A quick glance at eBay Pulse tells me most audiobook reader/listeners prefer unabridged books. And who wouldn’t? With abridgements, I’m often left wondering what I missed. It’s like watching Dirty Dancing edited for television – you’ve seen it so many times that you know something is missing but you’re not sure what.
Then again, if the book isn’t that great to begin with, I appreciate an abridgement because that means the dullness is over sooner. I can get to the resolution of the story with little fuss or muss and move on to the next book.
Either way, I like to vary my audiobook fare. After I read a nice, long unabridged book, I’ll shake things up with a lightweight abridgement or two.
I think it would be fun to be an abridger (Is that what they’re called? Or maybe abridginator? Abridgidaire?). As an editor, I take great joy in trimming the fat from stories. It’s like a puzzle, and you figure out how to make things fit together in the best, sleekest way.
Okay, I’m getting all squiggly-feeling just thinking about it. How does one break into the abridging game?
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2 comments:
Abridgetoofar.
I've always avoided the abridged versions, having listened to a horrible abomination of one of the Narnia books, but I can see how an abridgimification of some of the bland audiobooks I've listened to would definitely be an improvement.
Have you listened to any of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books, by Alexander McCall Smith? The one I listened to had just the perfect narrator.
No, I haven't read any of those. I'll have to try one.
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