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

A global phenomenon and cornerstone of contemporary children’s literature, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is both universally adored and critically acclaimed. Now, experience the magic as you’ve never heard it before. The inimitable Jim Dale brings to life an entire cast of characters—from the pinched, nasal whine of Petunia Dursley to the shrill huff of the Sorting Hat to the earnest, wondrous voice of the boy wizard himself.

Orphaned as an infant, young Harry Potter has been living a less-than-fortunate life. Belittled by his pompous uncle and sniveling aunt (not to mention his absolute terror of a cousin, Dudley), Harry has resigned himself to a mediocre existence in the cupboard under the stairs. But then the letters start dropping on the doormat at Number Four, Privet Drive. Addressed to “Mr. H. Potter” and stamped shut with a purple wax seal, the peculiar envelopes are swiftly confiscated by his relentlessly cruel family. But nothing stops Rubeus Hagrid, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man, from kicking down the door and bursting in with astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard—and not only a wizard, he’s an incredibly famous wizard. Hagrid spirits him away to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, setting into motion an incredible adventure (Banks run by goblins! Enchanted train platforms! Invisibility Cloaks!) that listeners won’t ever forget. 

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

terrible narrator

I have listened to this book as narrated by both Jim Dale and Stephen Fry I can honestly say Jim Dale's reading of this book just makes it unbearable!

Music

The end of the audiobook has music that overlays the reading of the text. It’s really out of place and unnecessary. I think they should remove the music. The book itself is very good and entertaining.

Stop HATING people

Before I got this book I looked at the reviews and I was SHOCKED! 😳 I have listened to Jim Dale’s reading of other Harry Potter books and I thought he was PHENOMENAL. But when I saw a lot of people post such negative comments. You people are so heartless if you think he pronounced everything wrong. He is after all from a different country and also if you think he says Voldemort wrong, the name Voldemort is French and therefore has a silent T. Just saying before you post a negative comment about Jim Dale think about what is said in this review.

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!

Disappointing Performance

As a huge Harry Potter fan, I was excited to share this book with my children on a long car ride. I was extremely disappointed by the voice actor's portrayal of the characters in the book. Every character sounded exactly the same (with odd accents) and the inflection of many of the sentences sounded forced and odd. With the exception of Hagrid's voice which was actually very well done, it was extremely grating to listen to the other. My final note is very nitpicky, but I feel like it's very telling of how well the actor researched the characters prior to recording. In the scene with Snape and Harry in his classroom, he asks Harry what a bezoar is. This item is pronounced "Bee-zor" and the actor pronounces it as something close to "bourgeoisie". I was ready to stop listening at that point and I'm frustrated that I spent $20 on this experience.

Outstanding

Would you consider the audio edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Book 1 to be better than the print version?

Wow, that's hard. There is, as there always is for me, so much enjoyment in reading for myself with my own timing, like stopping to imagine a scene, re-reading something that made me laugh, etc. But after having read the book, I really enjoyed listening to it.

What about Jim Dale’s performance did you like?

His performance matched pretty closely the way I would have read the book out loud to myself, and you can't ask for more than that!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It would just be silly to binge listen to such a huge and amazing (magical) story. Enjoy it!

I am a fan of Harry Potter

I love the Harry Potter series but Please give us Stephen fry version! It’s so much better!!

outstanding story told brilliantly

Found myself hating to pause the story. The narrator puts you right in the middle of Hogwarts. I'm looking forward to the whole series.

Incredible books, awful narrator

Incredible series every time but hated this narrator; he makes Herminone sound like a weak, winey woman. She’s not; she’s fierce.

A great reading of the wrong book

It is (as you can already tell by the title) the US variation of the book, with all the oddness that comes with it but it mostly cames out unscathed.
I've heard the UK audiobook before, however, and while Jim Dale comes close, Stephen Fry is the better narrator so I'm doubly annoyed that we don't have the option to buy the Philosopher's Stone version.