Book vs. Audiobook
Hmm... Anyone else smell homework?
The Great Brain By John D. Fitzgerald Dial Press 1967
Audiobook 5:13 The Great Brain Enterprise 1987
Well, I started with the audiobook, cassette tapes in this case, and I'm afraid I found them irritating. These audiotapes appear to be self-published, and it's been my experience that some things don't translate well from one medium to another. Perhaps a major audiobooks producer could have steered this production another way. Unfortunately, the irritation I felt at the cassettes was hard to forget when I read the book later, and thus influenced my appreciation of the book.
The book got some very nice reviews from sources like the School Library Journal, Time, The New York Times, Book World, Kirkus and Best Books for Children. I've yet to see a review of the audiobook. I thought I was getting a CD, but what I got was old audio cassettes. What I heard was filled with hiss and machine noise.
Now the things that irritate me might not irritate the next person. The next person might in fact rather appreciate the same aspects that make me cringe. The Great Brain is that kind of old-timey, down home storytelling that you might expect to hear from an aging, bedraggled prospector pulling a mule behind him. For example, the first chapter is entitled "The Magic Water Closet." Well, the presentation doesn't just suggest this atmosphere, it lets you have it without apology, like a cave-in at the ol' mineshaft. The book is really a series of vignettes and tall tales about three Mormon brothers, their long-suffering family, and the denizens of southwest Utah nearly a century ago. The second brother is the The Great Brain, at least in the eyes of the youngest brother. The younger relates the adventures, goings-on and make-a-penny dealings of his more experienced, but not necessarily more intelligent elder sibling. The character's last name is the same as the author's. The book is filled with morality lessons like 'honesty is the best policy' and 'mind your own business.'
They start the presentation with a song. An original song, a mediocre original song about the book and its characters. Hey, tell me what's in the book! It's the book that everybody seems to like, why gild the lily? Next on my list is the performer. He probably makes his living doing ol' prospector parts. Way over the top! Hey, the book's narrator is a seven year old boy, now wouldn't that make a nice change of pace?! The performer keeps trying to do all the voices of all the characters, and again, there's no subtlety, just irritation. Add to that the sound effects and the unrelenting banjo, scrub-board and wash-tub music they use underneath every word...and I may never pick up an audiobook again!
The audiobook goes at its pace, not mine. If I'd like to dwell on a particular aspect of the story or a clever turn of phrase, too late, we're movin' on! Years ago, in the radio curriculum I attended, we learned that a radio play done well, like in the early days of radio, could be "Theater of the Mind." You paint pictures with words, and bring them to life with actors and sound effects. Of course, the more they added the less you had to imagine, and the less you had to imagine, the less that particular story becomes one you helped create in your mind by imagining what the hero looks like, or what color is the sea. I love movies, and in horror films especially, the scariest stuff is the stuff you don't see, the stuff your mind inserts to fill those gaps. And believe me, my mind can be plenty scary!
In the case of The Great Brain audiobook, I believe less would be more. Much more.
The Great Brain By John D. Fitzgerald Dial Press 1967
Audiobook 5:13 The Great Brain Enterprise 1987
Well, I started with the audiobook, cassette tapes in this case, and I'm afraid I found them irritating. These audiotapes appear to be self-published, and it's been my experience that some things don't translate well from one medium to another. Perhaps a major audiobooks producer could have steered this production another way. Unfortunately, the irritation I felt at the cassettes was hard to forget when I read the book later, and thus influenced my appreciation of the book.
The book got some very nice reviews from sources like the School Library Journal, Time, The New York Times, Book World, Kirkus and Best Books for Children. I've yet to see a review of the audiobook. I thought I was getting a CD, but what I got was old audio cassettes. What I heard was filled with hiss and machine noise.
Now the things that irritate me might not irritate the next person. The next person might in fact rather appreciate the same aspects that make me cringe. The Great Brain is that kind of old-timey, down home storytelling that you might expect to hear from an aging, bedraggled prospector pulling a mule behind him. For example, the first chapter is entitled "The Magic Water Closet." Well, the presentation doesn't just suggest this atmosphere, it lets you have it without apology, like a cave-in at the ol' mineshaft. The book is really a series of vignettes and tall tales about three Mormon brothers, their long-suffering family, and the denizens of southwest Utah nearly a century ago. The second brother is the The Great Brain, at least in the eyes of the youngest brother. The younger relates the adventures, goings-on and make-a-penny dealings of his more experienced, but not necessarily more intelligent elder sibling. The character's last name is the same as the author's. The book is filled with morality lessons like 'honesty is the best policy' and 'mind your own business.'
They start the presentation with a song. An original song, a mediocre original song about the book and its characters. Hey, tell me what's in the book! It's the book that everybody seems to like, why gild the lily? Next on my list is the performer. He probably makes his living doing ol' prospector parts. Way over the top! Hey, the book's narrator is a seven year old boy, now wouldn't that make a nice change of pace?! The performer keeps trying to do all the voices of all the characters, and again, there's no subtlety, just irritation. Add to that the sound effects and the unrelenting banjo, scrub-board and wash-tub music they use underneath every word...and I may never pick up an audiobook again!
The audiobook goes at its pace, not mine. If I'd like to dwell on a particular aspect of the story or a clever turn of phrase, too late, we're movin' on! Years ago, in the radio curriculum I attended, we learned that a radio play done well, like in the early days of radio, could be "Theater of the Mind." You paint pictures with words, and bring them to life with actors and sound effects. Of course, the more they added the less you had to imagine, and the less you had to imagine, the less that particular story becomes one you helped create in your mind by imagining what the hero looks like, or what color is the sea. I love movies, and in horror films especially, the scariest stuff is the stuff you don't see, the stuff your mind inserts to fill those gaps. And believe me, my mind can be plenty scary!
In the case of The Great Brain audiobook, I believe less would be more. Much more.
posted by Mr.Jack @ 3:43 AM
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