Pat has a really interesting post on the Harry Potter audiobooks. She’s a big Stephen Fry fan, and she gives really good reasons for her preference; so in my mind, it’s already an awesome post.
But she also makes some interesting observations which had crossed my mind before, but I’d never reflected on the reason, and Pat might just be on to something. She notes that there is an uncanny amount of similarity between the voices Fry chooses for the characters, and the way their actors speak in the films:
One of the most interesting things about the first four Harry Potter books is that he recorded them before the first movie came out, and before any of the characters were cast.
So I was thinking that all of that is due to the writing. Rowling apparently wrote all of those characters (including all the Weasleys, parents as well as the children) in such a way that whoever is reading will have such a vivid image of the characters that the voice will just be natural.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve not heard Fry, but do enjoy Jim Dale’s readings. Except for his teenaged girls Hermione (Harreeee!) and especially the sepulcheral Luna. Come to think of it, Dale’s Harreeee has become more endearing when Hermione is trying to be kind or persuasive (like at Godric’s Hollow).
Dale is a natural tenor and really nails special voices like Peeves, Dobby and Griphook. His Kreacher is amazing.
What really rocks though, are Rob Inglis’ readings of Tolkien.
I never listened to Stephen Fry, only Jim Dale, so I got to hear him to see what Pat was writing about.
I second the Rob Inglis recommendation. I was listening to The Two Towers the other day and his reading is great—- his singing in particular is very moving. Mind you, I still had to skip through some of the Treebeard stuff. But that’s Tolkein’s fault, not Inglis’s.
I prefer many of Dale’s character’s to Fry’s, especially in the early books. But I find Fry’s reading of the basic narrative much easier and enjoyable listening.
I have the first three books in the Fry versions & the last four in Dale versions. I much prefer the Fry versions, particularly because as SPT noted so well, Fry’s reading of the narrative is much easier & enjoyable to hear.
I don’t care so much about voice characterizations, so I don’t mind if the narrator does those in any particular way. However, I don’t particularly care for Dale’s readings of Hermione, Luna, & Bellatrix. They’re just more annoying than helpful to me.
Would agree on Inglis’ work on The Lord of the Rings.
I completely agree about Inglis’s reading of Fellowship. (I don’t have the other ones yet.) In fact, listening to him read it was more enjoyable than any of the times I’ve read it.
The other audio book that is one of my favorites is Alan Rickman reading Return of the Native. He does give each character a different voice, though I agree that I don’t think it’s necessary. But there are times that I completely lose the sense that I’m listening to Rickman because he changes his voice and accent so effectively. He also does something unique with the women’s voices; rather than pitching them higher, he gives their characters a softer voice. Hard to describe, but it’s very good.
I also have the Chronicles of Narnia audio books. This is the version that has each book read by a different person. So far, they are quite good, especially Kenneth Brannagh reading The Magician’s Nephew. That reminds me that I need to get those out and finish listening to them.
My favourite Narnia audiobooks were read by Sir Michael Horden. They were very important to me in my formative years.
I haven’t listened to any LOTR audiobooks except selected readings bu Tolkien and Silmarillion readings by Christopher Tolkien. The BBC Radio programs of LOTR was one of the best auido productions I’ve listened to. Highly recommended.
Hmmmm. I haven’t gone in for audio books so far, because I enjoy the experience of reading a book and imagining the voices that are presented there myself. I did hear a snippet of a Dale version of OOTP when Amazon was advertising it before the print book came out, and I did not like the way that his Hermione sounded. I do agree that Rowling has done a wonderful job with the voices of her characters. Hagrid, of course, is the prime example, but all of her characters have their own individuality. One of the shames of the film version of GOF, I think, is that Krum and Fleur were reduced to almost cameo speaking, while in the books, we get a strong sense of
Fleur’s French accent, as well as Krum’s Bulgarian one. I would consider getting a Fry version of one of the HP books if (1) it was not too expensive, and (2) I could find it. Every time I look at the HP audio books available in book stores, there’s only the Jim Dale versions available.
I haven’t listened to any of the Fry versions yet, but I have all of the JD recordings in my car. I have to agree with everyone who dislikes Dale’s readings of Hermione and Luna – I too find them rather annoying. My parents are going to bring me back DH read by Fry when they visit England this month, so I can’t wait to compare.
I also just want to throw out an idea, and I don’t at all mean to detract from Rowling as an author, but it could be possible some of the actors may have listend to the Fry versions, which would definately influence the way in which they portray their roles. In an unrelated to HP example I see the influence of the BBC Pride and Prejudice all over Keira Knightly’s performance of Elizabeth Bennet in the Focus film.
I think whether you enjoy audio books or not may have to do with learning style. I originally bought the audio books of The Hobbit (also Inglis, but tapes instead of CDs) and Fellowship for him. When they sat on the shelf for almost a year, I decided to listen for myself. It was sometime around that time that we were driving some place and he said “I can’t hear directions and remember them, so just give me one at a time.” Well, after over 30 years of marriage and always arguing when we were driving somewhere, that would have been helpful to know before. It was then that I realized that my engineer hubby is a visual and kinesthetic learner, not an auditory one. But I need all three – so I enjoy reading the books for myself and seeing the movies, but I really do much better with hearing them.
I think some of it goes back to my grade school days of listening to our fourth grade teacher when she read the Little House books to the class.