and attention but one of the books that one ought to read within their lifetime...