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Pinocchio
Pinocchio
Pinocchio
Audiobook5 hours

Pinocchio

Written by Carlo Collodi

Narrated by Donal Donnelly

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

Pinocchio comes to life under the gentle hands of Geppetto, a humble cobbler with a loyal heart, who carves the little puppet from a piece of talking wood. Fond of Pinocchio and his boyish ways, Geppetto makes plans to send him to school, selling his own coat to buy Pinocchio a spelling book; But Pinocchio is determined to go his own way. Rambunctious and spoiled, the wooden boy meets with one misadventure after another, including a get-rich quick scheme with a Fox and a Cat; a journey to the "Land of Boobies," where little boys play all the time and never go to school; and a ticklish trip into the cavernous belly of a gargantuan Dog-fish.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 8, 2008
ISBN9781440796432
Author

Carlo Collodi

Carlo Corenzini was both in Florence, Italy, in 1826 and worked as a writer and journalist under the pseudonym Carlo Collodi. In addition to being celebrated for his writing he was also known for his active interest in political life and ideas. He first began to engage with a young audience of readers when he published a translation of the French Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault in 1876, and then began work on his most celebrated book, Pinocchio, in 1881. His story of a puppet began life as a series of instalments published in The Children's Magazine before being published as a complete book - with a new ending - in 1883. Corenzini died some seven years later, in 1890, in his home city of Florence.

