Marly's Ghost by David Levithan

Marly's Ghost

by David Levithan

David Levithan, bestselling author of Every Day, gives Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol a Valentine’s remix

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.

David Levithan is master of blending fantasy and romance, and Marly’s Ghost has every bit as wonderfully strange and magical as Every Day and Another Day.

David is the New York Times best-selling author of Boy Meets Boy and Marly’s Ghost. While among his many collaborations are Will Grayson, Will Grayson with Fault in Our Stars author John Green, and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist with Rachel Cohn, which became a major film. David's latest collaboration with Rachel, The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily, was picked by Zoella for her Book Club with WHSmiths. Tiny Cooper from Will Grayson, Will Grayson, now has his own novel: Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story. David is also a highly respected children’s book editor, whose list includes many luminaries of children’s literature, including Garth Nix, Libba Bray and Suzanne Collins. He lives and works in New York.

Reviewed by Leah on

3 of 5 stars

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David Levithan is one of the most popular young adult authors, although I haven’t actually read any of his books, which is very much on me. So when I spotted Marly’s Ghost up on Netgalley, I thought it sounded quite intriguing, and I was very happy to be approved to read the novel, which is actually a Valentine’s re-telling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

I have to confess that while I haven’t read any of David’s books before, I also haven’t read the book that Marly’s Ghost in based on. No, I have never read A Christmas Carol. Shocking, I know. But I don’t really read the classics, and I never have, but I would be interested to go back and read A Christmas Carol to see how similar Marly’s Ghost is.

Marly’s Ghost was an interesting read, sometimes a bit too old-fashioned in the way Ben would speak to the spirits that visited him and it was more of a novella than a novel, taking me an hour or so to complete, but it was interesting to see Ben see his old self, and to see how love shows itself in different forms. It was easy to see how Ben had become how he had after Marly’s death, but if everyone gave up after they lost a loved one, there’d be no one left in the world.

It was definitely an interesting little tale. I am somewhat disappointed I didn’t get to see the awesome illustrations that will be in the finished book, because they would have added an extra dimension to the story for sure. I’m glad I read Marly’s Ghost, it was certainly an interesting experience and I can’t wait to read more of David Levithan’s work in the future.

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  • Started reading
  • 26 December, 2014: Finished reading
  • 26 December, 2014: Reviewed