The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

By: Henry Fielding

Narrated by: Kenneth Danzinger

Length: 35 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

A foundling of mysterious parentage, Tom Jones is brought up by the benevolent and wealthy Squire Allworthy as his own son. Tom falls in love with the beautiful and unattainable Sophia Western, a neighbor’s daughter, whose marriage has already been arranged. When Tom’s sexual misadventures around the countryside get him banished, he sets out to make his fortune and find his true identity.

Against the vivid background of 18th-century London, Tom encounters passion, corruption, danger, and intrigue before finally claiming his fortune, legitimacy, and true love. Fielding’s bawdy, colorful, high-spirited novel paints human vices and virtues with unprecedented honesty and good humor, making Tom Jones as fresh and entertaining today as it was 200 years ago.

Public Domain (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Tom Jones…has been admired by many readers as the most meticulously crafted book of its type. With neoclassic objectivity, humor, and fine psychological delicacy, Fielding dissects the motives of his characters to reveal universal truths about human nature.” ( Masterpieces of World Literature)

“Two hundred years have not dimmed Fielding’s realism. His humor is closer to our own than that of any writer before the present century." (Kingsley Amis)

Performance par excellence!

Great story, great performance. I rarely laugh out loud at classics, but I certainly did with this! Absolutely loved the narrator, such a range of characters!

Amazing reading!

What did you love best about The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling?

Narrator truly made the characters come to life with multiple old British accents and truly great acting! Wow!

Incredible Performance

Where does The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best, if not the best. It was marvelous.

What about Kenneth Danzinger’s performance did you like?

Kenneth Danzinger has the perfect voice and flexibility to bring this novel to life, with its conversational tone, its warmth, its good humor, its affability, and its entertaining cast of characters.

Any additional comments?

I can't imagine a more pleasant way to read this book.

It Actually Deserves 5*****

I listened to this title solely by the prompting of Karen Swallow Prior by having it as the source example for the first chapter in her excellent book, "On Reading Well."
I chose to complete the entire (enormous) novel before reading her chapter about it. I am both bummed at this decisions and very satisfied by it. Bummed because I ended up missing many of the key sign posts which make the story great, and glad because I was more weightily put into my place after reading it and judging it wrongly.

I did not enjoy the novel on its own stand-alone merits. But now after reading Prior's chapter about it, I am rightfully shamed.

On my own, I found the book to be frivolous, silly, and superfluous. It felt like over-binging on Seinfeld (or even a less worthy sitcom) for thirty-five hours plus (audio). Throughout my listening to this novel I was perplexed by it at times. It gave me the opportunity to make keen judgments about the nature of morality, justice, and love. I have to say I bypassed these opportunities too quickly, for in them (as I have come to learn) the whole virtue of the book rests.

In and of itself, the characters of the novel are endearing, humorous, lovable, deplorable, and well-crafted. The writing is good and for the most part keeps the reader well engaged, and the story flows smooth enough to not get lost easily. But the true worth of the book is in being taught how to read it by Karen Swallow Prior in her book mentioned above. From her single chapter on it I believe I now have a much more keen sense as to how to glean truth and goodness from any and all novels. I have been confronted with my own narrow-mindedness, shallowness, and self-righteousness. Critical realizations such as these make the reading so worth it.

(Narration was great).

Delightful!

So absolutely enjoyed this novel! It may have taken a while to really get into, and the loquacity of the narrator takes some patience, but it is so absolutely worth it! I was tickled all the way through! And the Audible narrator was sublime.

A Ripping Good Yarn

The History of Tom Jones remains a delightful romp through the adventures and travails confronted by the young male.This book can still make me laugh out loud with its dry commentary on the absurdities of human nature. Some listeners may find the author's "philosophizing" at the beginning of each book a bit tedious (though these sections really are hilarious)-- for those listeners I can only echo the author's own suggestion that they skip these sections and go directly to the action in the next chapter.

A wonderful narration, complete with colorful accents and intonations, helps make this classic sparkle once again!

Great story with twists!

I have to say the narrator was the best part. His voices are all unique and seem to express the personalities of each character so well. This was probably the longest book I've ever listened to but it was well worth it.
A thorough study on the heart, motives and character of humankind...with quite a bit of humor. Vocabulary expanding and thought provoking. Thoroughly enjoyed! Would recommend it to others who enjoy English period pieces. Outlander fans--Fyi- this is the book Claire Frazer gave to Tom Christy that he was offended by. 😆

Best book I have ever read

And Lord knows I have read a lot. Funny, wise,uplifting,and did I mention funny?

A wonderful experience!

The excellent writing of Mr. Fields was enhanced immensely, if that be possible, by the outstanding, nay, perfect reading of Mr Danziger. The overall result was a most violent enjoyment and pleasure of heart and mind. Huzzah!!!

Well read, many accents, older recording

I know I must have missed a great many of the satirical jokes in Tom Jones, but I laughed out loud at enough of them to know that the more things change, the more things stay the same. Certainly, the diction and social mores at times make comprehension a challenge, but any confusing parts can easily be ignored and later clarified with a little further listening. This is also helpful if you find parts a little slow (a few parts of the first volume felt a bit slow to me); keep moving forward and there is plenty to enjoy.

I wasn't sure how I felt about reader Kenneth Danzinger at first, but he quickly grew on me. His various accents made it easy to follow who was speaking and were at often greatly amusing. If you enjoy classic literature and/or British literature, I would guess you'll enjoy this. I picked it after reviewing a list of "100 Novels Everyone Should Read" (Telegraph; Tom Jones was #28).

My only complaint is that the recording itself is not the best. The slightly lesser quality led me to listen to it quite loud at times, but overall, I've listened to much worse quality (and the sample is accurate to what I'm referring to, so if you don't notice it, so much the better).

I was sad it was over, so that is always the sign of a good listen!