Guest Review: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

I’m very excited to welcome Chris from Chrisbookarama as a guest reviewer today.  Chris will be reviewing Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

I grew up watching the Disney cartoon version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow every Halloween. I still remember the spine tingling laugh of the Headless Horseman. I loved it. I’ve always wanted to read the short story by Washington Irving so when Jenn was planning Fright Fest, I figured it was finally the right time.

In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, schoolteacher Ichabod Crane is a happy bachelor until he gets a look at the farm of Baltus Van Tassel. He starts imagining what his life would be like if he was the owner of that farm. He is then determined to court the daughter of Van Tassel, whoever she may be. That lady just happens to be the lovely and coquettish Katrina who is courted by many a local including the formidable Brom Bones.

Brom Bones is a good old boy who is at the bottom of every prank that happens in Sleepy Hollow. He’s a big, rough guy, always ready for a fight. However, Ichabod is not discouraged. He has confidence in his own charms. When he is invited to a party at the abode of Van Tassel, he sets off on a borrowed horse, the heart of Katrina just within his grasp.

Ichabod has a serious character flaw; he is extremely superstitious. Late into the evening, the men start telling hair raising tales, one happens to be the legend of the Headless Horseman. The horseman is the ghost of a Hessian revolutionary who lost his head in battle. Every night he sets out onto the local road, looking for his missing head.

As the night’s revelry comes to a close, Ichabod must take the road home alone, his head filled with thoughts of the Headless Horseman. I’ll let you find out what happens next for yourself.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, even though not one of the characters is sympathetic. Ichabod is greedy, Brom a bully and Katrina a flirt. I did not like how neither of the men treated Katrina like a person, just a prize to be won. Irving does know how to spin a yarn though and this is a fun story for Halloween.

I downloaded the LibriVox recording of the story for free. The reader, Chip, had a gravelly voice and he was an enthusiastic narrator. He added so much to the experience. He really carried me along through the story. I recommend giving him a listen.

Now that I can compare the Disney film and the story, I have to say Disney had it spot on, plus a musical number! The film can be viewed in 4 parts on Youtube. Enjoy! The Tim Burton version while visually interesting has almost nothing to do with the Washington Irving story.

If you don’t want to watch the whole film, here’s a little bite of it, the part where Ichabod hears the story for the first time.

Thank you Chris!  I, too, grew up watching the Disney version of this tale. Sounds like a tradition I need to get started with my boys, eh?