Marly's Ghost

by David Levithan

Love and I once had a great relationship, but I fear we've broken up. It cheated on me.

When Ben’s girlfriend, Marly, dies, he feels his life is over and the prospect of Valentine’s day without her fills him with bitterness. But then Marly arrives – or at least, her ghost does – along with three other spirits. Now Ben must take a journey through Valentines past, present and future – and what he learns will change him forever.

A remix of Charles Dicksons's A Christmas Carol with a Valentine's twist and the Levithan magic.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Contemporary, Retellings, Ghosts

176 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

About the author

David Levithan (born 1972) is an American children's book editor and award-winning author. He published his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a Young Adult imprint of Scholastic Press.

Reviews

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A modern retelling of A Christmas Carol, but it’s set around Valentine’s Day rather than Christmas. Didn’t hit the spot for me.

[Claude's Bookzone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well I don't have too much to say about this one.

It is a modern reimagining of A Christmas Carol. David doesn't really do much with the story aside from change Christmas to Valentine's Day and make the focus about being open to finding love again after losing someone. Ben's voice is quite similar to Ebeneezer's but it doesn't work in a modern setting. The whole thing felt a bit forced and didactic which made for a dull read. Those who haven't read the original may find this quick read okay but it didn't quite work for me.

[Sarah Churchill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have VERY mixed feelings about Marly's Ghost. This is a 'remix' of A Christmas Carol, set around Valentine's Day where a 16 year old guy who's girlfriend has recently died is being a 'scrooge' about love. I think that's fairly expected, personally. He's then visited by the ghost of his dead girlfriend (this is just 4 months after her death, mind you. Nice) who is weighed down by a chain of objects because he won't let her go or move on. FOUR MONTHS. There follows three ghosts who show him things that turn him into a different person overnight, as the story goes.

Now, my first impressions were bad. This book made me very uncomfortable. We start with a very heart-wrenching scene of Marly's death and Ben's despair. Ultimately the purpose of this story is that remembering loved ones who've passed is good, but you have to let yourself live on. This is a good and powerful message. BUT this story is a sentence for sentence 'translation' of the original text (which I actually read last week, so was fresh in my mind), and these teenagers speak like Victorian kids even though it's set in modern day. It all felt so strange! If Levithan had taken the story and adapted it into his own novel then fine, but sticking SO closely to the original structure AND language made it weird, and it felt like a bit of a joke. When the token/mandatory gay couple (this is a Leviathan book after all - I'm all for diversity in books, but these characters were strangers and had no relation to Ben and Marly at all) turned up called 'Tiny' and 'Tim' it felt even more surreal and 'jokey'. And a story about a 16 year old girl losing her battle with cancer shouldn't feel like that.

The message itself is a good one, and I did have a lot of sympathy for the character. I had less sympathy for the 'friends' who were trying to force him along to a Valentine's party (did I mention it had been four months?) In his own acceptance and growth at the hands of the ghosts Ben turns out some powerful lines, and I definitely felt for the character (in a way you'd never feel for the original Ebenezer, although I think that's kind of the point of a 'Scrooge'). These powerful moments is why I gave this two stars instead of one, but overall all I can say is that this book didn't 'feel' right.

This book was provided by the publisher for review. This hasn't influenced my opinion in any way. Obviously.

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marly's Ghost is a reimagining of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens but it is set on Valentine's Day rather than Christmas Day. Ben's girlfriend Marly dies and he has become bitter and no longer believes in the goodness of love. Marly's ghost turns up and brings three other spirits with her for Ben to experience Valentines past, present and future. We learn from the author's notes that he translated the original work section by section. I think that's an intriguing method and it does mostly work. I didn't like that Ben's friends were really pushing for him to go to a party and get back to normal only a few months after his girlfriend died. There is diversity provided in the form of gay couple Tiny and Tim who I did like. (Tiny Tim, get it?) I loved the illustrations and only wish that there were more of them as they were lovely. The story is heartwarming and provides a good message that you don't have to forget those you have loved but you have to remember to live your life.

