The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

By: Henry Fielding

Narrated by: Kenneth Danzinger

A foundling of mysterious parentage, Tom Jones is brought up by the benevolent and wealthy Squire Allworthy as his own son. Tom falls in love with the beautiful and unattainable Sophia Western, a neighbor’s daughter, whose marriage has already been arranged. When Tom’s sexual misadventures around the countryside get him banished, he sets out to make his fortune and find his true identity.

Against the vivid background of 18th-century London, Tom encounters passion, corruption, danger, and intrigue before finally claiming his fortune, legitimacy, and true love. Fielding’s bawdy, colorful, high-spirited novel paints human vices and virtues with unprecedented honesty and good humor, making Tom Jones as fresh and entertaining today as it was 200 years ago.

Public Domain (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Tom Jones…has been admired by many readers as the most meticulously crafted book of its type. With neoclassic objectivity, humor, and fine psychological delicacy, Fielding dissects the motives of his characters to reveal universal truths about human nature.” ( Masterpieces of World Literature)

“Two hundred years have not dimmed Fielding’s realism. His humor is closer to our own than that of any writer before the present century." (Kingsley Amis)

Performance par excellence!

Great story, great performance. I rarely laugh out loud at classics, but I certainly did with this! Absolutely loved the narrator, such a range of characters!

Amazing reading!

What did you love best about The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling?

Narrator truly made the characters come to life with multiple old British accents and truly great acting! Wow!

Incredible Performance

Where does The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best, if not the best. It was marvelous.

What about Kenneth Danzinger’s performance did you like?

Kenneth Danzinger has the perfect voice and flexibility to bring this novel to life, with its conversational tone, its warmth, its good humor, its affability, and its entertaining cast of characters.

Any additional comments?

I can't imagine a more pleasant way to read this book.

Delightful!

So absolutely enjoyed this novel! It may have taken a while to really get into, and the loquacity of the narrator takes some patience, but it is so absolutely worth it! I was tickled all the way through! And the Audible narrator was sublime.

It Actually Deserves 5*****

I listened to this title solely by the prompting of Karen Swallow Prior by having it as the source example for the first chapter in her excellent book, "On Reading Well."
I chose to complete the entire (enormous) novel before reading her chapter about it. I am both bummed at this decisions and very satisfied by it. Bummed because I ended up missing many of the key sign posts which make the story great, and glad because I was more weightily put into my place after reading it and judging it wrongly.

I did not enjoy the novel on its own stand-alone merits. But now after reading Prior's chapter about it, I am rightfully shamed.

On my own, I found the book to be frivolous, silly, and superfluous. It felt like over-binging on Seinfeld (or even a less worthy sitcom) for thirty-five hours plus (audio). Throughout my listening to this novel I was perplexed by it at times. It gave me the opportunity to make keen judgments about the nature of morality, justice, and love. I have to say I bypassed these opportunities too quickly, for in them (as I have come to learn) the whole virtue of the book rests.

In and of itself, the characters of the novel are endearing, humorous, lovable, deplorable, and well-crafted. The writing is good and for the most part keeps the reader well engaged, and the story flows smooth enough to not get lost easily. But the true worth of the book is in being taught how to read it by Karen Swallow Prior in her book mentioned above. From her single chapter on it I believe I now have a much more keen sense as to how to glean truth and goodness from any and all novels. I have been confronted with my own narrow-mindedness, shallowness, and self-righteousness. Critical realizations such as these make the reading so worth it.

(Narration was great).