The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow

by Washington Irving

Gris Grimly (Illustrator)

A superstitious schoolmaster, in love with a wealthy farmer's daughter, has a terrifying encounter with a headless horseman.

• ISBN10: 1416906258
• ISBN13: 9781416906254
• Publish Date: 7 August 2007 (first published 1 January 1820)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Atheneum
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 40
• Language: English

Reviews

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog: www.thepunktheory.wordpress.com

To be perfectly honest, I am disappointed. The tales of the Headless Horseman are so iconic, I expected the original to be somewhat impressive. However, the story is not only very short, it's also rather uneventful. Let me sum it up real quick for you: Ichabod Crane is the teacher in Sleepy Hollow and he's courting Katrina Van Tassel (just like a bunch of other guys). One of them scares Ichabod by making him believe the Headless Horseman is after him. Well, he is so embarassed that he skips town.
So the original story is super uneventful. There were attempts at humor but those fell rather flat too.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Find this review and others like it at The Literary Phoenix.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is an annual tradition for me in October. The audiobook is only an hour and a half long, so it’s a nice distraction for a day’s drive to and from the office. With the mornings dark and rainy, the atmosphere this year was perfect for Sleepy Hollow.

Unfortunately, the biggest things that stood out for me this year was the way the black characters were treated… they’re gross stereotypes. It’s not what I should be taking out of the book, but I have a difficult time setting it aside. I remember noticing it last year, but it seemed more defined this year for some reason. Definitely dampened the experience. I understand this book is old, published 45 years before emancipation in America, but yuck.

Tom Mison’s voice is velvety perfection, though… so I enjoyed that!

_______________

Previous Review: 10/19/19: 4 Stars

Still love this one.

I did notice some problematic moments that could have been cut, but I'm also one of those people that believes: this was written in 1820 and while I don't think that the two racist sentences were okay, I also get that... it was 1820.

I do find that the language - while lyrical - can get a bit tedious. That's my only complaint, other than the racist stuff. Which, really, is only two sentences. Still a classic October book!
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2017 Review: 5 Stars

This book is an October tradition for me.

I love book traditions.  As a kid, I knew the story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman, but I had never read the book until Audible gave it away to its subscribers in 2014.  It's about a scrawny school teacher who falls in love with the wealthy Katrina Von Tassel and begin to woo her - even though she is already being courted by Brom, one of the rowdy boys of the town.    Fortunately for Brom, Crane is run out of town by the apparition of the Headless Horseman.

Tom Mison's reading is brilliant.

As I was listening to it this year (the audiobook is very short), it occurred to me that even though the rich descriptions are lovely and I adore the character quirks of this classic folk tale, what I REALLY love is Tom Mison's voice.  He played Ichabod Crane in Fox's Sleepy Hollow which was sort of a hot mess (I watched all four seasons and loved it) and he read the whole thing so perfectly.  It was brilliant of Audible to bring him in to do it.

Sleepy Hollow is a must-read folktale classic.

I'm a New Englander, so this story really hits home for me.  The description of the little sleeping valleys between mountains and cities still holds true today, even though the story takes place in New York.  There's a rustic old world charm to the tale that makes it delightful.  It's not scary in the least, even though it is a ghost story.  It's just a fun little yarn about a superstitious man and the shadows under the moon.

I love it.
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First read: December 2014

The classic tale of Sleepy Hollow is one of the few notable American folk tales, and while it is in itself wonderful and quaint, the addition of Tom Mison's rich voice undoubtedly accentuates the story, making it resound in an even more eerie manner.

A ghost story is meant to be told, not read, and nobody is better for this, I think, than Mison.

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is such an iconic piece of literature, I was really surprised to recall that I hadn't read the actual story! It's talked about so much, and everyone knows about the Headless Horseman. Since it's almost Halloween, it seemed like the perfect time to go through some classics that have escaped me.

Obviously, this is an older work, and as such the style is very different from what modern readers now expect. I was prepared for that (and for the derogatory terms used). However, I was still expecting a creepy, hair-raising tale...and honestly, was a bit disappointed. The lead up was great! Ichabod is SO ripe to be scared out of his wits, whether by normal or supernatural means...but nothing really happens. It seems that nothing too horrible went on, that maybe it was after all just a joke. The best part of course is the slight feeling of "what if..." we are left with, and the locale that Irving has built up. His descriptions of the place, the stories of hauntings, and the general feelings of creepiness for the place that he gives us are worth far more than the actual main incident (which is astonishingly short, even given the short story form). Yawn.

3/5 stars. It was okay, but I was expecting better. Was this really THAT creepy when it was first published? I wonder.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Most people know the story of Sleepy Hollow, we have probably seen a movie or the TV show. But how accurate are these adaptations to the book? The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is probably Washington Irving’s best known short story. Appearing in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent along with the story that is often a companion to Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow tells the story of Ichabod Crane in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town and his encounters with the Headless Horseman.

There are many pop culture references to the Headless Horseman as well as adaptations. I remember Tim Burton directing a movie adaptation starting Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci and of course the more recent TV show. Although I cannot think of one reference or adaptation that seemed to get the story right. For starters, the TV show likes to portray Ichabod Crane as a gentleman (although a turncoat) but I got a very different experience in Washington Irving’s short story. I found Ichabod Crane to be a greedy character that wanted everything; from riches to notoriety.

The story is told as an investigation into the supernatural, trying to unlock the legend of the Headless Horseman. This worked really well, Washington Irving had a great ability in creating an atmosphere. As a reader I felt like I could picture everything he was writing and it really helped set the tension. Irving wrote beautiful words and combining this with the atmosphere, I felt myself fully immersed in the settlement of Tarry Town.

Having said that, the plot did not really go anywhere and it felt like it was over before it really got started. I think this story could have done with more pages, allowing to build the plot and characters in greater detail. There are some interesting themes of wealth, nature and truth but for the most part I felt it was lacking. I like the way Washington Irving wrote and I am glad that I finally know the story of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow now, even if it was just an average tale.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-reviews/genre/horror/legend-sleepy-hollow-washington-irving/