Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Book 1

By: J.K. Rowling

Narrated by: Jim Dale

Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'.

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

Having become classics of our time, the Harry Potter stories never fail to bring comfort and escapism. With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new listeners.    

©1997 J.K. Rowling (P)1999 Listening Library, an imprint of Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group

Critic Reviews

"To call Dale a 'reader' of books is like saying Monet was a Sunday painter." (Los Angeles Times)

Narrator is GREAT!

I have seen the movies a million times each, but have always been told the books are even better! I absolutely LOVE the Narrator, Jim Dale! He changes his voices for each character, uses various tones to
create emotion, and keeps me engaged. I will be getting ALL the Harry Potter books, and look forward to listening to other audibles narrated by Jim
Dale!

The Narrator is BRILLIANT

This is my first go through the Harry Potter series and it’s off to a strong start. The other narrators have a lot to live up to because Jim Dale is simply magical. He pronounces Voldemort as “Voldemor” which doesn’t have the same effect but it’s forgivable for the voices and the enthusiasm he brings are just delightful. Very easy to recommend.

Love the book

Love the book, listen to it at least once a year. I love the narrator too, except for one detail that it is too late to do anything about. When in Hermione voice, the way he has her talking is not enjoyable and the Harreeeee! Is just annoying. Distraction to an otherwise enjoyable performance.

OMG the dialogue

Harrrrweee, thisss iss noootttt how youuuu weeed dialogue... it's not bad enough that every character sounds like they are a ninety-five year old man. The either over articulated, or her-ky. Jer-ky. Ar-tic-ula-tion. Of. The. Dia-logue. Was. Alllmmmossssttt unnbearrrrable. All the characters had the same whining tone and worse the emphasis hardly ever fit the context.

The narration was fine enough, but really, a huge portion of this book is dialogue and it was almost as painful as nails down the chalk board.

It really is a shame because I enjoy these stories, but I don't know if I can bear another book. It really makes the experience something to be endured, rather than enjoyed..

This was amazing!

I love Harry Potter and Jim Dale does an excellent job with portraying these characters and creating this world Harry lives in. He switches between character voices such as Hagrid, McGonagall, and Draco so seamlessly that you sometimes forget that it is not the actual characters speaking. I gave the story a 4/5 stars only because this was J.K's first novel and the story is a bit simple but the plots get better with each book. I definitely recommend this to any Harry Potter fan or anyone looking for a good story!

Narration is awful

The Narration by Jim Dale is awful. While dialogue is distinct for different characters, I get the impression that Hermione is about 70 years old and she sounds the youngest. Non-dialogue parts are read well and at a good speed, but the dialogue in addition to sounding like a bunch of old people is way too slow. These are young smart quick thinking kids, they shouldn't sound like dundering neanderthals.

oh. my. gawd.

BUY IT! you will not regret. read beautifully. read as a child. watched all the movies. & the reader for this book made it so beautiful once again for me. A1

My Sad, Sad Confession…

I will be completely honest here. I put off this book from the moment the hype took over, simply because I refused to believe the story would hold any interest for me. I even passed on the movies, honestly believing this was nothing more than a kid/young adult fairy tale that couldn’t possibly be anything worthwhile. I was wrong and I am so glad I finally convinced myself to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone! I even went into the first few chapters thinking, “Okay, this is readable, but I still don’t see what all the fuss is about”. But by the time I reached the end of the story I found that I not only liked it, I was eager to read the next one. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone shows a lot of imagination and creativity that literally sucks you into the story and has you rooting for Harry (and the gang) throughout. Every time I thought the plot was predictable, Rowling flipped the script and surprised me. The characters were well developed and well thought out in advance, each with traits, quirks and flaws that makes each individual character stand out uniquely on their own. A lot of times I judge a book by the villain and Rowling didn’t disappoint with Voldemort. What a terrifying villain! I don’t want to give any spoilers but as far as “big bads” go, Voldemort is a top notch nemesis and I can’t wait to see more of him in the series. This is the type of villain every protagonist should face and I applaud Rowling for her genius construction of such a chilling threat.

I’ve raved about Voldemort, but every character is fascinating and intriguing. Every time I thought I had seen it all, she pulls out a new and fascinating character or mythological creature to grab my attention again. The novel has an addictive quality to it that has me eager to read all of the books in this series. I hope the rest of the books are as entertaining as the first (based on the mega fan base I’m sure that they are!) and now I can finally watch the movies- yeah, I know, I’m super late to the party, but better late than never right?

The narration in this audio book by Jim Dale is a fantastic performance that added layers of depth to Rowling’s work. He gave each character a unique voice that is easily identifiable and never missed a beat as the ongoing action rolled on. He put a lot of heart and hard work into this performance and captivated my attention throughout. This was truly a great listen and I will look for more works by him in the future, starting with the next six books in this series since he narrated them all. That’s a huge plus for this series. I hate when a series like this gets split up by multiple narrators and I’m thrilled Dale is handling all of these books. If you haven’t read this- don’t put it off any longer like I did. Pick this up today!

Love this narrator!

This narrator was amazing. Me and my boys 7 and 10 thoroughly enjoyed this book. we have watched the movies before but in an effort to encourage them to love reading we got this book on audible and they were begging to listen to more!

Epic

I’ve read the series some years ago, and wanted to brush up on the complete series. Jim’s reading performance was astounding for me. I can literally picture each scene using the actors faces from the movies of course. I don’t regret purchasing this auditable and nor should you.