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Narrated by:
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Eleanor Bron
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By:
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Anita Brookner
About this listen
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One of Edith Wharton's most acclaimed works, The Custom of the Country is a blistering indictment of materialism, power, and misplaced values. Its heroine, Undine Spragg, is one of the most ruthless characters in all of literature, as selfishly unscrupulous as she is fiercely beautiful. As she climbs the class ladder through a series of marriages and affairs, she shows little concern for who she has to step on.
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Narrator kills the book
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Of Human Bondage
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Of Human Bondage is one of the greatest novels of modern times, and it is certainly Maugham's greatest achievement. It was published in 1914, when Maugham was at the height of his creative powers. The story concerns Philip Carey, afflicted at birth with a club foot, and his passionate search for truth in a cruel world. We follow his growth to manhood, his educational progress, his first loves, and the wrenching tragedies and disappointments that life has in store for him. In some of the finest prose of the 20th century, Maugham has presented us with the timeless story of one man's search for the meaning of life.
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Greatly Unsettling
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When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy the freedom that her fortune has opened up and to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors, declaring that she will never marry. It is only when she finds herself irresistibly drawn to the cultivated but worthless Gilbert Osmond that she discovers that wealth is a two-edged sword.
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Highly recommended
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Taking place in Boston, Massachusetts, a decade after the Civil War, The Bostonians tells the story of two cousins who battle for the affections of and control over an enchanting prophetess. While visiting his cousin Olive Chancellor, a fierce feminist deeply involved in the Suffragette movement, Basil Ransom, a Confederate Civil War veteran turned lawyer, attends a speech by the talented young orator Verena Tarrant. Basil quickly falls in love with Verena, although he disagrees with her politics; Olive, however, sees her as the future of the women's rights movement.
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A satire that turns tragic
- By Tad Davis on 08-23-20
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This remarkable memoir is the classic account of the transgender journey. It is all the more extraordinary because it is the life story of a figure who, it seemed, seamlessly and publicly charted a course through the English establishment - James Morris, outstanding journalist, historian and travel writer, famed for a peerless writing style. But all the while he was concealing a very different inner world: from the age of four he felt that, despite his body, he was really a girl.
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Beautiful memoir
- By Gabriel Smith on 07-25-22
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Jennie Gerhardt
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Jennie Gerhardt is the tragic story of an innocent, caring, beautiful young girl from an extremely poor family who throughout her life is drawn into affairs with two different men from a much higher social class. How members of her family, the family of one of the wealthy men, and society in general react to her situation is the basis of this classic story.
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Need a pick me up.
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By: Theodore Dreiser
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What listeners say about Falling Slowly
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- mariella smith-masters
- 02-01-24
The narrator
I love her use of the English language with uncommon words. Perfect, beautiful and memorable.
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- Sue C
- 06-09-18
Magnificent writing perfectly read.
Two sisters in middle age each making poor choices missing out on life. I kept wanting to shout” Go for it” Of course with Brookner they don’t Brookner at her very best getting into the hearts and minds of women of a certain age. Eleanor Bron is a narrator who is perfect for this author.
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- Martina Sciolino
- 04-29-22
A Companionable Loneliness
This beautifully read book gives perfect weight to Anita Brookner’s exquisite prose. Here, the observable world, the world of custom and appearance, and most of all, the complex world of the psyche and its persuasive distortions are offered with Brookner’s typical restraint, precision and eloquence. Also typical to her work are educated, isolated white Londoners constrained to solitude by fears they rarely recognize as such as they while away their lives in intelligent pursuits, contemplative walks and oh so careful conversations. Adding to the isolation here, and fears, too, are the indignities of advanced age or illness as well as loss. Brookner confronts these realities through characters whose lifelong insecurities and needy egos in turn allow the author to express a wry humor that, along with her stoic steadiness, leavens what would otherwise be a dire story. The novel’s final treatment of what it describes (paraphrased) as a “companionable loneliness” is the happy ending many readers could use.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mitzi
- 02-05-21
AMAZING READER; FAULTY PLOT
It is a book about two sisters and their life choices.
The reader, Eleanor Bron, is outstanding - albeit humorless. But so (humorless) are the characters in the story. For the longest time, I had a very hard time distinguishing one sister from the other (something that wouldn't have happened, I suppose, if reading the book on one's own). What is totally unclear is what motivates these women's choices. There are lengthy, decadent descriptions throughout, but, despite the third-person narration, no real view of the protagonists' inner character: only their thoughts, but not where these thoughts come from (from where do they originate in the psyche of the person?).
The story is painted in such a way that the reader has the impression of it being set in the 1920s or earlier... until, out of the blue, cell phones are mentioned. It completely threw me off. At that point, certain choices of the main characters and their manners (or mannerisms) truly didn't make sense anymore.
I don't regret listening to this Audible, but I don't think it is a book worthy of praise or worth remembering.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Gary B. Bernstein
- 09-06-12
One of her best stories
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I am a big fan of Anita Brookner and have read all of her books. This is one of my
favorite. She writes of the lonely, constrained lives of two sisters, both of whom have
ill-fated romances. No one describes loneliness better than Anita Brookner.
The narrator is excellent. This book is not for every taste, but it is an
involving and well told story.
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10 people found this helpful
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- David P
- 01-03-16
A True Artist
Brookner's artistry is mysterious. In book after book, she writes about women (and sometimes men) who live largely lonely, unfulfilled lives. The books are not especially eventful (walks through parks, an aborted excursion to Paris, a dinner date that leads to little) but somehow she makes them tense and filled with psychological and emotional urgency. She usually doesn't describe place, and there's a lot of summary. Her books tend to be quite short. And yet, every novel is rich, vivid, accurate, and intense. Her perceptions and insights about the nuances of behavior rival those of Henry James--referenced repeatedly in this book. This is a true artist who found her voice, subject matter, and milieu and stuck with it. If you're looking for easy feel-good story arcs or big plotty novels, run screaming. Personally, I can't get enough of these novels. I don't care that they tend to blur together in my mind. What she does is so specific and elegant, occasionally funny, continually witty, the sentences themselves are so flawlessly composed without seeming forced, the work cannot be confused with anyone else.
They are splendid to listen to (although there are passages and epigrammatic lines you want to underline) and Eleanor Bron is ideal as a reader.
This isn't one of my favorites, but who cares? It's still more effortlessly intelligent and beautiful, more deeply satisfying than 90% of what's out there.
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13 people found this helpful
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- John S.
- 01-02-13
Could not finish
I bought this title some time ago, giving up after a while, figuring that I might return to it again at some point. Well ... doing so didn't help much as I've decided to bail on it partway through once again, for good. Just couldn't maintain interest in the limited, dull lives of these unlikeable people. Eleanor Bron's narration fits the story well.
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3 people found this helpful