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Reviews for Pinocchio

Rating: 4.175 out of 5 stars
4/5

40 ratings25 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The fact that it’s different and funny?? Pinocchio is so stubborn!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is among the more existential works in children's literature, and should make us all reconsider what children's literature can be. I was turned on to reading the Collodi version by Auster's analysis of it in The Invention of Solitude.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pinocchio! (said with an Italian accent and lots of hand waiving). It is considered a "novel of education", a fun childrens story with values communicated through allegory. The values are very "middle class" as Italy became a nation-state in the 19th century: do not follow schemes of the fox and cat to get rich (ie. thieving upper class) but instead work honestly for your money; get an education so you are not treated like an ass (mule working class). Like the "Decameron", it follows the Florentine, Italy tradition of folk novella's -- like a hybred of the "Decameron", "Alice in Wonderland" and "Mother Goose". Disney made a film in 1940 that is considered a masterpiece of animation and is part of the National Film Registery, although only loosely based on the novel, the image of "Jiminy Cricket" and "Blue Fairy" are now a part of modern mythology.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting story. Quite different to the Disney cartoon, but there are some similarities. The moral message is quite clear: Be good and all will turn out well - with the opposite put forth in stark contrast.
    The narrator does a great job at bringing the characters to life.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A little inaccessible for children. I think it has become a children's story over the years, rather than a moral tale for adults.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Enjoyable, if a little repetitive. It's hard to read it through anything other than the Disney version, but it is reasonably different--including a Pinocchio who is meaner and more problem ridden (e.g., within the first few pages he hits the cricket with a hammer), a cat/wolf that are more persistent and interesting than the Disney ones, and an even more moving ending about how Pinocchio finally becomes a boy.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    From the moment Geppetto first carves him out of a piece of wood, the puppet Pinocchio is a trouble-maker. He doesn’t want to go to school or learn a trade. It is only after many zany misadventures—involving trickster cats, giant snails, and a cricket whom Pinocchio attacks with a wooden mallet—that Pinocchio begins to realize that being a puppet isn’t enough.The Adventures of Pinocchio is an unforgettable classic. Collodi's novel includes a rich commentary on growing-up and taking responsibility completely overlooked in the Disney story with which most of us are more familiar. In his slow quest to become a real boy, the puppet Pinocchio learns what it truly means to be free.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It's about Pinocchio's life from when he was carved to when he becomes a real boy. However, this disobedient little puppet goes from misfortune to misfortune as he must decide between things like school and a puppet show and school and Playland. He is also hung from a tree, swallowed by a giant shark, robbed and chased by assassins. Thanks to help from his father and his friend the fairy he mends his ways and his dream comes true.Even though I grew up with the Disney movie version of Pinocchio I quite liked this novel version because the storyline is a little different and it gives a little more depth to Pinocchio's character. All in all a cute, rewarding story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    demented, wonderful, awesome art. Pinocchio is not the story that Disney told you. Chapter titles like "Pinocchio" gets hanged abound.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The NYRB's translation of Collodi's Pinocchio by Geoffrey Brock is wonderfully readable. Had it a few more illustrations, it would be a great gift for an elementary -- middle-school child or even better, a book to read to one. As most Americans, I knew Pinocchio from Disney's film, and the book is not nearly as distant from Disney as I thought it might be. Certainly, the adventures have been somewhat modified, and Disney's Pinocchio is more childlike than Collodi's scampish puppet, but both reveal the dark dangers of the world and the belief that a good heart will ultimately reveal humanity. Both Eco and West make much of the difference between Collodi's fairy with sky blue hair and Disney's blue fairy -- claiming that the former is far mysterious and representative of multiple aspects of the feminine -- I didn't find the gap between the two so wide. The book was originally published in serial episodes, and each adventure could easily be read as a bedtime story. For an adolescent or adult reader who has never read the original, this is a first-rate translation. It's a first-rate translation for children too, but it would be so much better with either the original illustrations or ones done particularly for this translation.Brock's translation is contemporary and humorous, as is Eco's preface. On the other hand, the afterword commentary by Rebecca West is somewhat clunky if informative. She basically summarizes the prevailing critical views of the book and discourses rather lengthily on the changes Disney made to the tale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although it is an old story, it still catching and a good read. I sometimes had some problems, since some of the sentences had a (to me) strange structure, but all in all I had no problems reading the book.Maybe not for smaller children (in newer edition it should be better), but for everyone else this is a nice book, especially with the illustrations, that run along nicely with the story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio a marionette; and his poor father, a woodcarver named Geppetto. Pinocchio was created as a wooden puppet but dreamed of becoming a real boy. Its main theme is that of a naughty child who must learn to be good, not just for his own sake but for the sake of others around him too. The thing to keep in mind is that this is not your Disney’s Pinocchio. This classic flirts with death and disasters that Pinocchio can’t seem to stay away from. At various points in the story Pinocchio is hung from a tree until he dies, he bites a cat's paw off, his leg is caught in a bear trap, he gets arrested and he is turned into a donkey. Oh My! Despite this and the moral lessons being “taught”—the adventures are really quite fun. Despite some of moralizing and the gruesomeness of the story I found myself really liking this tale. 4 out of 5 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great version, well narrated . We enjoyed this unabridged version.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    New version of a classic tale: I enjoyed the rereading of this story as much as my first reading as a child. Pinocchio is such a typical "bratty" little boy until he has his adventures, that it is a delight when he gets his wish to be a real boy.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    What a bratty whiner. I might be glad to have read it. But right now I'm just disappointed that Pinocchio was such a whiner.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    [LT early reviewer - This review is of the NYRB advanced uncorrected proof of the 2008 Geoffrey Brock translation]It’s fun (and rare) to have the opportunity to read the original form of a story that has made the transition to folk tale. Most of western culture has grown up with this story in some form, but most of us, I suspect, have never read (or even is aware of) the original novel by Carlo Collodi. This alone is enough reason to read this short book.I’m a bit hesitant to ‘review’ Collodi’s work, as it has been reviewed, revered, critiqued, and studied for 100 years. It’s also difficult to critique a translation if one is not familiar with the original language version, or with other translations. Even so, I offer my comments as one new to the work.First, the translation: Being an advanced proof, I don’t have access to any introductory comments by the translator, and don’t know if any will appear in the final published edition. Brock seems to have tried to present a modern English translation that uses everyday American English for Pinocchio and his acquaintances in their speech. And, when he succeeds in this, he presents a very readable and enjoyable Pinocchio. He also seems to have decided to leave the narrator’s voice in the Victorian era – a bit formal and stilted sounding to the modern American ear, with a mix of familiar and not so familiar expressions and vocabulary. This has the effect of giving the reader a feel for the work as it was originally written – Collodi’s voice, perhaps? I found the combination of these two approaches to work surprisingly well. Pinocchio and his acquaintances seem accessible (familiar, even) to the reader, while the ‘folk tale’ feel of the story is preserved. My only complaint about the translation is that Brock doesn’t seem to consistently maintain the modern American English ‘voice’ in the spoken parts. For example, most of the time, these characters use common contractions (I’m, I’ll, let’s, etc.) but occasionally, Brock has them speaking in a more stilted, contraction-free ‘voice’. The change can be jarring. Pinocchio’s schoolmate Eugenio says “Oh Mother – I am dying”. On the same page, Pinocchio says “I’m too stubborn” and “I’ve never had fifteen minutes of peace”. The difference seems off. This may seem like a minor criticism, but when the narrator sounds like an ancient storyteller, the inconsistent voice of characters seems to be lost between the two styles.Now, about Collodi’s story itself. I know this is a classic, beloved by millions for a century, but I found the story a bit hard to stay with. Yes, I love the overall plot and many of the incidents in the story, but Collodi seems to use unnecessarily wild and incredible constructions to explain why (or why not) certain events happened as they do. They often sound made up on the spot. This may be somewhat the result of the original serialized form – perhaps Collodi ended one episode, and then, upon writing the following episode(s), had to construct a way to explain or avoid inconsistencies. In any case, it leads to some odd bits interjected into an otherwise fun tale.Overall, worth the read for anyone interested in a peak at the origins of what has become part of our culture, and a good (but not great) translation. And I’d guess that the under 8 set would enjoy it regardless, though illustrations would be nice.Os.