[Cameron Chaney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This seemed rather pointless to me. It's a modern remix of A Christmas Carol, only it is set on Valentine's Day. Even though it's updated to tie in with our world today, a lot of the exact dialogue is taken from the Dickens classic and used here. It felt all off. No one talks like that anymore, especially teenage kids. It was corny and I began to wonder why I wasn't just rereading the original story. Which is what I recommend doing. Leviathan is a good writer in a lot of ways, but don't bother with this one.

[Stephanie (Bookfever) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marly's Ghost is a modern day retelling of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens with a Valentine's twist to it. I haven't read the original Dickens story but I am familiar with the story so I'm glad it ended up being a pretty great book.

The story revolves around Ben (Ebenezer) who lost his girlfriend Marly due to illness. Her death made Ben bitter and uncaring about love and even his friends, until Marly's ghost send three spirits to Ben. That's where the remix of A Christmas Carol really starts.

Ben's character was a bit of a jerk to some people but I couldn't help but liking him. Though the way he sometimes spoke, and some of the other characters too, didn't seem at all like how a teenager would speak, it seemed to me. But that's also my only negative point. Other than that I loved reading it. And I also loved how Levithan took the original character of Tiny Tim and made him into two people, a gay couple: Tiny and Tim. I really liked them, actually. They were pretty adorable.

Overall, Marly's Ghost was sometimes a quite emotional but beautiful story. It, just like A Christmas Carol, has a powerful message and I was really captured by the gorgeous prose in which David Levithan wrote it. Highly recommended!

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really that big a fan of Charles Dickens, but I am a huge fan of David Levithan and Brian Selznick. I was expecting a modernization of A Christmas Carol with a twist and the amazing dialogue and true-to-life characters that I expect from Levinthan. What I didn't expect was the cheesy nearly word-for-word retelling of a book I never really liked in the first place.

It should really come as no surprise that Marly is dead, the victim of a cancer that claims the lives of far too many people at far too young an age. In the beginning, the book started off strong with the heart-felt longing Ben has for his lost girlfriend and the pain it has caused not only for Ben but also for those who love him the most.

Yet, as the story continues with the appearance of Marly and the three other ghosts--the Spirits of Love Past, Present and Future--the story goes from heartbreaking to overkill. Instead of letting a natural flow come from a great beginning, Levithan forces his characters to fit into the neat little mold that Dickens had created more than a hundred years before.

While the end looked like it was about to take a turn for the better and have a more modern application of the timeless moral the original story outlined, the characters were again restricted by the near verbatim retelling. (I'm afraid if I say more on this, I will give away the ending.)

I know this review sounds harsh, but the book really wasn't that bad of a read. The story really does teach a good lesson about learning from the past while still living for the future, and that love really can pull us through some pretty awful things. The illustrations are also very classic Selznick--and he does pull off giving the original etchings for the Dickens tale a modern twist. Best of all, the book is a short, fast-passed read that can fill up a lazy afternoon. But overall, the book falls far short of my expectations of what a great author like Levithan can pull off.

[Bee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure whether I should've read this at Christmas or closer to Valentine's day? The whole tone was...odd. I appreciated what ti was trying to do, but the actual story I felt was a bit lacklustre. Also, I haven't read Will Grayson, Will Grayson (and never intend to) so Tiny's significance went over my head meaning I wasn't too connected with the characters to begin with.

[Annerlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is based closely on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, so much so, that some of the ghosts' dialogue was taken one to one from the original and Dickens is listed as a co-author. The story is about an 18 yr old who has lost his girlfriend and no longer believes in love and friendship (symbolised by valentine's day*).

The book was well written and the sense of grief and loss was eloquent and painful. The fresh take on the original made me realise just how good and multi-year Dickens' story actually is. I was fascinated at how content had been re-used for the new book, to good effect.



* Replacing the concept of Christmas with Valentines Day felt a bit forced, but then, I never was a fan of the whole Valentine's schnick-schnack and I'm not the intended audience.

