This book follows the poor orphan Oliver Twist, who is born and raised at a communal workhouse, and after escaping to London, involuntarily gets involved in the criminal world. One of its main messages is how terribly the poor are treated, seen by the upper classes as lazy slobs who don't want to work.

I think this following citation, where the oversees joyfully describes to a matron how he turned away a vagrant, who later died in the street, is a good example of the way the upper class is described:

[...] "Then I'll die in the streets!" says the vagrant. "Oh no, you won't," says our overseer.'

'Ha! ha! That was very good! So like Mr. Grannett, wasn't it?' interposed the matron. 'Well, Mr. Bumble?'

'Well, ma'am,' rejoined the beadle, 'he went away; and he did die in the streets. There's a obstinate pauper for you!'

It also covers other themes such as child labour, domestic violence, alcoholism, and so on. I did find this social commentary very interesting, as it likely was rather true to the climate in England at that time.

One of my main issues with the book, from a modern perspective, is that it turns out that Oliver is of a good blood line, and ends up being rescued by some good and wealthy people. It almost feels as if the goodness of people depend on who their parents were. The good orphan Oliver just got misplaced, and in the end got saved by the other good wealthy people, restoring the balance.

In the end I enjoyed reading the book. It was a bit long, and as expected, the values back then were slightly different from ours today, but it was interesting to take a peek into how society was almost two hundred years ago, both from the fictional world, as well as the visible beliefs of the author.