“Harold Fry”: A great actor, a road story

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:25:00 +0000

With very few exceptions (namely, Neil Gaiman and David Sedaris), a professional actor makes the best narrator for most audiobooks. But not just any actor will do, and often a performer who's vivid on stage or screen can't carry off the complex task of a book narration, especially if it's a novel with an assortment of voices or a complex prose style that doesn't observe the cadences of spoken English. So I'm leery whenever a name actor gets hired to read an audiobook; often the more famous performers aren't flexible or self-effacing enough to become a vehicle for the comprehensive vision of another artist. (That said, Susan Sarandon's recent narration of Carson McCullers' "A Member of the Wedding" is a marriage of true minds -- highly recommended.)

As I see it, Jim Broadbent is a name actor. His performances in several Mike Leigh films -- particularly "Life Is Sweet" -- still make my heart feel tenderized when I think of them, years later. I love him! But do I want him to read a book to me? Depends on the book.

Salon.com > The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

“Harold Fry”: A great actor, a road story