[Suad Shamma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was quite disappointed with this book. I really expected something extraordinary with a Selznick and Levithan collaboration of a Dicken's classic, but what I got was a flimsy and unexciting interpretation of A Christmas Carol, with what looked to me as very ordinary illustrations.

Swap Christmas with Valentine's and you have a very lazy edition of the magical original. I did not think this was a creative effort of the story, and it didn't feel like Levithan tried very hard to make it his own. I was unimpressed with the storyline he chose to go with of a young man embittered after losing his girlfriend Marly to cancer and being visited with three ghosts of the past, present and future to bring hope and positivity back into his life. I was really unimpressed to find that the boy's name at the end was actually Ebenezer Scrooge, but goes by Ben.

I'm giving this three stars because I do love Charles Dicken's and A Christmas Carol is one of my favourites, and while this wasn't a creative interpretation in my opinion, it is still an OK book and an OK story and was a quick, enjoyable read. However, my criticism of it is based on the comparison between the classic tale and this one.

[The Candid Cover (Olivia & Lori) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full Review on The Candid Cover

Marly’s Ghost is an interesting remix of A Christmas Carol in which the events take place over Valentine’s Day. In the story, the main character, Ben, gives up on love after his girlfriend dies and the classic three spirits visit him in an attempt to change his heart. Ben isn’t really meant to be a likeable character, but it is interesting to follow along during his transformation. I appreciated how the author made an effort to capture Dickens’s “old fashioned” tone, however it didn’t always work for me. Something about the mix of a modern day setting with some modern dialogue and the old-timey narration doesn’t fit. Also, the author didn’t stray too much from the original story, and the change in holiday was essentially the only difference. I did enjoy the concept and the effort to capture the essence of the original story, but I believe the execution could have been better.

[Charley Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marly’s Ghost is the story of Ben, after recently losing his girlfriend he loses his love for the love festival itself, Valentines Day.
In an almost line for line retelling of the Charles Dickens classic we follow Ben through his three visits from the ghosts of Valentines Day past, present and future.
In the Authors Notes we learn that Levithan went through A Christmas Carol and translated the book part by part into this book. That makes this story completely unique yet a charming tribute to the original.
Leviathan has his trademark LGBTQ characters, wit and beautiful writing style. Though it isn’t my favourite of his works and certain parts irked me (friends pushing him to be ‘lovey’ a few months after his beloved girlfriend dies…bizarre). That is the risk of a direct translation/adaptation of a classic work and for the most part it paid off this time.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alguna vez llegará el día que acabe un libro de David Levithan sin lágrimas en los ojos, pero hoy no es ese día. No es su mejor trabajo, pero es una maravillosa reflexión sobre el amor, la vida y la importancia de seguir adelante pase lo que pase y no dejar de lado las cosas que realmente importan. Muy recomendable.

[Soma Rostam · Rating 2 out of 5]

When his girlfriend Marly dies, Ben takes a painful journey through Valentine's Days past, present, and future to realize just how much his life has changed, with or without Marly.
I thought this book would be a painful contemporary romance. It was anything but that. This leans much more toward the MG Fantasy genre not the YA. And unfortunately, I am not much of a fan of MG. I just can't concentrate on it for too long and I become bored quite fast.
So, this is the deal. I was bored by most of this book. It couldn't keep me interested. Although the concept is quite unique, but I felt like Ben was a bit shallow and his thoughts were too two-dimensional. Actually, if he was written with an MG audience in mind, then it's perfect. But otherwise, this was not a book that I loved. I thought that something written by David Levithan would be perfectly emotional and exactly my cup of tea but it wasn't. I am definitely keeping my eyes opened for more from him though.

[Jade Diamond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about Marly’s Ghost, I was quite disappointed with this book. Ben’s girlfriend Marly dies and he becomes bitter and no longer believes in the goodness of love. Marly’s ghost turns up and brings three other spirits with her for Ben to experience Valentines past, present and future. This is a modern day retelling of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens with a Valentine’s twist to it.