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I was extremely disappointed with this book. This is a book written with the sole purpose of scaring naughty boys and girls into behaving. There was a lot of violence for no reason--the opening scene has two grown men disagreeing about something and solving it by getting into a fistfight (twice in the same conversation!). Even disregarding the fighting, this book held no interest for me whatsoever.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I first wanted to read Pinocchio after seeing the 1970’s Italian animated movie A Puppet Named Pinocchio. It was much more faithful to the book than the Disney movie we are all most familiar with, much darker than what Disney showed me (not that I'm dumping on Disney's classic movie).I think it's safe to say that everyone is familiar with Pinocchio: Gepetto, an old wood-carver creates a puppet that is alive. Pinocchio (which, the book explains, stands for ‘pine cone’) is a willful, mischievous and naughty child, but he has a good heart and wants to become a real boy.His adventures are varied and always interesting and surprisingly dark. Pinocchio is a true a children’s book. While Disney was very good at giving parents what they think their children want: colorful characters, singing, magic and a puppet that was a clean-cut all-American boy. Carlo Collodi gives kids what they really want: very scary, life-threatening situations, shady characters and a puppet who starts off as a very bad and selfish boy. There are important lessons to be learned here and it is the journey that does the teaching. Though the ending is the same, in the book the reward feels more genuine and deserved rather than saccharine.As an adult reader, I did have a number of issues with the book. It was originally written as a series of short stories, published in a children's newspaper. It might be better to think of them as 'episodes'. There's a certain formula that many of the chapters follow: This time, Pinocchio has learned his lesson. Then an opportunity comes up. Pinocchio follows it. A character (often an animal) will appear and warn Pinocchio. He ignores the advice and trouble ensues. Pinocchio doesn't seem to grow as a character. Also from time-to-time, the book will stop to summarize everything that has happened before. As a result the 'chapters' tend to feel repetitive after a while. It also makes the book feel overly preachy (though I suppose that was part of the point of the book).However, I do remember reading and loving the book as a child. I did notice some of those issues even then, but they don't drag the book down. I think more kids should read the book today. Parents will feel hesitant because of the book's at times unrelentingly dark tone, but realistically, that helps draw the reader in. While following Pinocchio on his scary adventures, they will also learn to respect their parents, not to take what they have for granted and the value of both a good education and hard work. Not a bad thing for kids to read if you don't want them to turn in to donkeys.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I borrowed this one from the library to have a look at Roberto Innocenti's work, which I've admired in another book called Rose Blanche. His highly detailed watercolour illustrations are a thing to behold, and imbued with both a sense of realism and real poetry, a combination very rarely achieved successfully in visual arts. The story itself was filled with surprises. I must have only been exposed to the Disney version in my childhood, because the original by Carlo Collodi was so filled with twist and turns, violence, unfortunate adventures, and reversals of fate, that it stretched credulity beyond the limit. At times the didactic aspect of the story that the author never fails to drive home became truly annoying, but there's no denying the tale of a puppet who wished more than anything to become a boy is highly original.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read the ebook version from the library. This story was so cute and so well written. It reminded me of my childhood when I'd watch the movie and listen to my little record of the soundtrack. It has such a good moral lesson too.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Reason for Reading: Read aloud to the ds. This is actually my third attempt at reading this book to him. Pinocchio is one of my favourite children's classics. The first time was when he was five and was my edition that I had read, an old Rainbow Classics, but I think he was just too young. The second time, he was older and at that time I had a different edition, don't remember which, but it was an awful translation and we gave that up as well. So my hopes of reading him Pinocchio were put on the shelf until I saw this edition, which noted it was a brand new translation and I was taken right away with the collaged/mixed media artwork which I used to dabble in myself.Starting with the art, the book is beautiful. I love this collage, mixed media art style and each page was a visual delight to me and my son, who has seen me dabbling in the art myself. An extremely gorgeous book. A square, softcover with french flaps make for easy handling and browsing. Ds would often pick the book up between reads and just look at the pictures. There's no need to give a summary, I think everyone is acquainted with the story of the wooden puppet who wants to become a real boy. But if you've only been exposed to the Disney version, then just let me tell you that you do not really know the true story of Pinocchio, which is rather moralistic in teaching boys to be good boys and quite violent along way. One part that always makes me smile (because I hate Disney's Jiminy Cricket character) is that in the book when Pinocchio meets the cricket (no name, btw) who moralizes with him to annoyance is that Pinocchio's final response is to pick up a mallet and throw it at him, squashing the irritating bug against the wall. LOL. The cricket's ghost does return to annoy Pinocchio some more. DS thoroughly enjoyed the story as he wasn't familiar with it. He saw the Disney movie as a little kid but it had too much slow singing in it so he didn't like it, or pay much attention to it. He loved when anyone got what they deserved, even Pinocchio, and he found it fun when he could see it coming. The whole story is a lot of fun. With the modern translation and the new illustrations, this edition is entirely whimsical and doesn't come off as moralistic as earlier translations I've read do. Oh, it hasn't been left out, but Pinocchio is such a rude, naughty boy that he needs to be taught a lesson and eventually even he knows when he is doing the wrong thing. I highly recommend this translation, especially for reading aloud.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    i thought it was really dark, but still awesome. good job to carlo.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is a classically Grimm-violent story. It's like a bunch of little vignettes, really. And pleasantly bizarro, just as a kid's tale should be. I like that it opens with a talking piece of wood. No explanations necessary, really. There's just this log that is sentient. Whatevs, am I right?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I don't think I even meant to download the ebook for Pinocchio -- it's not something I had on my mental list of books I intended to read. I don't know who translated the version I read, but it was easy enough to read. It reads like quite a light story, but Pinocchio isn't a terribly nice character. He's, well. A boy. A little boy, selfish and without much of a moral compass to call his own. I couldn't really root for him, to be honest, and his moments of compassion and caring for other people seemed just that... moments. I guess he reminded me of Peter Pan a little, in his selfishness and his boyishness. I can imagine a little boy really being somewhat like Pinocchio, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. If the book had been longer or less lightly written, I daresay I wouldn't have liked it at all.

