Marley's Ghost

by Mark Hazard Osmun

Before Scrooge, before Dickens, there was Jacob Marley. In Charles Dickens’classic, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge owes his salvation to one man: his former partner, the late Jacob Marley. Yet... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0967307902
• ISBN13: 9780967307909
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Twelfth Night Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Provacative

Mark Osmun's great imagination has taken us behind the scenes of a story we have read or watched on television annually since we were kids. Even with our familiarity with the story we knew virtually nothing about Jacob Marley, without whom The Christmas Carol would never have been written. Five stars for cleverness alone. To his credit, Osmun chose not to imitate the Dicken's style yet he put coal dust in my teeth together with a clostrophobic shortness of breath as I read through Marley's experience. Marley's journey is a wonderful metaphor for the journey we all travel as we ask questions about good and evil and our relationships with God and our fellow man. Marley's quest to save Scrooge is a journey of love from a man who has known everything but love. "When the time comes - How will you choose?"

Marley'sGhost - Flesh & the Devil

The beauty of Mark Osmun's book, "Marley's Ghost", like that of other good "prequels", is that it puts flesh on the bones of a character who, in the primary work, was left two-dimensional, or berift of humanity in order to serve a symbolic purpose. Marley, in Dicken's "A Christmas Carol", was just such a character -- central, really, to all action and development that followed his appearance, but nothing more than (literally and figuratively) a spectre agent.Anyone interested in Dickens, or in A Christmas Carol, will enjoy Marley's Ghost for the highlighting it gives, not only to the book it attempts to presage, but also to the ideals and concepts that Dickens clearly tried to impart in A Christmas Carol: humanity, existentialism and, ultimately, the redemption that may connect the two. That it also breathes life into Marley and makes him a complex though altogether human character -- and tells a story of his own personal trials and redemption in Victorian England -- is almost a bonus. Without giving away too much, the book also rounds out the symbolic facades of some of the other characters (both corporeal and incorporeal) who move the action to its climax in A Christmas Carol.P.S. This reviewer has heard one or two complaints about Marley's Ghost that go as follows: on one hand, a few have commented that Osmun's book is not written exactly in Dickens' style and wording, and on the other hand, that it is too Dickensian. To both sides, may I simply say that while a prequel certainly invites comparisons in style and syntax, it should be judged by the extent to which it elucidates the original and not only captures the theme but somehow bolsters or underlines that theme, without slavish imitation. I think Osmun has succeeded on all counts.

A Holiday Treasure

Mark Osmun successfully captures the imagination with this twisted tale of greed and compassion. Though Marley lived his life on the dark side, you can't help but cheer him on during his journey through pain. Given a life of merciless and solitude, you sense his heart is capable of more. A great read!!

THIS WOULD MAKE A GREAT MOVIE!

THE WRITER IS A VERBAL ARTIST. ALL MY SENSES WERE TUNED TO EACH SCENE FROM THE DAMP COAL MINES AND THE LONDON STREETS TO CANDLELIT DISCUSSIONS AMONG SPIRITS. MARLEY'S GHOST IS A DELIGHTFUL TREAT THAT BRINGS, NOT ONLY ENJOYMENT, BUT MANY MOMENTS OF REFLECTION. IT'S A BOOK THAT MAKES YOU THINK! HOPE HIS NEXT BOOK COMES OUT SOON. THIS IS A GREAT READ FOR EVERY SEASON.

A compelling, superbly crafted, original, memorable novel.

In Marley's Ghost, Mark Osmun has written a brilliant "prequel" to Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol". Here is the story of Jacob Marley whose ghost appeared to Ebenezer Scrooge to announce the coming of three spirits that legendary Christmas Eve. Jacob was a fugitive, prodigy, gambler, miner, mentor, corruptor and Ebenezer's partner in exploiting the vulnerable, the unwary, and the needy. Jacob was himself both victim and villain, capable of nobility and vile behavior. After his death Jacob wanders a frozen hell seeking answers and redemption. There he becomes a pawn in the battle between Light and Dark, ultimately compelled to choose between God and the Devil as the future of all human kind hangs in the balance. Marley's Ghost is a compelling, superbly crafted, original novel that does full justice to Dickens and is a memorable testament which may well become a classic itself!