We listened to this book during out holiday travels. The beginning was funny, but drug on from the midpoint on.

yes.

when he shot the BB gun.

no

I was expecting the whole book to be funny after having heard so much about the movie. I was disappointed in the last half of the book.

I was born in N Indiana, and moved when I was 7. I often wondered why my parents were the way they were. I understand them better now. BBs do not always hit the eye. I do remember wearing knickers on the way to school.

I have never been an aficionado of the movie, but wanted to hear the book to see whether maybe I was missing something. It was okay, but I don't want to listen twice. I would neither recommend nor discourage a friend to read the book.

Perhaps next Chritmas would be a good time to hear it again.

Ralphie is the central character, of course; but the "old man" steals a lot of scenes.

I had not heard Cavett before on Audible. He did a good job, but Jean Shepherd's narration in the movie is hard to beat.

Yes, but I like to spread Audible books out over a few days.

It's hard to stop smiling (or laughing out loud) from start to finish.

If I had read the book, first, then saw the movie, I do think I'd enjoy the movie more. I found this book more interesting in an academic sort of way. I liked how Ralphy found the Ovaltine can, and it was neat to find out what sent him down Memory Lane to childhood Christmases. But I found the narration not what I expected.

The events happened in a very different order as well. I thought I'd be anticipating that Ralphy would get the BB gun at the end of the book and was sort of disappointed when it happened closer to the beginning.

I have watched the movie every year but this is the first book rendition encountered. A little surprising to find the book spanned a few of the seasons as compared to the movies Christmas time only. The movie combined the entire book into the Christmas Season except for a few details of the Bumbus clan and added a few things for entertainment value. I enjoyed the narration and sound effects included, enabling good visualization of the stories settings and characters. Anyone over 40 should be able to relate to the Old Man, Ralphie and the rest of the characters including the antics of the Old Man during this depression era period.
Appealing to all ages who have had dreams, wishes and childhood memories, you can relate to Ralphies trials and tribulations of kid dom, no matter what era you grew up in.

Yes, but only to those not easily offended by profanity.

The book is a collection of short stories, so there wasn't a grand finale.

Dick has a gruff voice that takes a little bit of time to start to enjoy -- however, he voice does grow on you. The reading has background sound effect and intro music -- which does help add to the performance.

Each of the stories had their own charms. The famous "leg lamp" story and the "Easter ham" are my favorites.

The stories are just a random collection of short recollections that have very little to do with Christmas, with the exception of the BB-gun story. I actually like the movie better -- it somehow takes most of these stories and puts them in a related order leading up to the climax of the BB-gun story finale. Also, the movie is family friendly -- but this book is laced with plenty of profanity.

These stories are familiar to anyone who loves the movie of "A Christmas Story", but what's really great about the audio book is that we find out a lot of back story for the characters and situations that were combined for the screenplay to make a 2-hour movie. Some of the original stories take place at times other than Christmas, but the screenwriter did a great job picking situations that could fit into the Christmastime storyline and adapting them; hearing them more fleshed-out enriched our memory of the movie. The long story about the Bumpasses was really fun and rather un-PC. We learn more about the background of the Dad and how he won the Major Award. It was exactly the right length for a drive down from Seattle to Portland on Christmas Day (3 hrs, 20 m), so it was perfect for us. We really enjoyed hearing it and we could run the movie in our heads. Although it's too bad there was no recording of Jean Shepherd reading it, Dick Cavett was a very good substitute.

Funny - heart-warming - characters you can identify with

the famous leg lamp, of course

He really helps the story come to life; you can clearly picture each scene.

Laugh

If you like the movie you'll love the book!...there is some language so not appropriate for little ears.

A classic. If you liked the movie, you will love this audiobook. Dick Cavett seemed, at first, to be an odd choice, but he does a marvelous job. Highly recommended!