WHO CENSORED ROGER RABBIT (audiobook) by Gary K. Wolf

 






Book originally published in 1981.
Audiobook edition published in 2019 by Tantor Audio.
Read by L.J. Ganser.
Duration: 7 hours, 36 minutes.
Unabridged.

This book is the inspiration for the much-celebrated Disney movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? but readers should know that it is not much like the movie.

Three of the main characters are the same - Private Investigator Eddie Valiant, Toon movie star Roger Rabbit and his Toon wife Jessica Rabbit.

But, the world they inhabit is different than the world in the movie. In the movie, Toons make cartoon movies. They are filmed like regular movies. In the book, Toons don't make movies, they make comic books and comic strips. Toons in the book have the little voice bubbles that appear over their heads just like you see in comic books and comic strips. The actors pose for the comic strip pictures and photographers take their pictures.

A quote from the book. Also, a very true statement.
In the book, Roger Rabbit is actually killed and Eddie Valiant is on the case looking for his murderer. There is not Toon World like there is in the movie - Toons just live and work among humans and are certainly second class citizens.

The Toons are a running commentary on the racial situation in the United States and that fact is essential to the book. They were living in North America when colonists from Europe displaced them. They were imported to work on the railroads in the late 1800's. Toons have their civil rights, but when a Toon moves into the neighborhood, people move away and the property values drop. Some Toons are lucky enough to "pass" for human. 

This book is a much darker story than the movie. That doesn't bother me any. But, this story has some unnecessary complicated powers of Toons that make the story line clunky. I think Disney made a lot of improvements when they adapted this story to make the movie. That being said, the book is pretty strong as its own independent work and was a very creative idea.

The audiobook was read by L.J. Ganser who did a great job with a lot of very different kinds of characters, including a lot of Toons who speak in, well, cartoonish voices. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: WHO CENSORED ROGER RABBIT (audiobook) by Gary K. Wolf.

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