A Tale of One Publishers

And now bringing you a soapbox rant of comfortably non-lifethreatening purport and lacking in any sort of news worthy proportions:
I discovered this afternoon that the paperback copy of Tale of Two Cities that I got for my daughter to read is abridged! It doesn’t say so anywhere in the book, especially not on the cover! How is it honest to publish a book as THE book written by Charles Dickens without mentioning that some ape has randomly hit the delete key several times every 5-10 words? I was reading along thinking there was something wrong with me because words happened that didn’t make sense –I kept thinking “wait, what happened?” –having to go back and reread and still events were foggy. Dickens is never foggy. Even when he describes fog, he does it in a manner to leave no doubt about the exact origin, dimension, mood,sight, taste, feel, and sound of said fog. The fog becomes a metaphor for the obscurity of man’s mind, nebulous fears in an unseen future and the steaming sweat of the downtrodden. Where was the Dickens? Turns out it wasn’t Dickens or me to blame. Puffin Classics let me down in a big way. Perhaps you now have to buy a book that specifically says it is unabridged? Reader beware. Publishers are changing our classics into empty, refined carbs.

My awesome cousin Allison clued me in:

In defense of all publishers in general, and Penguin Random House specifically, Puffin is their middle grade arm, which means that they cater to 10- to 14-year-old readers. A lot of their Puffin Classics series is abridged, and they say so on the copyright page. When a work is in the public domain the publisher does have the right to abridge when they want, and if they’re publishing a series for a younger audience (which the Puffin Classic series is) they will at times abridge long or dense works. If you want the original, look for an adult version (Penguin Classic, for example), or just check the copyright page.

My good friend Matt:

Dickens is never foggy? But what about all that London fog?

Seriously, though, there is absolutely no point in abridging A Tale of Two Cities. It is one of the most fast-moving, thoroughly entertaining, unputdownable books I have ever read.