Sunday, November 01, 2009

Review: Dolan's Cadillac (Audiobook)

Dolan's Cadillac and Other Stories, Stephen King


Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition, 2009
ISBN: 978-0743598200
Number of Discs: 5
Running Time: Approx. 5 hours


Just in time for Halloween! Oh. Wait a minute. Halloween was the other day. Well then, just in time for next Halloween!

In 1994, King published a book of short stories titled Nightmares & Dreamscapes. 912 pages of short stories, including a non-fiction piece about his son's baseball team (Steve is a big fan of the sport). The entire book was never released on audio cassette; Highbridge Audio claimed an unabridged collection, but it was really just a few unabridged selections from the book.

In July, Simon & Schuster changed that with the release of six audiobooks on CD. And they did it up right: each story is read by a famous person, mostly actors, who give the stories their actorly best. To me, the readings were similar to recording the soundtrack for an animated film: lively, different "voices" for different characters, and just plain fun.

Dolan's Cadillac is the first in the series, and this is the lineup (a bow to baseball):

1. King reads his Introduction.

2. A school teacher discovers her students are not what they seem in Suffer the Little Children, read by Whoopi Goldberg.

3. In Crouch End, read by Tim Curry, a woman fears that supernatural events may have led to her husband's disappearance. (Curry is excellent!)

4. In Rainy Season, read by Yeardley Smith, a young couple is forced into the ultimate battle of Man vs. Nature when torrential rain turns deadly.

5. A widowed husband spends seven years plotting revenge for his wife's murder in Dolan's Cadillac, a long story read by Rob Lowe.

I like S&S's modular approach to this big book of King's tales. The CDs are packaged nicely in a fold-out similar to some DVD sets. Each module retails for $10.19 (US) at Amazon, or they can be dowloaded from Audible.com if you're a member. If you like King, like short stories, and commute, one of these sets may strike your fancy.

The following links take you to the other five sets (with a major reader) for your perusal: Chattery Teeth (Kathy Bates), Sorry, Right Number (a full cast), It Grows On You (Grace Slick), The End of the Whole Mess (Matthew Broderick), and The House on Maple Street (Robert B. Parker).

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Story lines (numbers 2-5) are from Amazon.com product information for Dolan's Cadillac.

[A note to WC: I know you don't "do" King, so don't waste a perfectly good comment to tell me you don't "do" King.]

18 comments:

Linda Koons said...

There's that Robert B. Parker fellow again....is somebody trying to tell you something??

Wandering Coyote said...

Ok, I won't leave any comment, then.

Charlie said...

LINDA: Yes, uber mother. Actually, I put his name in there on purpose, just for you.

WC: See? Wasn't that note a good idea? You saved yourself a bunch of work by not making a comment.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Okay...this is totally new to me. I have to check it out a bit more. I am looking forward to Under the Dome!

Wandering Coyote said...

I am loving The Hunger Games, BTW!

Barbara Bruederlin said...

I bought the Spousal Unit an audio book of King's The Mist back when we were courting and he had to drive 24 hours from Winnipeg to London, ON in December. He had to stop listening to it while driving past Lake Superior on that winter night as it freaked him out too much. What was I thinking?

Pat said...

What a great Christmas present that would make. Unfortunately I find audio tapes always send me to sleep. Great if I'm suffering from insomnia but not so good when I want to hear a story.

Charlie said...

DIANE: I so hope that Under the Dome is good--I'm really looking forward to it.

WC: I'm glad you saved your comment for this one: I'm relieved, to put it mildly, since I had no idea how you would react to it. The next one in the series is sitting here . . .

BARBARA: I remember The Mist quite well: full cast, stereo sound, and scary as hell. If the SU was driving through mist or fog I can imagine it scaring the hell out of him.

St Jude said...

I read the short stories, but I might just try this, it sounds interesting and I like being read to.

Charlie said...

PAT: It appears we crossed posts yesterday. I'm sorry that audio puts you to sleep (television does that to me), but I guess it's a good thing if it helps your insomnia.

ST JUDE: Maybe, if you're really nice to him, His Lordship will read the stock market listings or the telephone book to you. Neither have much of a plot, but it's nice having a live reading.

Mary Witzl said...

I'm a big fan of Robert B Parker's Spencer detective novels. Don't tell me you're not -- you are, aren't you?

Halloween may be over, but these all sound great!

Barlinnie said...

Charlie, Tim Curry is a man of whom I have great admiration. His talent is endless, and his reading voice is definitely the cherry on the cake.

kara said...

i would enjoy Tim Curry reading me a phone book.

but Grace Slick? really? does she ask at any point if you want somebody to love?

Charlie said...

MARY: No, I have not read Spenser. Both you and Linda make it sound like I've committed a crime for not reading Parker's crime novels.

JIMMY: I agree about Curry. He used a different "voice" for every character in the story, including a distraught woman and two very creepy children. His was a performance, not a reading.

KARA: If you ask really nice, maybe Tim will read a phone book to you.

I don't know about Grace--I've only listened to the series I reviewed.

Anonymous said...

Hi Charlie, I think somewhere along the road I mentioned that Dolan's Cadillac is now a movie with Christian Slater...

Tiffin said...

Tim Curry...Alan Rickman...these guys with voices

I never want to actually read scary stuff but I always want to know how it ends...does he get his revenge?...is that the bad guy looking out of the window of the cadillac or Dolan?

Charlie said...

MICHAEL: You're right. Maybe Slater is a lousy reader--I know I am.

TIFFIN: C'mon, Tui, you don't really expect me to give anything away, do you?

Tiffin said...

Not give it away but maybe send an email with the answers? hehe