Read Full Review Here

[lookingforabura]

Not his best book but still good!

[River Song · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gute Idee, lieblose Umsetzung...


Ben (16) trauert um seine Freundin Marley, die vor vier Monaten an Krebs gestorben ist. Er stößt seine Freunde zurück, ist verbittert und sieht keinen Sinn mehr in seinem Leben. In der Nacht vor dem Valentines Tag sieht er Marleys Geist, sie kündigt ihm den Besuch von drei Geistern an, aus der Vergangenheit, der Gegenwart und der Zukunft.

Marley‘ s Ghost von David Levithan ist der Versuch, die bekannte Weihnachtsgeschichte von Charles Dickens zu modernisieren...

Leider hängt er viel stark am Original und übernimmt Namen und Dialoge von Dickens in eine Geschichte des 21ten Jahrhunderts. Ich hatte beim Lesen das Gefühl, hier wird eine sehr lange Liste akribisch abgearbeitet ...

16 jährige sprechen aber nicht mehr so wie zu Dickens Zeiten, die Geschichte wirkt dadurch steif und einfach falsch. Eine Menge Details, aber nichts wird gezeigt, alles nur erzählt und das ist schade, David Levithan kann schreiben und Gefühle schildern, aber diese Geschichte liest sich wie ein erster Entwurf, nicht wie ein fertiger Roman.

Und was ist daran so schlimm, um eine erste Liebe zu trauern? Sind vier Monate im 21ten Jahrhundert schon zu viel?

[Kasper · Rating 1 out of 5]

1? 1,5? 2? Why it's so hard for me lately to rate some books?

This just isn't for me. It was boring, and from the characters dialogues I would say they were 60 years old, no 16

[Florence Migga · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and easy read. It's fun to see the translation of this quintessential Christmas story into a Valentine's Day tale, and see all the characters turned into regular high school teenagers.

Read the full review at Book Nerds Across America: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com....

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Posts this in August. Gets kicks from being unseasonal.

David Levithan’s Marly’s Ghost is a ‘remix’ of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The whole has been given a ‘Valentine’s twist’ to further set it apart from its original. Marly’s Ghost begins in rather an interesting manner: ‘Marly was dead, to begin with. There was no doubt whatsoever about that… When she went off the treatments, she decided she wanted to die at home, and she wanted me to be there with her family. So I sat, and I waited, and I was destroyed… She was sixteen years old, but there in the bed she could have been ninety’.

The novel is narrated by Marly’s boyfriend of three years, Ben (whose real name is, perhaps rather predictably, Ebenezer), and is told from a position of retrospect, three months after her death. Understandably, his grief is still raw as he laments upon the fate of his girlfriend and isolates himself from those around him: ‘It was ‘I needed distance for my own grief… It was as if all the moments [of our relationship] had died along with her. Everything had died. Everything except me. And that was arguable. There were times when I felt I had died, too’. The advent of Valentine’s Day is merely adding more pain and sadness for him, particularly as his friends are so intent upon marking the day in some way: ‘What’s Valentine’s Day about,’ he asks, ‘except the desperate search to find someone to spend Valentine’s Day with?’.

Ben is visited by the Ghosts of Love Past, Love Present, and Death, interestingly. All three of these spirits, whilst wishing above all to alter his melancholy character, are interested in his ‘welfare’ and his ‘reclamation’. Whilst Ben is a modern character in many ways, the voice which Levithan has crafted for Marly leans toward the highly Dickensian in terms of its phrasing and vocabulary: ‘I am still tied to this life. Just as you have been tied to this death. As long as the ties are there, I wander through the world and witness what you will not share. While you’re caught, I’m caught’. It is subtle changes like this which make Marly’s Ghost well worth a read, particularly if one is familiar with the original tale.

