A Christmas Story

The Book That Inspired the Hilarious Classic Film

By: Jean Shepherd

Narrated by: Dick Cavett

The holiday film A Christmas Story, first released in 1983, has become a bona fide Christmas perennial, gaining in stature and fame with each succeeding year. Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family's typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.

This audio production of A Christmas Story gathers together in one hilarious volume the gems of autobiographical humor that Jean Shepherd drew upon to create this enduring film. Here is young Ralphie Parker's shocking discovery that his decoder ring is really a device to promote Ovaltine; his mother and father's pitched battle over the fate of a lascivious leg lamp; the unleashed and unnerving savagery of Ralphie's duel in the snow with the odious bullies Scut Farkas and Grover Dill; and, most crucially, Ralphie's unstoppable campaign to get Santa, or anyone else, to give him a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle. Who cares that the whole adult world is telling him, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid"?

The pieces that comprise A Christmas Story, previously published in the larger collections In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories, coalesce in a magical fashion to become an irresistible piece of Americana, quite the equal of the film in its ability to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone.

©2003 The Estate of Jean Shepherd (P)2004 Random House Inc. Random House Audio, a divison of Random House, Inc.

a great classic

better than the movie, if you can believe that! a must read for any fan

loved hearing this wonderful story again!

this is a must listen for me during the holidays, much like watching the movie version, rudolph, elf. a feel good story with more tales than the movie.

nostalgic look back on depression era

if you've seen the movie, nothing new or left out, but fun to hear if you enjoy this style of writing (which i do)....

Review of A Christmas Story

This is a short audible book for about three hours of listening. It was very entertaining!! the reader did an excellent job telling the story!! The story itself entertained me immensely!! I thought it was fun to hear this original story that the movie is based on. The movie is one of my favorite Christmas movies. Enjoy!!

Good story

The narration was really good and I enjoyed the stories in the book. Very cute for the holidays.

still one of favorite holiday listens

I've listened to this many times and it never gets old. It's so light hearted and warm. A bit different from the movie, obviously, but no less classic and merry. This will forever be a holiday listen for me!

A Fun Listen

Got this for a holiday car trip, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It took a while to get used to the narrator (whom I am not convinced was the best choice), but it was as charming as the movie, and maybe even more so.

always a great story!

have loved this story for years and still watch it every year. nice to have the Audible version so can play it in bed with the kids!

Random, but fun collection of stories

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, but only to those not easily offended by profanity.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The book is a collection of short stories, so there wasn't a grand finale.

What does Dick Cavett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Dick has a gruff voice that takes a little bit of time to start to enjoy -- however, he voice does grow on you. The reading has background sound effect and intro music -- which does help add to the performance.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Each of the stories had their own charms. The famous "leg lamp" story and the "Easter ham" are my favorites.

Any additional comments?

The stories are just a random collection of short recollections that have very little to do with Christmas, with the exception of the BB-gun story. I actually like the movie better -- it somehow takes most of these stories and puts them in a related order leading up to the climax of the BB-gun story finale. Also, the movie is family friendly -- but this book is laced with plenty of profanity.

A Christmas Story

This has to be my most favorite Christmas Story ever. The narrator did a fantastic job.