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The Thirteen Clocks  By  cover art

The Thirteen Clocks

By: James Thurber
Narrated by: Edward Woodard
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Publisher's summary

The Thirteen Clocks is James Thurber's enduring story of life in a castle where time stands still on every clock at 10 minutes to five. The Duke of the castle ignores time and pays no attention to temperature either. He is a wicked Duke who has hands cold enough to choke a bull. The only warmth he understands is the warm hands of Princess Saralinda, his fair niece, whom he cherishes and protects from suitors. In a comic and poetic way, this story makes us all want to love a Princess and to be a Prince. What's more, we want the 13 castle clocks to whir and tick and tell us that the time is NOW.
©2009 Phoenix

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What listeners say about The Thirteen Clocks

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Engrossing and Witty Fable Beautifully Read

Gorgeous language, clever humor and irresistible plot makes makes this masterpiece a joy to read. The voice artist and the music are perfect. Outstanding production.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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I loved this story!

What a very fun short story! Highly recommend if you love a good fairy tale, with some Monty Python-esque humor twisted in! It only takes an hour to listen to it. It's a tough book to find (....audio or otherwise -- my local library doesn't even have it!), but this Audible version is outstanding! The voices are spectacular, and you won't be able to resist repeating some of very clever phrases, or saying, "golux" out loud!

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3 people found this helpful

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a great story

I liked the different sounds of Characters an-. the Story

Wond e r f U I

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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A very good reading, but something's missing...

All in all, I enjoyed this reading of a story that I've enjoyed since childhood, but I really can't give it full marks. While Edward Woodward is an extremely competent narrator and kept the story moving along at a very good pace, I didn't quite get the impression he was enjoying himself portraying all the different characters and his reading at times seems slightly rushed. While using sound effects was all right, I found that the background music was a distraction throughout the story and at times almost but not quite overwhelmed the narrator.

A good, very good, performance and audio-book ... but I have to say I have heard better.

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1 person found this helpful

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Ruined by sound effects and over loud music

The story is 10 stars and performance is good but wrecked by the overwrought production. Try to find the version done by Peter Ustinov it is almost a perfect production. The story is so good that even the bad choices of loud music and slapdash sound effects could nudge down the overall score

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3 people found this helpful

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A Great Tale For Young and Old Alike

One of Thurber's best stories; his wordplay and humor make this a winner. But it is made even better with Edward Woodard's fantastic narration. It took me awhile to get used to the sound effects and music and I'm still not sure if I would like it better without these. However, it's delightful anyway and if you have children they should enjoy it too.

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2 people found this helpful

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Great fairy tale

A wonderful fairy tale for young and old alike. The narrator brought the story to life. I highly recommend this.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

As a Fairy Tale Should Be

James Thurber is, of course, delightful, and Edward Woodard is an absolute Wonder.

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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audible fails to tell you

James Thurber is a National Treasure. This is a gentle Fairy tale that can be enjoyed by all ages.

Buy the book and enjoy it. But you need to know that you have to download it on the highest quality for good audio quality. Otherwise the music will drown out the speech.

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1 person found this helpful

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fun and clever

well written and performed! would recommend to all, for silliness and clever make for a good, short read.

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