    I was glad for the lack of constant overt moralising, like Jiminy in the Disney adaptation. There is a little, of course, but it doesn't really seem to sink into Pinocchio's head... the ending is a little saccharine-sweet, with Gepetto being made young again and Pinocchio turning into a real boy through reforming and so on, but it isn't too irritating.

    It was enjoyable as a quick read, as a break from doing essays, and I wonder if I'd have liked it more if I'd read it as a kid, but it didn't really arouse strong feelings either way.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have to say, my only previous experience with the story of Pinocchio is through the Disney classic cartoon…and boy is this a LOT different than the Disney version! I’m not saying that’s a bad thing…far from it in fact, I was just surprised at how selfish and, well…disobedient this little wooden boy was. In this book, Pinnochio isn’t a naive boy who gets led astray; he’s a selfish, lying, bad-tempered puppet who (for the most part) can’t see past his own immediate wants and needs. He constantly makes bad decisions based on spur of the moment desires without thinking about any long term implications. Naturally, he’s apologetic and supremely sorry when he gets caught or something bad happens to himself or others as a result of his actions, but he doesn’t seem to learn very quickly from these lessons and must repeat them many, many times before he finally “gets it.” Similarly, Geppetto isn’t 100% of the time a kindly old man; he too has his moments of anger with Pinocchio’s behavior. Even the Blue Fairy isn’t as kindly and beneficent as Disney made her…she too isn’t above pulling a nasty prank or two to show Pinnochio the error of his ways. I think these personality elements resonate with young readers…I think we can all admit that most children push the limits, do things they know they are not supposed to and generally find disobeying to be more fun than obeying (at least at times)…and in that way, Pinocchio is the embodiment childhood. He does all the things they’ve been told not to and reaps the rewards or pays the price for it! I think that is what makes this a timeless classic that has been loved for generations. I think that there are a lot of dark humor and plot points in this book (the blue fairy’s death, Geppetto’s getting lost as sea, the attempted assassination of Pinocchio, etc.), that it’s effective and riveting (especially for young readers) and enjoyable…it also makes his final transformation into a real boy all the more rewarding when it finally happens. I have to admit I enjoyed reading this far more than ever enjoyed watching the Disney cartoon version. Overall, it’s a rich, dark, and sometimes humorous tale that is illustrated wonderfully in this version by Gus Grimly. I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading the non-sanitized versions of Grimm’s Fairy Tales (and other similar stories). It has all the familiar plot elements of the one we grew up watching (in America, at least) but is a much darker story than Disney gave us. I give it 4 stars and I would definitely buy it for my permanent library.