Marly’s Ghost
by David Levithan
Assignment: #10 of narrative annotations
Publication info.: Dial, 2006. 163 p.
Genre & Format: Romance; Novel
Awards/Reviews: Kirkus and Booklist (SLJ was not very positive)
Grades: 7 and up
Summary: This retelling of the Charles Dickens tale A Christmas Carol gets its root in Valentine’s Day. The main character Ben is filled with anguish over the loss of his girlfriend Marly to cancer that year. Although he is only sixteen, they had been together for three years before she died. His cloud of grief makes him turn on friends who only want to wish him the best this Valentine’s Day. His “humbug” response to the holiday draws four ghosts to him that night, beginning with Marly begging for him to let her go. The plot and timeline of the Dickens classic is heald to nicely. The characters are mostly represented from the first, with Fezziwig as the party animal, but the role of Tiny Tim replaced by a freshman gay couple named Tiny and Tim seems trite.
Comments: As a lover of A Christmas Carol, I thoroughly enjoyed this journey of bereavement, which many people forget is what Ebenezer was lamenting as well. He chose work and money over his young love only to mourn it his whole life in the name of greed.
Booktalking ideas: This would be great for a love story hook, or the traditional Valentine’s day topic. I think the dying from cancer point of view is more open now, so many students might identify with that side.
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