Penguin Random house Reviews 56

I can't begin to say how truly disappointed I am after reading Penguin Random House Classics version of Clarissa Or The History Of A Young Lady by Samuel Richardson and edited by the late Angus Ross. The book is an arrogant attempt to bring classic to the modern reader and short changes them. The book omitted letters and get around this attempts to add explanations which only leave the reader frustrated. The book is unclear and confusing. This was done in order to shorten the book, which should have been in the original 7-9 volumes as Richardson intended it. Even in the introduction Ross is unclear. To say that this was badly done in an understatement. Then there is Penguin Random House Classics version of The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer. In order to placate and pander because that is what this is. They chose to go along with the delicate sensibilities of not only readers of Georgette Heyer but her literary properties who after her death took control and expurgated and sanitized it against the author's wishes. This is systemic censorship. The private equity firm and the Mohn family especially Liz Mohn are responsible for encouraging this. Going back to Angus Ross the editor, when reading the introduction to Clarissa, Ross makes no attempt to clarify what he trying to say. Ge is as incomprehensible and hard to decipher as Richardson himself.

Im making an effort to read all the classics.

I live on a small island off the coast of a major city here in SE Asia and only go to the main island once a month or so.

I picked up a copy of Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. When I got home and opened the book I found that there’s an issue with the binding of the book and it’s slowly falling apart. I sent an email to you guys about it and heard nothing in response. I finished the book and just counted it as a loss.

A few months later I purchased a copy of “The confessions of saint Augustine. Another classic published by you guys. And yet again I come home to open it and begin reading it and it too is falling apart.

This is two books both from your publishing company both falling apart from the binding not being secured properly or something. I didn’t want a refund. I asked you to just send me another copy of The Brothers Karamazov in my first email because it’s a great book and I intended to re-read it. But you never responded to my email and here I am having purchased another book from your publishing company only for it to be falling apart again.

I think it would be the right thing for you to do to either refund me the two books or send me another copy please.

I’ll take my review back if you’re willing to do so.

Non existent customer service. Contacted them because they sell a coloring book that can't be properly coloured. ZERO quality. Lost money.

Unreadable typeface in ‘Selected Works of Cicero’, just so disappointed as I really wanted to read this book. Its text is much smaller than newspaper font and many sections appear to be printed in distorted illegible italic. To illustrate my point, the original penguin edition from fifty years ago was 110 pages longer due to its normal-sized typeface compared to this recent printed edition. Furthermore, the ink seems fainter on some pages compared to others with text missing due to printer-skipping and inadequate ink. For the avoidance of doubt, all the other penguin copies in-store at Waterstones and elsewhere suffer from these printing defects. Like another user said, such cost cutting methods are compromising the reader experience.

Refuses to write a Little Golden Book about Trump in World Leaders Series but already has one each of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I'm appaled and ashamed I ever spent money on these books for my child and students in my classroom. Never again. I'd give 0 stars if I could.

My parents got me ur clementine rose book. its so good, I love it it's my favorite book.
Thanks penguin random house!

Great Books

Any publisher that gives Harry Windsor & Meghan Markle a 4 book deal is worthy of boycott in my opinion. I see they have terrible reviews on Trustpilot already.

they definitely have one of the largest inventory of books that you can find online at the moment. i love just browsing their website sometime and come across books that i have never heard of. you know, bestsellers, classics, specials, niches, uncharted territory, you name it. and I also started reading a lot ebooks which is far more comfortable than reading physical books turns out, and penguin is still my go to place to explore stuff and get some interesting reads

Bought Ivanhoe, started reading yesterday, so confused and none of the first couple of pages made any sense, then realised page 1 starts at the end of the book! And I was reading the ending backwards, I'm not impressed, it will be returned, and I will be getting my money back.. buyer beware

How dare you mess with classic literature. PG Wodehouse should be left intact. Hitler's burning of books comes to mind!! Oh oh wokey wokey. I shall avoid your books at all cost!😡

Received a book as a gift - unfortunately 50 pages were missing. Was unable to return do vendor due to being a gift so having no proof of purchase, so got in contact with PRH as the publishers. Received a complete replacement book in about a week or so - great service from this publisher, a shame the printing error happened at all though.

Just so anyone reading this knows... the bad reviews all come from angry British people. The website is terrible to use but it is not a scam

Absoultely ******* awful!
HUGE LIST OF TYPO'S PROVIDED TO THEM REGARDING THE OUTLANDER BOOKS (1 TO 5 SO FAR) AND NOT A SNIFF OF DECENCY TO ACTUALLY COMPENSATE ME FOR RUINING AN EXCELLENT STORY WITH THEIR DREADFUL TYPO'S!
HOW LOW CAN YOU GET PRH? YOU REALLY HAVE HIT THE BOTTOM WITH *NO* CUSTOMER CARE OR REPECT!

Death of a great publishing house after Bertelsman bought them. Such a waste.

This company are paying millions to Prince Harry to (a) allow him to moan about his differences with his family and (b) damage our country and Royal Family. Personally I value publishers who invest in new talented writers, rather than subsidise hate and over-entitled disloyal royals. So one star. I prefer to support books from publishers who sign up great authors. A better cause. Bad company. Bad web site.

In my opinion, the penguin book printing quality has diminished in recent years, and I have noticed other people at book shops voicing the same concerns.

The printing on the pages remains too faint and unreadable, possibly due to the publisher printing the books on the ink-save mode or by using cheaper ink. Also the font size on some books can be unnecessarily small even for medium-length works. Notwithstanding the poor binding across much of the penguin range, for instance the books appear to be floppy and bendy with minimal structural integrity. And I have witnessed the cover material on the book spine peeling off within days of use.

Such cost-cutting methods only compromise the overall product and typographic quality of your books, not least the reader experience.

Authors dedicate much effort and time into writing something decent, and one would expect the publisher to at least print the books with dark ink, readable font, good construction and paper quality.

I put my findings in writing to penguin and they forwarded my feedback to the relevant department, however I somewhat doubt they will address the printing quality issues mentioned.

In light of everything, I have since had no choice but to always double-check the publisher before purchasing any books, leaving me to seek previous editions from charity shops or inspecting the print quality before purchase.

This company it all related to a tik tocker who constantly swears and uses her kid in her videos and makes him swear, uses mental health issues and body dysmorphia to make everyone click her videos. Shame on you penguin random house. Shame on you.

We bought one of your books, “Mommy mama and me” and I just wanted to share my experience with you. Everything is good but the quality of the book is poor and after less than a month we have it it’s already broken.

This is a great publishing house with plenty of history and I particularly enjoyed all the books by author Dan Jones. No, not the Da Vinci Code muppet. There's an even better Dan Jones out there who writes about English history in the best possible way. If you've not read his books, punch yourself hard in the kidneys because that's the kind of disrespect you're serving up to yourself. Nice work Penguin.