Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Signature Performance by Elijah Wood
- Narrated by: Elijah Wood
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
Buy Now for £18.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Editor reviews
Elijah Wood’s performance is my nominee for the Narrators’ Hall of Fame. Wood’s unself-conscious reading doesn’t sound like a reading at all. He creates an entire world filled with people who cross class and color lines. His accents range from British to faux-British to all manner of regional affectations, twangs, and drawls. Wood’s delivery makes Mark Twain’s delicious wit and twisty language sound completely natural, especially as Huck invents plausible words to suit the moment. The journey down the Mississippi with Huck and Jim is pure pleasure, as the boy who won’t be "sivilized" and the runaway slave encounter scoundrels, slip out of scrapes, and invent outrageous tales. The listening couldn’t be better if Huck read the story himself.
Summary
Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)
Audible is pleased to announce the premiere of an exciting new series, Audible Signature Classics, featuring literature’s greatest stories, performed by accomplished stars handpicked for their ability to interpret each work in a new and refreshing way. The first book in the series is Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, performed by Elijah Wood.
Ernest Hemingway said, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn". One hundred years after its author’s death, this classic remains remarkably modern and poignantly relevant. In this brand new edition, Elijah Wood reads Huck in a youthful voice that may be the closest interpretation to Twain’s original intent. His performance captures the excitement and confusion of adolescence and adventure. Best of all, the immediacy of Wood’s energetic reading sweeps listeners up and makes them feel as though they’re along for the ride, as Huck and Jim push their raft toward freedom.
Stay tuned for more one-of-a-kind performances from actors Kenneth Branagh, David Hyde Pierce, Leelee Sobieski, and more, only from Audible Signature Classics.
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Signature Performance by Elijah Wood
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Peter
- 18-01-11
A great adventure story
In its own right, this book is a simple, first-person adventure story and greatly enjoyable. Written in 1884, it incorporates the attitudes and culture of the time and as it is set in the deep south during a time of racial inequality, there are attitudes, expressions and words used that may shock or offend some people. This book is now a historical reference to a time gone by. The current debate regarding one US publishers decision to remove racial terminology from it has brought this book into the news for all the wrong reasons. People should be allowed to witness history unsullied by current obsessions with political correctness - witnessing both right and wrong is what educates us.
The narration by Elijah Wood is excellent. His youthful voice and excellent characterisation make this a great listening experience.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
28 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 06-02-15
A slow, meandering journey
The performance is great and really brings all the characters alive with their distinctive Southern voices. The story, however, and I feel churlish in admitting this, had me a little bored at times. This is one of those I wanted to read and thereby cross it off the "books to read before you die" and am glad I have...but equally am glad to have finished it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stephanie Jane (Literary Flits)
- 25-10-13
Classic evocation of a particular era
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a great evocation of a particular era in American history. The attitudes displayed, especially towards race and slavery, are shocking to modern ears and I had to keep reminding myself that the book was not only set, but also written in a very different time and place. I loved the variety of characters, all very real yet memorably larger than life, and I’m sure Elijah Wood’s expert narration was a major part of my enjoyment. His portrayal of all the dialects and accents was fabulous. I think even Dickens would have been proud of the King and the Duke! Having not read any Mark Twain as a child, I expect some of the excitement of the adventures was lost on me – I did get a little bored by the intricacies of the plot at Aunt Sally’s – but the major part of the book detailing Huck’s escape from his abusive father and his and Jim’s journey down the river had me completely hooked and even a little envious at times.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- tungeler
- 12-02-11
a great reading!
of course it's still 'huckleberry finn', a wonderful novel,alive with characters and colour and action.but this fine reading made it all the more enjoyable as the varying accents and speech rhythms are all part of the book's charm.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 03-12-14
Elijah Wood is superb!
If you could sum up Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Signature Performance by Elijah Wood in three words, what would they be?
Authentic, engrossing, nostalgic
What was one of the most memorable moments of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Signature Performance by Elijah Wood?
Elijah's Wood's amazing variety of accents.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
The drifting down the Mississippi past St Louis.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It made me think back to childhood when I last read this book, and reminded me what a great book it is.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- nenglesberg
- 07-02-15
Great read
Everyone should read this book ,
And Elijah Wood dose a fantastic job reading this book ,
I think people should listen to this .
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Evie
- 14-04-13
Huck Finn
It's been a long time since I read Huckleberry Finn, and I had forgotten how much depth there was in the novel, and how much Mark Twain used it to attack the issues and attitudes related to slavery in the Southern States. The movingly, if unsentimentally depicted friendship between Huck and Jim, whom he helps to escape from slavery, and Huck's ruminations on how very sinful he must be to 'steal' Jim from Miss Watson are, even now, powerful indictments against racism.
Elijah Wood is an ideal narrator for this tale, which is, more than anything, good fun.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Fredbear
- 01-12-14
Classically Wonderful.
Where does Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Signature Performance by Elijah Wood rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This is a very good rendering of the classic Mark Twain story concerning Huckleberry Finn. Elijah Wood brings the text to life with a sensitive reading and a very good attempt at differentiating the various dialects spoken by the many beautifully drawn characters.
What other book might you compare Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Signature Performance by Elijah Wood to, and why?
Most of us are aware of this story as the sequel to Tom Sawyer, and in many cases it has been studied as literature in school. This reading of the book repairs some of the damage done by poor English teaching, in that the story is made accessible and enjoyable without all the dissection done in literature classes.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Speaking as someone who has had books 'ruined' in such ways, it was delightful to just listen to the story on its own merits and as such it showcased Mark Twain's wit and his astute observation of human nature.
Any additional comments?
It is an absolute joy to add this to my library as a book to listen to again and again purely for the joy of the storytelling without having to worry about O Level grades!! (and yes, that does show my age!)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- GenKaan
- 08-08-14
Elijah Wood saves the day
Would you try another book written by Mark Twain or narrated by Elijah Wood?
Elijah yes, Twain no
Didnt like the book, couldnt relate and it just didnt speak to me.
Has Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Signature Performance by Elijah Wood put you off other books in this genre?
not really, next time Im going way more fantasy
Could you see Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Signature Performance by Elijah Wood being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?
I dont think so
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Roly
- 21-02-20
An exaggerated authenticity ... and testament to history
This is entertaining, unusual and controversial; the language and narration are novel with a current of humour as it describes the American South of the time. There’s an exaggerated authenticity in its joie de vivre, raw-emotional comeraderie, naïveté and skull-duggery but also entrenched racism of slavery. The small town, Mississippi Southerners happily ate their meat’n greens and smoked their corn cob pipes but propagated great cruelty and the book exposes this.
The adventures of Huck Finn, entertaining as they are.... eventually become a little tedious and I flagged toward the end.... but finished.
At the very least the novel is a literary testament to history and holds its place as one of the (sic) ‘great american novels’ . No regrets !
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful