Stalky and Co. cover art

Stalky and Co.

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Stalky and Co.

By: Rudyard Kipling
Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
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About this listen

 Based on Kipling's own adolescent experiences, Stalky and Co. is a cunning story of mischievous 19th century British schoolboys attempting scholastic mutiny. The faculty and headmaster of a boys' private school repeatedly pursue a trio of poetic pranksters, "Stalky", "Beetle", and "Turkey", as they wage war on fellow students and the "establishment" with unwavering energy and creativity.

Stalky and Co. is, at times, poignant in its realistic portrayal of boys negotiating manhood, and hilarious in its illustration of their relentless attempts to beat the system, even in the face of creative punishment and a savvy housemaster. Listeners of all ages will delight in this tale of ingenious schemes and rebellious antics.

©2001 Tantor Media, Inc. (P)2001 Tantor Media, Inc. Anthologies & Short Stories Brain & Nervous System Classics European Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literary History & Criticism Physical Illness & Disease Short Stories World Literature Witty Funny

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Most relevant  
It's not that the narrator is bad, but that she made no effort to get the pronounciation correct. In a book where the dialogue is variously in 19th century English slang, French, Latin, & Devon dialect this leads to a performance where. there's something jarring in every chapter.

Poor choice of narrator

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Would you try another book written by Rudyard Kipling or narrated by Shelly Frasier?

I would try another book by Kipling - I already have Kim but I wouldn't buy a book written by an English author read by Ms Frasier. I can forgive appalling pronunciation of such place names as Bideford and Clovelly but to pronounce Stalky as Starky and Beetle as Beedle makes it hard to keep track of a well loved book. In fact, if I didn't know the book well, I would have given up somewhere in the middle of chapter 2. When words such as row are mispronounced, I am appalled. If one hasn't read the book hearing about a row (as in the boat race) when in fact it should be a row of the heated variety (to rhyme with bough) it would be difficult to understand what is happening. The use of accents in narrated books is commendable, but the Devon accent is transformed into an Irish type of voice and the Irish accents of the Colonel and Turkey have a mid-Atlantic feel. To say I was disappointed is a gross misunderstatement.

Which character – as performed by Shelly Frasier – was your favourite?

I didn't like any of the characters, whom I know and like from reading the book, in this version.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I love the book, I hated this version of it.

Any additional comments?

If you are going to sell classic English books please let people know the narrator is not English so that they can decide if to buy it.

American pronunciation and accents wreck good book

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This book was my childhood favourite and I still know it more or less by heart. I was delighted when I saw it was available on Audible. I have to say I was somewhat disconcerted however when I started listening to discover that the narrator is (a) female and (b) American - I didn't think that would be at all in keeping with the quintessentially English public school nature of the book - but as the story progressed this didn't matter at all - the narrator picked up all the right nuances and I found it an excellent listen. It was a real joy to revisit this old friend. Highly recommended !

A Real Joy

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This wonderful classic was absolutely ruined for me by the appalling narration! The narrator's attempts at Enlish and Irish accents would have been laughable had they not grated so badly on the ear, coupled with her decision to read all at a breakneck speed made the whole thing completely unlistenable.

Execrable!

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