Horn Book Review
These inexpensive condensed versions of classic novels are quickly paced and competently told, with occasional black-and-white illustrations adding spice. Still, one wonders why the adaptations were created in the first place. Some tales (e.g., Gulliver+s Travels) are already suited for children; others gain their depth from complexities of material and language, which is excised here for age-appropriateness. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Guardian Review
Ideally this would have been a review of the new Mark Twain biography by Ron Power, but if Matisse, Nijinsky and Coleridge are anything to go by, it won't make it to audio. Serious biographies rarely do. So here's the next best thing, an unabridged edition of Twain's finest book, read with such unfeigned warmth, humour and gusto by Garrick Hagon that, to coin a phrase, "well, blame me if I says it and call me a lowdown abolitionist if I durst but, thinks I, Mr Twain would mostwise reckon it powerful good, an I ain't fooling, dog my catch if I ain't." That's the big problem with first- person narratives delivered in the vernacular. Vernon God Little , Angela's Ashes , anything by William Faulkner and (I'll be lynched for saying this) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time are the same. Unless you're familiar with the accent and sympathetic to the tone, they take some getting into on the page. But listening to someone like Hagon, whose repertoire of accents and voices is flawless, you're immediately swept into the story without a hiccup. And what a story. Not for nothing are they called adventures, though so are Tom Sawyer's and they aren't a patch on the glorious escapades of the inimitable, irrepressible, incorrigible Huck Finn and Jim the runaway slave. Here they are floating down the Mississippi on a raft, discussing, along with fishing, smoking and bad omens, the judgment of Solomon. "Says Jim, 'de man dat think he kin settle a 'spute 'bout a whole chile wid a half a chile doan' know enough to come in out'n de rain. Doan' talk to me 'bout Sollermun, Huck, I knows him by de back.' I never see such a nigger. If he got a notion in his head once there warn't no getting it out again. He was the most down on Solomon of any nigger I ever see." Those, incidentally, are just two of the 211 times the word "nigger" crops up in the book and the reason it's still banned in some US shops. This is a genuine classic, full of laughs and fights and scams and Wild West characters that deserve a wider, younger audience. Don't miss this brilliant performance. Caption: article-audio11.1 Here they are floating down the Mississippi on a raft, discussing, along with fishing, smoking and bad omens, the judgment of Solomon. "Says Jim, 'de man dat think he kin settle a 'spute 'bout a whole chile wid a half a chile doan' know enough to come in out'n de rain. Doan' talk to me 'bout Sollermun, Huck, I knows him by de back.' I never see such a nigger. If he got a notion in his head once there warn't no getting it out again. He was the most down on Solomon of any nigger I ever see." Those, incidentally, are just two of the 211 times the word "nigger" crops up in the book and the reason it's still banned in some US shops. - Sue Arnold.