A beautiful reading

The reader of this edition of Northanger Abbey is Juliet Stevenson, whose voice is perfect for Jane Austen. She brings out the character of each personality in the book and beautifully and subtly conveys Jane Austen's gentle irony. However this version is spoiled for me by the intrusive music at the end of each chapter, which breaks up the flow of the story. The music itself is beautiful and appropriate to the period of the book, but if I want to listen to music I will listen to a CD, and if I want to listen to a book I do not want to have the flow constantly and artificially interrupted.

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2 people found this helpful

Northanger Abbey

Never read this book but thoroughly enjoyed hearing it. The narrator was just perfect and I shall enjoy listening to it several times more.

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superb reading

I didn't enjoy reading this book myself, but this version is wonderfully read and really brought to life Jane Austen's superb dialogue and social commentary - this is now one of my favourites 😀

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perfect

I loved reading Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice while at uni but I definitely enjoyed listening to all her works thanks to audible. I had never read this one and it's already one of my favourite 😉

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Jane Austen!!!

At once, the relief at returning to Jane Austen! This may be an early, or unusual work of hers, but her genius shines through from the first paragraph: the consummate stylist in whom one word says more than a paragraph penned by a lesser writer.

What could be harder than to choose as your heroine a young woman of seventeen years, who is good-natured, yet bland and vapid, with no discernible talents. Yet for Austen, it works… . No, this is not her best work, and there are a few “gaps”: the General’s character for example, the apparent failure of Henry to really pay court, or even the very fact of the romantic culmination of the novel (how WILL Catherine manage?). Otherwise, the novel is extraordinarily plotted and the characters memorable (particularly her first female soul-mate in Bath, beautifully memorable in her shallowness and eventual mendacity).

Not-to-forget the skit on the Gothic Novel, all the rage at the time. What is interesting here is not so much Catherine quaking in her room as the sober judgement of Jane Austen on the craze (just as a classic writer of Science Fiction, like Ursula Le Guin , or Arthur C. Clarke might judge the plethora of “to order” titles in this popular genre of our day).

Listen to, or even read Northanger Abbey!. You won’t regret it!!

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Good listening

very lovely story , well read, worthy of listening to, I liked the story well enough.

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So enjoyable

I love this novel, and all Jane Austen novels. This narrator does an excellent job. Recommended.

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Good story but slightly variable voice sounds

I enjoyed the story but found some of the voices varied in volume which is difficult for me as I go to sleep listening to audiobooks. Some voices being louder than the others means I have to choose between not being able to hear the quieter voices clearly or being shocked slightly awake by the louder voices. The story is nice, but does go on a bit at times. I did quite like Austen’s musings throughout the book, which I thought were more direct than in other things I’ve read by her.

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Jane Austen at her most playful

With most Jane Austen stories you know what you’re going to get. Virtue is rewarded, youthful naivety acquires wisdom and everything comes out right in the end. In Northanger Abbey Austen toys with her readers. Is this a comedy of manners, or a simple romance, or is it, perhaps, a gothic melodrama? Great fun.

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elegant performance

a wonderful performance but for it being very high pitched in places which was uncomfortable

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