The parallels which Levithan has drawn with Dickens’ original are sometimes predictable, but the whole is well executed – for example, the door-knocker of Ben’s house turns into Marly’s face: ‘Before I could even gasp, she was gone’, and the consequent appearance of her ghost: ‘The chain she dragged was around her waist… I saw it was an elongated version of the charm bracelet, with objects from our life clasped to each link. Not just the golden bell and the golden house and the golden heart from the real bracelet [which she wore], but books I had given her, flowers from holidays, blankets shared after sex’. The essence of Dickens’ morality tale has been kept, and the alteration of the still recognisable characters – a gay couple named Tiny and Tim, and a party-loving man called Fezziwig, for example – works well.

Marly’s Ghost is definitely not Levithan’s strongest book, but it is certainly an interesting one. The novel is intelligently written, and Ben’s narrative voice feels realistic. Although Levithan writes primarily for a young adult audience, he does not dumb anything down, and likes to explore dark and thought-provoking themes in his fiction. As usual, he handles a deep and worrying topic marvellously well, and his skill as an author comes through on every page. Marly’s Ghost is quite a quick read, but it is a multi-layered and thoughtful one nonetheless.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

A lot of David Levithan fans disliked this book. I love the story of A Christmas Carol (I say 'the story' because I've yet to read the original), but even so, I figured I would be disappointed. Compared to my expectations, I was pleasantly surprised with how I liked this book. It had its weaknesses, but it's nevertheless a fairly strong retelling of the original story.

The book is strongest in its character development. Ben's grief felt slightly over-the-top at the beginning, but by the end of the book, I felt like I had a lot more context for it, and it felt more natural. Levithan did a good job of painting depression not just as sadness (that's not necessarily how depressed people act), but also as showing Ben's depression as anger at the world, and anger at the happy people around him. That makes his transformation more authentic. It was honestly pretty affecting, the way it was done. David Levithan's work tends to be incredibly optimistic, and seeing this transformation, it's almost like an explanation of why he's so optimistic. Maybe it's not something you can appreciate without reading lots of Levithan's work, but it really worked for me.

That said, the side characters weren't as well-developed. A lot of them - particularly Fred and Fezziwig - felt like caricatures of Dickens's original characters. There were some characters with original twists - Tiny Tim became a gay couple, Tiny and Tim - but for the most part, it felt like Levithan was working off the original characters too much. The change in setting meant he couldn't capture them in their original forms, so he just awkwardly translated what he could, and left out their complexity.

The story also fell into this pattern, at times. On one hand, both the Ghosts of Love Past and of Love Yet to Come were done well - in particular, Levithan made some very clever changes to the latter's story. But the Ghost of Love Present felt very awkward to me. Most of it was taken up by an extensive party scene, and it mostly showed off the awkward secondary characters. It also featured the strangest translations of Dickens's original ideas - for example, I don't think I've ever been to a party where charades was played, not even when I was a kid, and I certainly didn't find it believable at the kind of party that teenagers have.

The writing, however, was, as usual, fantastic. A lot of readers apparently thought that Ben sounded too much like a Charles Dickens character, but I didn't notice any problems. There were a few scenes where Levithan awkwardly quoted the original text - usually at iconic moments, making it even more bizarre - but for the most part, his voice was believably teenage. Levithan does a lot of subtle things to capture his voice, which I think are more fun to notice than for me to point out.

Overall, as a fan of Levithan's, I can say that this isn't his best work. However, this is still a very strong retelling of Dickens's classic story, and if you're a fan of Levithan, there's no reason not to read this. I won't say criticisms of this book have been unfair, but after reading it, I'm surprised by how harsh they are. This is a perfectly strong book, worthy of plenty of attention.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marly's Ghost is David Levithan's take on Dickens' A Christmas Carol with a twist. Rather than focusing on Christmas, Marly's Ghost focuses on love and Valentine's Day. While I really enjoyed reading more of David Levithan's work, I felt that this book was a bit unoriginal in plot. It sticks very closely to the original work and was very predictable. I never found myself truly captivated by the story though I was interested in some of the events that took place in the past, present and future. I thought Ben's past was the most interesting aspect of the book but it didn't make me fall in love with the characters or the story.

