Pinocchio

By: Carlo Collodi

Narrated by: Edward Miller

"Pinocchio" is a novel about the mischievous adventures of an animated marionette named Pinocchio and his father, a poor woodcarver named Geppetto. It is considered a canonical piece of children's literature and has inspired hundreds of new editions, stage plays, merchandising and movies, such as Walt Disney's iconic animated version and commonplace ideas such as a liar's long nose... Enter the wonderful world of adventures of Pinocchio! Will the marionette ever learn to be a good boy?©2016 Audioliterature (P)2016 Audioliterature

Interesting Children's book, terrible narrator.

When you're a person such as me who grows up reading books like Pinocchio, but you only get a shortened version such as the Dorling Kinderseley adaptation, you find yourself asking for more. This can add more into the fact that a lot of aspects from the original book are changed or removed and you realize later all of the original things that you missed. When I got this version of Pinocchio, I didn't know what to expect other than a more fleshed out version of what I heard in the past. While I was glad to have listened more to it, I couldn't help but feel some form of disappointment.


The book better explains things I didn't understand before or know that well, and I generally think the story of Pinocchio is okay. I'm generally a person whose not a fan of the Fairy, because she often is a subject of debate whether she's well-intended or flat out a bully who handles the naive main character. That's also not to mention that things like the Coachman don't seem to suffer any repercussions later and could've come back for the future. But we'll never know what happens down the line with Collodi dying sometime after Pinocchio was published. I do like though that Pinocchio actually puts effort into being better instead of being blessed off for being naive like when he passes school, that was smart.


The story itself isn't that impressive. Pinocchio just randomly finds himself in different areas upon leaving the last one, and some of them barely feel like they're around for long or have enough connection. The land of busy bees just seems like an afterthought after Pinocchio and the Fairy reunite and it's made even more so when the busy people seem forgotten shortly after. If anything, I'm surprised this little puppet didn't endure shell shock or get exhausted or frightened from how many awful things he went through in such a short amount of time. I mean, this is the same puppet who threw a mallet and crushed a talking cricket, surely that's not something to walk away from.


I think the worst part of the audiobook though is the narrator. I don't have anything against Edward Miller personally, but I really hated his narration with how childish he sounded. Every time he spoke, I always felt like the only reason he was talking the way he does as a narrator is because he's well-aware that he's in a children's audiobook, meaning he can easily make a fool of himself as he speaks even if it's very eye-rolling. I know he's narrating a children's book, but that doesn't mean he should make himself sound like an idiot or dumb himself down for the readers, even if the person reading isn't a kid. That's not even adding that each character he voices sounds nearly identical and it makes me feel even less interested in the story being told. Personally, I like Robert Lindsay from the DK adaptation of Pinocchio more, because he's more talented at making different voices for the characters contrast to Miller, who makes it obvious it's just his voice with a slightly different pitch.


The characters themselves are very basic. Pinocchio is someone whose so energetic that he gets into trouble often, The Fairy is someone whose morally debatable while other characters like the Fox and the Cat are very obvious bad guys who treat Pinocchio badly with their scams. I will admit, one of my favorite characters was the Green Fisherman because he was very obviously dumb while he reminded me of a villain from Dark Souls. His description was powerful and quite frightening in its own right, even adding into the worrisome that he'll eat a marionette fried for dinner (yuck!).


Generally, I'd recommend people find a better audiobook version of this story. While it was nice to finally hear a fleshed out version of the book, I generally found it boring and the narration only made it worse. Especially since every chapter started with having the title spoken to you every time. Do I think Edward Miller is bad? no, but I don't think this is his best narration.

Use only for your first book. - Jared Still