AUDIO Books (in English)- comparative review

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 25713

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Monika Huebner" <monika at d...> wrote:
;) He definitely
> does different voices for the characters, but maybe a bit less
> pronounced than Dale, what is just what I like about his 
performance.
> 

I haven't heard Frye, but I've listened to Dale all summer.  I have 
really enjoyed Dale's audio book readings.  What I've noticed about 
him is that he doesn't feel compelled to do a character's voice in a 
way that is consistent with the description in the text.  Voldemort 
is a good example of this -- V has a high, cold voice in the books, 
but Dale uses a low villian voice that is quite chilling.  His 
Crouch/Moody is really great -- it stands out because it sounds 
almost American to my ears, and is not a growl as described in GoF.  

I also liked the fact that Dale makes very clear distinctions in his 
voices for most characters.  Dale's Sirius is jaw-dropping in GoF -- 
extremely deep and slow, which BTW sounds different from the one in 
PoA (which reminded me of Sean Connery).  Dale's reading of the 
Unexpected Task still makes me laugh out loud -- he really captures 
the angst.  Dale's Dobby is perfect, his Hagrid is outstanding, his 
Dumbledore is really good, too.  His Vernon Dursley and Fudge 
couldn't sound more formal and pretentious.  The only character that 
I might have him do differently is Hermione. "Harr-eeeeeeeeee" felt 
like nails on a blackboard after a while.

Anyway, if you have a room to paint, a garage to clean, or an office 
to straighten, listening to the Dale books on tapes is highly 
recommended.

Cindy 
--------------
"I don't know what made me do it!" Ron gasped again.  "What was I 
playing at? There were people -- all around -- I've gone mad -- 
everyone watching!  I was just walking past her in the entrance hall -
- she was standing there talking to Diggory -- and it sort of came 
over me -- and I asked her!" <snip>
"She looked at me like I was a sea slug or something.  Didn't even 
answer.  And then -- I dunno -- I just sort of came to my senses and 
ran for it."  

GoF, The Unexpected Task.