ThrowBook Thursday: Narnia Audio (Part 1)
This month's ThrowBook Thursday is a sequel of sorts to July's post. My reread/relisten of the Narnia series has continued (with quite an odd reading order, on which more in a moment), though I have dropped the BBC Radio adaptations after being thoroughly underwhelmed by their version of The Silver Chair. As I've gone through the audio books and Focus on the Family Radio Theatre versions of the books, I noticed that I was ranking each against the others, so I thought I'd offer my thoughts on them in that light.
First off, I am still only partway through the series. I have listened to (in this order): The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader*. In each case, I listen to the HarperCollins audio book and then the FotF radio version (with the BBC version thrown in for SC). Secondly, I'm ranking the audio books, but including any relevant thoughts on the FotF versions, as my biggest comments there tend to be how much David Suchet's Aslan bothered me (or not).
Of these four, here are my rankings:
4. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader read by Derek Jacobi
I expected to love Derek Jacobi's reading, but it didn't hold up for me, especially following three such splendid narrators as he did. My main complaints are that his voices for Lucy and Reepicheep are just dreadful (his is the worst Reepicheep of the lot, being far less noble-sounding than Lynn Redgrave's and even squeakier than the radio version). His Aslan is also not as good as the other narrators' (this is typically the voice that can win or lose me on a Narnia reading).
3. Prince Caspian read by Lynn Redgrave
Usually one of my least favorite books, I was impressed with how much I loved this version this time (like my memory of Northam's Silver Chair, my memory of Lynn Redgrave's narration was worse than the actual experience). A friend remarked to me a while back that Redgrave's quiet reading fit perfectly with the narrative of Narnia waking again to life and magic, and listening to this book on the car sound system versus through headphones allowed me to enjoy that aspect more this time. Redgrave does remarkably well with the male voices in the book, and astounded me with the fact that hers is the Reepicheep I now love most. She captures the smallness of his size and the largeness of his courage and valor. Her Aslan is acceptable.
2. The Silver Chair read by Jeremy Northam
I covered this one two months back in another ThrowBook Thursday, but suffice it to say that I was pleasantly surprised this time to find that I actually enjoyed Northam's Puddleglum, which had been my chief complaint before. This may become one of the Narnia books I most want to listen to because of Northam's skillful narration all around. (His Aslan begins a bit iffy but finishes strong.)
1. The Horse and His Boy read by Alex Jennings
It may be no surprise that this is at the top of the list, but I really wasn't sure which of the two (this or Silver Chair) would win out in the end. The fact that this is my favorite Narnia book helps, but Jennings is an excellent reader and does a fine job of handling Aslan's scenes. (I loved his reading of Shasta's encounter with Aslan, my favorite scene in the book, and *almost* loved the FotF version of the scene; Suchet almost got it perfect, without his usual odd inflection on the words, and then threw some of that in at the last moment and brought me crashing out of the scene.)
If you have listened to any of the Narnia audio books or FotF radio adaptations, what did you think? Do your rankings match mine? Tell me all about it below!
* I will cover the last three books next month. You may be surprised to find that adding those three in will change where some of these four land on the list.
First off, I am still only partway through the series. I have listened to (in this order): The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader*. In each case, I listen to the HarperCollins audio book and then the FotF radio version (with the BBC version thrown in for SC). Secondly, I'm ranking the audio books, but including any relevant thoughts on the FotF versions, as my biggest comments there tend to be how much David Suchet's Aslan bothered me (or not).
Of these four, here are my rankings:
4. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader read by Derek Jacobi
I expected to love Derek Jacobi's reading, but it didn't hold up for me, especially following three such splendid narrators as he did. My main complaints are that his voices for Lucy and Reepicheep are just dreadful (his is the worst Reepicheep of the lot, being far less noble-sounding than Lynn Redgrave's and even squeakier than the radio version). His Aslan is also not as good as the other narrators' (this is typically the voice that can win or lose me on a Narnia reading).
3. Prince Caspian read by Lynn Redgrave
Usually one of my least favorite books, I was impressed with how much I loved this version this time (like my memory of Northam's Silver Chair, my memory of Lynn Redgrave's narration was worse than the actual experience). A friend remarked to me a while back that Redgrave's quiet reading fit perfectly with the narrative of Narnia waking again to life and magic, and listening to this book on the car sound system versus through headphones allowed me to enjoy that aspect more this time. Redgrave does remarkably well with the male voices in the book, and astounded me with the fact that hers is the Reepicheep I now love most. She captures the smallness of his size and the largeness of his courage and valor. Her Aslan is acceptable.
2. The Silver Chair read by Jeremy Northam
I covered this one two months back in another ThrowBook Thursday, but suffice it to say that I was pleasantly surprised this time to find that I actually enjoyed Northam's Puddleglum, which had been my chief complaint before. This may become one of the Narnia books I most want to listen to because of Northam's skillful narration all around. (His Aslan begins a bit iffy but finishes strong.)
1. The Horse and His Boy read by Alex Jennings
It may be no surprise that this is at the top of the list, but I really wasn't sure which of the two (this or Silver Chair) would win out in the end. The fact that this is my favorite Narnia book helps, but Jennings is an excellent reader and does a fine job of handling Aslan's scenes. (I loved his reading of Shasta's encounter with Aslan, my favorite scene in the book, and *almost* loved the FotF version of the scene; Suchet almost got it perfect, without his usual odd inflection on the words, and then threw some of that in at the last moment and brought me crashing out of the scene.)
If you have listened to any of the Narnia audio books or FotF radio adaptations, what did you think? Do your rankings match mine? Tell me all about it below!
* I will cover the last three books next month. You may be surprised to find that adding those three in will change where some of these four land on the list.
Comments
Post a Comment
What do you think?