The writing is very simple and doesn't have the same lyricism that some of Levithan's other books have. But the emotional aspect was definitely there. The book had me crying by the fourth page and my heart was breaking so hard for Ben. However, because the plot was predictable and nothing new to me, I felt myself becoming more and more indifferent as I progressed through the book and it became less emotional for me.

If you're looking for a David Levithan novel to read, I would suggest skipping Marly's Ghost because he has many other books that are far superior to this one.

[Kejana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ben's girlfriend, Marly, has died, and he can't find himself able to move on. He isolates himself from his friends, and he completely avoids any chance to celebrate Valentine's Day, which was his and Marly's favorite holiday. He begins to believe that love and this holiday are both humbug, and so begins his hauntings of the ghosts of Valentine's day past, present, and future. This story is a clever spinoff of A Christmas Carol, but it is experienced by a young man during Valentine's Day. It's really sweet, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun, quick read.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This didn't work for me. I'm still a big fan of David Levithan, but this felt too constrained, too artificial. They've tried to stay too tightly to the original text and what's resulted is cheesy and stifled. And worst of all, it feels like it was commissioned, rather than done for the love of it. Two stars still for fleeting moments of brilliance as Levithan escapes from Victorian constraint, but overall a big disappointment.

[Katie (Kitkatscanread) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received a copy of this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book. It is my true opinion only.

This is by far my favourite David Levithan book yet.
A mix of a Christmas Carol and Valentines makes it so perfect.
Was very touching as well as heart felt.

This story is definitely one that will make you think.
It is a quick and easy read. Perfect for all David Levithan fans.

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I think the Christmas Carol structure of the novel actually held the content back. It was too rigidly structured to the source material, and had it been a more "inspired by" approach, I think it would have been a much stronger piece.

[Sarika Patkotwar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating- 3.5

*This review was initially published on The Readdicts Book Blog. For more reviews, go here .

I literally go mad when I see David Levithan books in Indian bookstores and whenever that happens, I just have to buy the books. That's how I came across Marly's Ghost, which, very shockingly and disappointingly, I hadn't even heard of until I saw it and just couldn't resist purchasing a copy for myself. When I released that the book was less than 200 pages long or short, I decided to give it a go.

In its essence, Marly's Ghost is a very David Levithan-esque book, and by that I mean that it portrays very complicated and deep but daily thoughts in a very simple manner. When Ben's girlfriend Marly dies, her ghost pays him a visit followed by three more spirits who end up teaching Ben practically everything he needs to know to move on. Like every male character by the author, Ben was also very cool, smart and extremely likeable.

While I did really like this short, simple and stunning book, I have to admit that I do have some mixed feelings about it, because I wish it were longer and I also wish it were more complex. I'm not saying that the book wasn't great, because it was, but I just wish it gave me more. Other than that, however, the story was very intriguing and unique, which I thoroughly admire.

Overall, Marly's Ghost is a nice read for young readers. It definitely doesn't live up to the other books by King Levithan, but it still managed to leave an imprint on my heart because of the very lovely and clean message that it came with. And as usual, the writing made the book and the story more stunning.

[Tyne Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've given this a 3* even though it could've easily been 5. This was a twist on the Dickens classic, which Levithan was rewriting in the 'modern day'. However it was done, in my opinion, very badly - as the story is modern and the things mentioned are from this generation - however the writing is still in Dickens' style - therefore I don't see the point in rewriting? May as well have just read the original. If Levithan did write this and used modern day language too it would've easily been 5*

[Mafer Orozco · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am really surprised that I didn't like this book. It was a really good concept, however the execution was poor. It was exactly the same as "Christmas Carol" the only thing that changed was the holiday and that they were young people.
While reading I was thinking of all the things that could've been different adapting it to a modern society.
Maybe it can be a good read for a teenager who hasn't read the original work but, for me, it just didn't work.

[Kinsey Crosby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have dnf’d because I could not get into it and i just felt like it was too similar to A Christmas Carol because it looks like they have copied text from the original story