Tarzan of the Apes - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Published by Recorded Books, 2014. Released on Audible 09-06-2014.
Narrated by Simon Prebble.
Originally published serially from 1912, as a novel 1914.
Followed by "The Return of Tarzan."

So... Elise is a fan of Tarzan, specifically the music of the Disney version. She suggested that our next audiobook be the first Tarzan story, and as I have never read any of these stories, it seemed fun.

Tarzan of the Apes is nothing like the Disney version.

It is very bloodthirsty. It is quite racist at times. It only just shies away from having Tarzan become a cannibal. And Jane doesn't appear for a long time either.

The fact that this was a serialized story definitely comes through at times, when a chunk of chapters on one theme will sudden pivot to a chunk of chapters with a new focus. 

Clayton! That's an interesting twist. If you consider different adaptations of Tarzan in the past, the character of William Cecil Clayton will sometimes turn up. Usually he is the villain, sometimes even the obstacle between Tarzan and Jane finding each other. In this version, Clayton is incredibly likeable, to the point that at one stage I said to Elise that I really felt for him, that he kinda deserved to end up with Jane, possibly more than Tarzan.

I'm giving very little in the way of plot here, partially because for a long time the 'plot' is simply watching Tarzan grow up and go on various adventures (which occasionally involve murdering native tribesmen - admittedly cannibals, but still problematic). Once the other white men turn up, we get more plot, but even here it continues to meander around, making unexpected narrative choices, right up to the end of the book. 

And that is an unexpected cliffhanger of its own! After the rest of the book has taken its good time getting anywhere, Burroughs finds a very good way to make you curious to read the next installment.

Whether we will or not I don't know yet.

Very much a pulp novel. And with 20 or so sequels that (apparently) get more and more bizarre, I would only suggest reading it if you are curious about the origins of the character.

As for the narrator: Simon Prebble is great! We specifically chose a version with an English-accented author, as it seemed 'right' somehow, and Prebble is able to give just the right level of inflection for each character, along with doing some fairly decent accents for characters of other nationalities (including Jane, who is American in the novel).

Completed, with Elise, 3 February 2022.



(Elise Books)

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