21 h 22 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 21 h 22 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if telling your life story means never quite getting to your own birth?
Tristram Shandy wants to explain his life. First, though, he must explain his conception, his parents, and an interruption he believes shapes his destiny. In Laurence Sterne’s comic novel, every beginning opens another detour, while Tristram’s family keeps taking over the story he means to tell.
His father, Walter Shandy, trusts elaborate theories about names, noses, and education. His gentle Uncle Toby studies sieges and fortifications, helped by the loyal Corporal Trim. As plans meet accidents and people misunderstand one another, Tristram talks directly to you, questions what belongs in a book, and jumps backwards and forwards through time.
What you’ll discover
- A narrator without brakes Follow Tristram as his opinions and family memories constantly interrupt the life he promises to explain.
- Reason meets everyday accidents Watch Walter’s grand theories struggle against a household that refuses to follow his plans.
- Uncle Toby’s gentle obsessions Meet a wounded soldier absorbed in fortifications and puzzled by the unfamiliar demands of courtship.
- Detours worth taking Enjoy a story whose delays reveal how memory, conversation, and thought resist a tidy order.
- Tenderness beneath the jokes Find warmth in people who cling to favourite ideas and struggle to understand each other.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy a funny, warm family comedy, a narrator who talks straight to you, and eccentric people who cling to their pet ideas will find a good friend here.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The story begins before the hero is born
- Yorick's kindness earns him the village's scorn
- A father's theories shape his son's fate
- Uncle Toby turns his wound into a hobby
- The birth night unfolds in the back parlor
- Small accidents keep damaging Walter's hopes
- Toby's tender heart meets Widow Wadman's attention
- Every person rides a hobby-horse of their own
- Opinions and words divide people and kindness joins them
- The book tells its tale by digression and play
Who’s who
- Tristram ShandyThe narrator, who tries to tell his life and opinions but keeps wandering, and who blames his troubles on his parents and a question about a clock.
- Walter ShandyTristram's father, a retired merchant with a theory for everything, who hopes to protect his son from a bad name, a bad nose, and a bad start.
- Captain Toby ShandyWalter's gentle, wounded brother, who builds model sieges on a bowling green and wants only to do good and hurt no one.
- Corporal TrimToby's loyal servant and former corporal, who limps from an old wound, speaks with a bow, and tells a moving story at every chance.
- YorickA village parson with a thin horse and a quick wit, who loves a joke and cannot hide his dislike of pompous gravity.
- Dr. SlopA proud man-midwife who arrives muddy and tied in knots, and who wants to prove that his skill beats the old village midwife.
- Widow WadmanToby's neighbor, who watches him from her arbor and wants to win his heart, and also to learn the truth about his old wound.
- SusannahThe Shandy maid, who carries urgent messages down the hall, forgets a name at the worst moment, and quarrels with Dr. Slop.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
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- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
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- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print hardcover
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La vida y las opiniones de Tristram Shandy, caballero
by Laurence Sterne · 1759
Tristram Shandy sets out to tell his life, but every detour pulls him away from the story.
ChallengingOver 20 hours to readEspañol
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In short
What if your life story could not get past the night you were conceived? In The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, a mother interrupts her husband at the worst moment with a question about the clock.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The story begins before the hero is born
Tristram Shandy begins his life story by blaming his parents. His mother chose the very moment they made him to ask his father whether he had remembered to wind the clock. Tristram says the question scattered the animal spirits that were meant to guide him safely into the world.
The question has a reason behind it. His father, Walter Shandy, a retired Turkey merchant, winds a big clock on the first Sunday night of every month. He saves other family duties for the same night. In his wife's mind the clock and the marriage bed have become tied together.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1759
- Language
- Español
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Sterne, Laurence. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-life-and-opinions-of-tristram-shandy-gentleman.
Sterne, L. (2026). The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-life-and-opinions-of-tristram-shandy-gentleman (Original work published 1759)
Sterne, Laurence. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-life-and-opinions-of-tristram-shandy-gentleman.
@book{sterne2026life,
author = {Sterne, Laurence},
title = {The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-life-and-opinions-of-tristram-shandy-gentleman},
note = {First published 1759}
}
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What is Tristram Shandy about?
It is the comic life story of Tristram, who keeps wandering from his own birth into the opinions, hobbies, and feuds of his family. Its heart is his father Walter, his Uncle Toby, and their small world at Shandy Hall.
Who are Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim?
Toby is Tristram's gentle uncle, a retired soldier wounded at Namur who builds model sieges on his bowling green. Trim is his loyal servant, a former corporal who helps build them and tells touching stories.
What is a hobby-horse in Tristram Shandy?
A hobby-horse is a person's favorite pastime or passion, ridden along the highway with no harm to others. Toby's is fortification, Walter's is theory, and the narrator's is digression. The book asks readers to be kind about them.
The author
Laurence Sterne
1713–1768 · Anglo-Irish novelist and clergyman
Laurence Sterne was an Irish-born English novelist and clergyman whose Tristram Shandy delighted and scandalized eighteenth-century readers with its digressions, jokes, and typographical games — a novel centuries ahead of its time.
More by Laurence Sterne
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