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Pelham

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Like an ancient storyteller

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 03-18-13

If you could sum up The Kalevala in three words, what would they be?

Charming and engaging.

What about Keith Bosley’s performance did you like?

That it sounded like a storyteller of the original tales might have, had they been in English--declaimed and metrical but well paced. He conveyed what must have been the real meaning of the words--which as the translator from the Finnish, he knew.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, the original was assembled from different, though related tales by a 19th-century collector.

Any additional comments?

Where other translated folk tales seem flat, this was lively, without the sense that anything had been added to make it so.

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15 people found this helpful

A morality tale made great fun.

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 02-19-13

Would you consider the audio edition of Barry Lyndon to be better than the print version?

Yes--the story itself is the well-worn 19th-century story of the ne'er-do-well who finally gets what's coming to him. But the energy of the reader, Jonathan Keeble, keeps you engaged.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It's what's long signaled in the text. Satisfying for the moral purpose.

What does Jonathan Keeble bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

See above. He takes expressive and interpretive risks that might be overdone in another story but work very well in this one. From my other reading of Thackeray I expect the author would have approved the result, and enjoyed it as much as I did.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Forget the '70s film--this one's much more fun.

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5 people found this helpful