Tuck Everlasting

By: Natalie Babbitt

Narrated by: Peter Thomas

Length: 3 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

When 10-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles upon the Tuck family's disturbing secret, she is forced to come to terms with her conflicting emotions. She feels drawn to the loving, gentle, and rather eccentric Tucks, but what they tell her is too incredible to be believed. Doomed to, or blessed with, eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family tries to make Winnie understand that the terrible magic of the forest spring can never be revealed. The consequences to the world could prove to be disastrous!

But then an unexpected complication arises when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to sell the spring water and make a fortune.

©1985 Natalie Babbitt (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"Rarely does one find a book with such prose. Flawless in both style and structure, it is rich in imagery and punctuated with light fillips of humor. The author manipulates her plot deftly." ( The Horn Book)

Voice

Can a female please read this I can't stand his voice. I only read it because I had to

Loved

I completely loved it. great narrator as well. short read. read/listened all in one sitting

Wonderful and nostalgic tale

Morality, right and wrong, Good and evil, extortion, manslaughter, loss, heartache, loneliness, and so much more are all heavy themes for a book that seems at first glance To be a just light tale about a magic spring. I'm. Glad this youth novel. Doesn't shy from heavy concepts,. I remember WHEN I first Rea dit in maybe 5th grade that I felt like. It was important to read to know it and understand itx though. I. COULDN'T really, not then, still. It. Opened my eyes to a wider world.in many ways..

The narrator is talented, but some Of his characterizations felt rather A lot more... I dunno, Sinister than I recall feeling When I read it myself.

the sad ending

the middle and end did not like the beginning but in my opinion the best part was the dogs

Pretty good but feel like the story is missing something

Good narration and good story line, touching towards the end but not quite sure what’s the ultimate meaning behind the story.

book review

I enjoyed listening to this book. Very easy to listen to. A great story line

It was very awesome

I liked the narrator and the structure of the book and it was all Round amazing

Makes you think of what would really happen if you live forever

This is a must read book .and l particular love the great use of figurative language.

Perfect narration makes story come to life

The narrator was amazing. The book is beautifully written. I finished it in one day.

So good, lil questionable! Quick read!! *spoilers*

I loved this book as a child and the movie as well. I was such a romantic then and a huge romantic now!! This book does take you on a pretty philosophical thought journey, at least it did for me as a kid. But while I loved the plot of the story, the reading, the characters and the amazing writing itself, I'm ngl I was almost so disappointed with an ending I wasn't nearly as upset about as a kid. The thought of poor Jessie waiting all those years just to find out she remarried and decided against living forever is heartbreaking. Then I remembered how freaking weird that aspect of the story really was!! It makes me uncomfortable that for most of the book there is a 17 year old (104 year old) guy who is looking at Winnie, a 10 year old, as a potential wife. Something about the entire relationship there just felt like grooming. To ask a woman around his age to consider living forever with him while being truthful about the risks would have forced Jessie to view it more seriously. If he was as beautiful and cute as Winnie describes him, he likely wouldn't have had trouble finding a potential wife his own age. But the fact that he chooses Winnie, flirts with her and everything just weirds me out. Him telling her to wait until she is 17 is a little redeeming but it's still grooming behavior to me. It's certainly a concept that might have been okay or even romantic to readers when this was written. It was romantic to me as a child because I always thought Winnie was 13 or 14, much closer in age to Jessie, due to the movie, not TEN. The fact that they make her a bit older in the movie just kind of adds to my point and the fact that the author clearly viewed this romantically making it easy for readers (like me!! I felt so icky remembering that she isn't old enough to consider things like that!!! Regardless of the time period, it was always wrong even if it was socially acceptable!!) to feel sympathetic toward Jessie about this is really strange and icky to me.

Nevertheless, this was a very well written story and if you can get past the initial discomfort of having a teenager try to groom a literal child into living forever and being his wife, it's a worthy read and definitely a story people can learn from. Also, that poor toad lmao