Audiobooks are fantastic companions, especially for someone like me who has headphones on 24/7. But there’s no doubt that my reading experience suffers when I listen to a story instead of reading it. Audiobooks invite other elements into my personal reading experience that can alter the storytelling, and I end up sacrificing quality for convenience. While introspecting on why that might be, I thought to put pen to paper and outline my internal conflicts with audiobooks.
At Arms Length
The intimacy of interacting with a story one-on-one is lost when listening to an audiobook. Physically reading a book is a personal experience—you hold a book (or reading tablet), your eyes scan over the words, and you physically turn the page once the meaning has been processed in your brain. You’re actively participating in the reading experience, but audiobooks just talk at you. You can be intentional and engage with an audiobook, but with text books, you have no choice but to engage in the process fully. For me, audiobooks are alluring because they can be played at distracting times. The story is playing and you’re passively absorbing it, especially when you pair an audiobook with other activities like driving, walking, or doing chores around the house. Sitting down with a compelling book never fails to hold me in place and force me to process the story’s emotions. When I listen to an audiobook, I feel removed from the people and places. The events wash over me like I’m a cold observer because I don’t feel like I’m actually part of the story. With audiobooks, nothing is grounding me in the moment. Too much of the real world creeps in while listening, and it softens the impact the story should be having.
I Hear You
The voice actor can make or break an audiobook, and the quality of voices out there varies greatly. On the extremely low-budget end of the spectrum, I’ve encountered robotic (and probably AI-generated) voices that degrade the storytelling experience down to a sterile rendition. Sitting through a 12-hour audiobook like that would give me a smooth brain. Then there is a possibility that the VA is technically good, but their voice does not vibe with you for any multitude of reasons. It could be that their voice doesn’t fit the characters or maybe they go a little too hard on the delivery. A common issue I encounter is when there are multiple POVs, but the VA cannot distinguish their voice enough to create separation between the characters. I can’t help but picture the VA with two sock puppets on their hands attempting to represent each POV. The VA controls the storytelling which is where it can get funky. There are incredible voice actors who create memorable audiobook experiences, but these instances are rare. When picking up an audiobook, you’re no longer the participant reading the story with your voice in your mind, so the chances of something being interpreted differently or not living up to your own expectations increase.
Say What
Audiobooks screw with the delivery and interpretation of the story. My favorite example of this is best told by comparing the experiences Andrew and I had while reading The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. In the story, the protagonist, Jude, discovers a piece of paper with her name written over and over and over. When I was reading the story, I encountered a glorious image of a scrap of paper with Jude’s name obsessively repeated among several ink splotches. It was a stark, powerful image that gave shape to a complicated character relationship. However, when Andrew listened to the audiobook, he was ear blasted with a monotone delivery of “Jude” that seemed neverending. The audiobook obliterated the meaning behind this letter and gave the reader an unbearable and unintentionally comic experience. Regardless of the poor delivery of this particular moment, audiobooks can scrub away all meaning, especially with the delivery of nontraditional text. Reading a book encourages and allows the reader to sit with a moment and interpret it, while the audiobook is a continuous stream of words that pushes the reader along. Pair that with a subpar VA or strange delivery; a beautiful book moment will be lost forever.
I’m not breaking up with audiobooks, but I’ve become more strategic with my listening selections. If I am looking forward to a particular story/author, or I know it’s going to be an emotional heavy hitter, I make sure to sit down with a physical copy. Audiobooks are nice to have, but they can never fully replicate my connection with a real book.
Could not disagree more with every single point. Listen to any interview with Stephen King where he talks about how his work has been adapted to audiobooks.
My biggest issue is that I can’t process if it’s the only thing I do and I simply can’t pay attention if I add another small physical task to the audiobook listening 🤦♀️
“I’m not breaking up with audiobooks, but I’ve become more strategic with my listening selections.” — same! I get a lot more reading done when I include audio, but I’ve occasionally encountered books that just did not really work very well as spoken-word versions. The most recent example was made up of a series of short stories and poetry, which I think fits with your point about nontraditional text; listening to it was discombobulating, so I ended up flipping through a print edition as well.
That said, there have been books that I think I couldn’t have enjoyed nearly so much if they hadn’t been available on audio; ‘Moby Dick’ comes to the top of my mind. Plus, some of my favorite audiobooks have been autobios or memoirs narrated by the authors themselves, which I think removes or at least lessens the problem of subpar interpretation.