The Pickwick Papers, Volume 1

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Patrick Tull

Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Meet Mr. Samuel Pickwick, luminous presence, general chairman and member of the Pickwick Club, an organization devoted to meeting good friends, sharing good stories and spreading good cheer. Join Mr. Pickwick and his friends Mr. Snodgrass, Mr. Jingle and all the rest in Part One of their adventures, which include: the first day's journey, an old-fashioned card party, the action of Bardell against Pickwick, and Christmas.

Public Domain (P)1999 Recorded Books

A delightful classic read remarkably well

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The Pickwick Papers chronicles the adventures of the kindly English gentleman, Samuel Pickwick, in the early 1800's. The book is as charming as it is humorous. Dickens had the extraordinary ability to take the commonplace follies of people and describe them with insight into human nature and elegance in writing. Funny, touching, and uplifting. Cheers to Samuel Pickwick, Esq.

Which character – as performed by Patrick Tull – was your favorite?

Samuel Pickwick

A Delight

I enjoyed it so much, I immediately replayed it.

laugh

I almost felt embarrassed laughing out loud to a Dickens novel, but this was a great reading. As good as any contemporary humour.

The Pickwick Papers

The reading of this hilarious and entertaining book is a sheer listening pleasure. Marvellous!

Pickwick Papers read by Tull

After thoroughly enjoying Patrick Tull's readings of the Aubrey-Maturin series, I decided to listen to his rendition of Dickens' most humorous novel. Tull is superb, breathing life and wit into the naively pretentious members of the Pickwick Club. His sixth sense for the timing and enunciation of Victorian prose is such that one will not regret subscribing to every 19th century British classic he reads.

A few words of technical caution. The conversion of this reading from Format 1 to Format 2, while understandable, has the tonal quality of listening to a Winston Churchill WWII speech recorded from an old tubular RCA home radio.

Sound Fixed

Hi.This is my first Audible reveiw.I felt the need to write a review on this fabulous recording.Reading the previous reviews rightfully negative about the abysmal sound quality of this program when it was a 2,I'm ecstatic to be the first person to review it now that it is rightfully been presented in the far superior 4 format.This program now sounds as good as anything I've heard on Audible.I only hope that some if not all of the previous reviewers have already or will retry this program.It truly is one of the greatest audiobooks ever made.Mr.Tull's energy and talent for humour are second to none.I agree that the story only really kicks into gear with appearence of Samival Veller but it never waivers after that and neither does the good Mr. Tull.The three Christmas chapters are a particular joy(I listen to them every year around this time).Sorry for the lengthy review but I truly love this book and especially this recording of it.

Sound

The sound quality of this program is horrible, but the story is hilarious

Pickwick Papers

I listened to this performance as an audio cassette about two years ago. It was the best recorded book I listened to that year. Patrick Tull has a wonderful sense of the rhythm, variety and force of Dickens' prose. The book itself is wonderfully full of life and humor. I never understood Dickens' humor until I listened to Pickwick Papers. I've never known Tull to give less than a superlative reading.

fabulous!

If you like Dickens, you're gonna love this reading by Patrick Tull, who gives every character his/her own identity with a multitude of lively voices, making this rendition a wonderfully funny 'read'.

A classic with humor in abundance

I was already familiar with the extraordinary writing skill and imagination of Charles Dickens, and humor manifests itself throughout his novels, but I was not prepared for the riches of comedy—whether of language, manners, situation or character—contained in "The Pickwick Papers, Volumes 1 (and 2, being a continuation of Vol. 1). Granted, it can at times be the dry sort of British humor you might expect, but there are also many, many laugh-out-loud moments to be relished. The novel is, for the most part, a never-ending succession of little stories—of varying degrees of interest—within a story, but there are also a few threads running through the whole. Characterization is exquisitely detailed in Dickens's writing, but I'd be remiss if I didn't single out the narrator, Patrick Tull, for his diction, various (and perfect!) accents, pace and acting skill. I am all amazement. He made the book far better by his narration than it would have been in my own reading of it. Tull is a narrator I wish to hear again, and soon.