ARC Review: Marly’s Ghost by David Levithan

Posted January 6, 2015 by Stephanie in 4 Stars, Contemporary, David Levithan, Magical Realism, Marly's Ghost, Review, Young Adult / 0 Comments

Title: Marly’s Ghost
Author: David Levithan
Publication: January 8th 2015 by Electric Monkey 

Genre: Young Adult ~ Contemporary
Purchase: AmazonBook Depository | Kobo

Rating: 4/5


Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.


A remix of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with a Valentine’s twist

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.

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!

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.

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