The Adventures of Roderick Random, Tobias Smollett
The Adventures of Roderick Random, Tobias Smollett
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The Adventures of Roderick Random

Author: Tobias Smollett

Narrator: Peter Kenny

Abridged: 17 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/22/2020

Categories: Fiction, Classic


Synopsis

Tobias Smollett, in his creation of the Scot Roderick Random, exposes the sheer incompetence and injustice of the Royal Navy, as well as the snobbery and hypocrisy prevalent in English middle-class society at the time. Set in the mid-18th century, this picaresque novel follows the life and adventures of Roderick, the eponymous hero who has been shunned by his gentleman father's family on the basis of the lowliness of his mother's family. Expelled from school, Roderick falls back on his natural wit and the support of his maternal uncle. Embarking on a global voyage, hindered by his naivete and with only a few friends to help him, he pursues the rich ladies of the world in order to rise into the high society from which he was rudely ejected. He ends up twice serving on British ships, latterly a warship onto which he is press-ganged. Where will his travels take him?

Reviews

Goodreads review by Henry on April 28, 2025

A bit autobiographical by Dr. Smollett about a poor boy Roderick Random from Scotland, alone, scared, aimless, naive but boisterous who constantly puts one foot ahead of the other in his journey to salvation...he hopes....Mother dies his despondent father flees to parts unknown, the wealthy grandfat......more

Goodreads review by Justin on August 09, 2013

Compared to Humphrey Clinker, RR is a bit lacking. Compared to all the world's other novels, though, it's great. As ever with the 18th century, you need to adjust your expectations: the characters are 'flat,' there's no psychologizing, the plot meanders with little internal purpose, and there's no p......more

Goodreads review by Rebecca on June 17, 2021

I’m wondering if there used to be something wrong with me, or perhaps if I’ve got thicker over the years, because I took great pleasure in reading Smollett’s ‘Humphrey Clinker’ when I was an undergraduate but I’ve just found ‘Roderick Random’, which I’ve been eager to read for years, a bit of a slog......more

Goodreads review by P.E. on April 30, 2018

Though not into reading this likely drudge at first, it proved overtime a funny collection of foul tricks played at Roderick's expense. The language and amusing use of nicknames prevents it from being a mere harrowing account of misfortunes but turn it into a jumble of errands, sprinkled with wit! Re......more

Goodreads review by Neale on October 29, 2013

'Roderick Random' was Smollett's first novel, and it is his best. It is a brawling, picaresque romp, like Fielding crossed with Dickens: less polished than Fielding, much coarser than Dickens, but always great fun. It is a fascinating insight into the society of its day, and demonstrates Smollett's......more