Review: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (Free Audio Book)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is an amazing short story written by Washington Irving. Actually, it is one of the finest Irving stories.

The story revolves around a man called Ichabod who works as a teacher in a little town called Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod falls in love with Katrina Van Tassel, a beautiful young woman. She is one of Ichabod’s students and the daughter of one of the richest men in the town. Things get tricky when Ichabod finds out that he is not alone in his attentions to Katrina. Brom Van Brunt, also known as Brom Bones, is also in love with Katrina.

Throughout the story, Brom does everything he can in order to scare off Ichabod and to gain Katrina’s hand. Brom’s main method of intimidation fails when Ichabod decides to avoid any physical confrontation. Brom then decides to play pranks on Ichabod…

The novel and the reader really make a wonderful combination. The reading is done by an amateur reader, Chip. The reader, although an amateur, does a great job. His accent is comfortable and interesting to listen to. He has a great understanding of the tone of the novel. His diction is crisp, his pacing is excellent, and he clearly enjoys the story. I wish he’d done more work for Librivox as he really brings the story alive and his gravely voice is absolutely wonderful to listen to.

You can listen to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow here.