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'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (audio version)' by J.K. Rowling

Spending 20 hours with one voice doesn't do justice to Harry Potter or Jim Dale

Sunday, July 16, 2000

By Tara Bradley-Steck

	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (audio version) By J.K. Rowling The Listening Library $39.95

I have to admit to feeling a little let down.

After 20 hours of listening to the audio version of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” I frankly don’t know what all the fuss is about.

Don’t get me wrong. The audiobook version of this fourth installment in the series isn’t bad, particularly thanks to British actor Jim Dale, who was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

Dale created 125 unique voices for this new production, leaving a listener no doubt which character is speaking.

Such an outstanding performance, however, isn’t enough to hold listeners spellbound for 20 hours, even on a long road trip through Kansas. Few people have a voice that could demand such attentiveness.

And, frankly, “The Goblet of Fire” is simply too long for an audiobook. The book itself has its share of still waters that readers can skim. But audiobook listeners are held hostage to the medium. Fast-forward too far, and listeners risk missing a critical part in the story.

The Listening Library, the Random House division that produced the audiobook, would have served Potter fans better had it insisted on an abridged version. That way, the first four hours of the production could have been edited down to about one without sacrificing the focus of the story.

Moreover, at $39.95, the audiobook is $15 more than the book, so I expect more, particularly given the many slick audiobook productions on the market today. “The Goblet of Fire” would have benefited from sound effects, occasional musical interludes and a full cast of actors.

If this sounds like I’m asking a lot, so be it. But when publishers hype a book as much as they’ve hyped this latest Potter adventure, then they risk building people’s expectations beyond reason.

And what I’m asking for isn’t unreasonable.

Even the “Winnie-the-Pooh” audiobooks by Soundelux, which have only one reader, rank a good deal higher in production quality.

Like Dale, reader Peter Dennis is skilled at creating voices. But the production is enhanced, even energized, by background sounds. Listeners hear birds in the trees and water in a brook, and these help create that magical place where Pooh and his friends find adventure.

Recordings like this one can’t be created quickly, but that’s what happened with “The Goblet of Fire,” which was put together over a 10-day period at the end of May.

Had the audiobook been delayed another month or so to create a true audio experience, “The Goblet of Fire” would have been a great, not just a good, production.

Tara Bradley-Steck reviews books on tape for the Post-Gazette.