I was looking for advice on how to do a decent abridgement of a book, and I came across a blog post in which the author (A.S. Thornton) was asking why abridged books even exist. She felt reading abridged books was a bit of a cheat, and wanted to know what others thought. I tried to leave a comment on her blog, but Wordpress was uncooperative, so here are my two cents:
I used to be all "abridged books are for literary wimps and losers!", but I also used to think the same thing about audiobooks. I'm now an avid audiobook listener, and I'll sometimes read an abridged book if it's available. One reason is that I'm a fan of short fiction, but hardly anyone writes novellas for a popular audience (this is picking up a bit more with self publishing on Amazon and their "quick reads"). And, let's face it, a lot of books would make very strong novellas, but make pretty flabby novels. This is especially true for a lot of classics that were originally written as serials back in the day - the authors were trying to make the 19th Century version a TV series, and there's a lot of filler. The story really does benefit from having a few subplots or rambling descriptions of moorlands removed.
Another reason is that my attention span is garbage these days. I want to know the story, but I know I won't even start the book if I have to try to get through the whole thing. I work in a "word-heavy" job, and sometimes by the time I get to read for pleasure, I'm at a point where books pitched at second language learners are closer to what my brain can deal with. Which brings me to another plus point about abridgements: they're often easier to read for people who have English as a Second Language or trouble reading for some other reason, so it makes the story (and "reading" in general) more accessible.
But I think the main reason abridged novels exist is because the 20th Century was pumping these suckers out for a mass market. Remember, the average reading level of the general population is around 8th Grade, and people are looking for a quick read while they're taking the train to work or sneaking in a few pages between putting the kids to bed and going to bed themselves. They want to know the story of Robinson Crusoe, and they *want* to read... but ain't nobody got time to read the actual novel. The first few chapters of the unabridged version are an absolute slog. So time poor, book hungry would-be readers will gladly read the shorter version, and the publishers will gladly make it available for them.
Speaking of moorlands, I have never been able to get past the first couple of chapters of "Wuthering Heights". I once borrowed the abridged audiobook version of it to see if that helped, and it didn't. I still couldn't get past the first few chapters. Which just goes to show that a book can be abridged and still keep it's "natural charm".
