Who Censored Roger Rabbit?

By: Gary K. Wolf

Narrated by: L.J. Ganser

Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Private eye Eddie Valiant doesn't like Toons - those cartoon characters who live side-by-side with humans. Not the way they look, and especially not the way they talk: word-filled balloons come out of their mouths and then disintegrate, leaving dust all over his rug.

Eddie will work for a Toon if his cash supply is low enough. So he reluctantly agrees when Roger Rabbit, a Toon who plays straight man (or should that be straight rabbit) in the Baby Herman cartoon series, asks him to find out who's been trying - unsuccessfully - to buy his contract from the DeGreasy Brothers syndicate.

Then Rocco DeGreasy is murdered - and Roger is the prime suspect! The rabbit is also, as Eddie soon discovers, very, very dead. Who censored Roger Rabbit? And who shot Rocco DeGreasy? Was it Roger, or was it Rocco's hot-cha-cha girlfriend, Jessica Rabbit? Why had Jessica - a pretty steamy number for a Toon - ever married a dopey bunny in the first place? And why does everybody want Roger's battered old teakettle?

As Eddie combs L.A. from the executive suites of the DeGreasy Brothers to Sid Sleaze's porno comic studio, he uncovers art thefts, blackmail plots...and the cagiest killer he's ever faced.

©1981 Gary K. Wolf (P)2019 Tantor

A lot different from the movie

This is an amazing book. And it is so much different than the movie right off the gate. I highly recommend it. The story is captivating. The twist is… weird but in a fun way and the performance is wonderful.

I was in no way prepared for this

Impeccable performance by Ganser and Wolf clearly has talent. In more ways than one.

Don't expect Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

As a kid I was a huge fan of the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. As an adult, I'm still a huge fan. For whatever reason, this book escaped me until fairly recently.

Unless you're one of those people who simply can't conceive of a version of Roger not voiced by Charles Fleischer, this is perfectly narrated. L.J. Ganser has a brilliant range of voices that is perfectly suited for noir.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that this is "Who CENSORED Roger Rabbit?" and NOT "Who FRAMED Roger Rabbit?". Two entirely different stories. Eddie Valiant here isn't the toon hating, alcoholic private eye of the film. There's no Judge Doom, the rules and physics of toons are different from the film, there isn't any cashing in on cartoon icons, and the mystery presented is slightly more gritty as it slowly burns to its bizarre conclusion.

This is one of the rare cases where it's hard to say the book is better than the movie due to the fact that they are 99% different stories. Comparing the two would be like comparing apples to Rocko's Modern Life.

That being said, if you're expecting Judge Doom and the Dip, you might find yourself more than a little disappointed.

Wonderful Story and Narration

If you are looking for a dramatization of the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, this isn't that. The characters aren't actually cartoon characters, rather they are comic strip characters who speak via text balloons. I loved the movie but was not the slightest bit disappointed when I discovered they were different. On the contrary, I am now quite happy, not in spite of their differences, but because of them. However, if you love the movie, there are enough references that are maintained in the book. For instance, you will discover certain characters acting or saying things they did in the film.
The performance is simply first rate. The narrator voices all of the characters wonderfully.

NOT A NOVELIZATION OF THE MOVIE!!

If you're looking for a novelization of the movie this is not it. BUT that is not a bad thing. To be frank this story would not have made a good movie. However this a fantastic book. There are three things I want to share about the story, BUT THEY ARE NOT SPOILERS. They tell you nothing about any of the plot.
1. Eddie does NOT have a bad attitude toward or any bad experiences with TOONS.
2. Eddie is not an alcoholic.
3. Roger and Baby Herman are not animated cartoons. They are a newspaper comic strip. And though the narrator gives each TOON its own voice they do not actually talk out loud. They have speech balloons that have to be read. This does not really change the story at all, but there is a lot of great humor about the balloons.
There three things I would have liked to have known going in.

Me encanta!

Tal vez buscaría un narrador más sombrío, pero la historia me parece genial! Me recuerda la película Unbreakable, en el sentimiento que dejó el final... Maravillosa!

Quite different from the movie--

Being a fan of animation (and Bob Hoskins), I've been a fan of the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" for a long time - but I'd never read the book. It's a good example of a film company buying the rights to the concept and title and then doing a very loose adaptation. I like the adaptation; I just was surprised by how far from the book's storyline the movie actually goes.

It's hard to speculate but, knowing the movie first, I actually prefer that storyline ...maybe because I remember riding the Red Car as a kid in Los Angeles! The Audible audiobook gives a good "hardboiled detective" narration by L.J. Ganser.

Forget it, Jake. Its Toon Town.

I purchased this title right after learning that one of my favorite childhood movies was based on a book. This book has all the fantastic cartoon shock-and-awe of the film, yet a storyline that is much different from it; keeping me both entertained and eager to find out who, in fact, censored Rodger Rabbit.

Like any noir story, it features a gruff, chauvinist, booze hound, gum-shoe P.I. as its main character, Eddie Valiant. Eddie investigates the murder of a famous cartoon alongside our second main character Rodger Rabbit. Rodger is a clumsy yet charismatic, giant anthropomorphic, talking, cartoon rabbit.

With the “cartoon-in-real-life” element of the story clashing with a gritty L.A. detective plot, chalk full of sex, deceit, money, and murder, comes most of the comedy in this book.

There are also several allusions with cartoons being likened to people of color in the American Civil Rights era. Unfortunately the novel never really delves too deep into this particular theme, bringing up the subject but never addressing it beyond exposition. I believe it would have added another level of depth to the story and made the whole book more interesting. This is really my only complaint as far as the story goes. There is also a plot point involving a certain tea kettle that some listers/readers may find ridiculous and hard to suspend their disbelief (But I rather enjoyed it).

In a nutshell,
I very much enjoyed this book and would recommended it to anyone who is a fan of the movie adaptation, as well as any fan of detective stories with comedic themes, neo-noir, or cartoons-in-real-life-style Warner Bros movies.

As for the narrator, L.J. Ganser does an absolutely fantastic job. His old timey detective voice for the main character is perfect. And the voices all the other character are so distinct and well done, it brings to life the cartoon element of the story. Easily one of the best narrative performances in my audible library.

Fun story, great narration

I enjoyed the story, a humorous hard-boiled detective story with comic strip characters, but the narration was a terrific performance.

The movie was mostly a way to combine live action with a lot of recognizable cartoon characters. This holds its own as a novel.

Unexpected Favorite

Never read any of the books, but I'm immediately purchasing the rest of the series.