Good But a Bit Slow

This is a good story which is perhaps a bit too long in the telling. The basic premise is discovering the back story of the mysterious lady who comes to live at the remote Wildfell Hall, arousing interest and suspicion among her neighbours. A good window into country life and attitudes of the time (1820s).
It is performed by two narrators which works well apart from the fact that the male narrator reads excessively slowly and enunciates every word almost as if he were reading to an audience whose first language is not English.
I tried listening at a faster speed but, as I listen before dropping off to sleep, I found that was just a bit too fast. It may be the thing to do if listening during the day though.
Written by perhaps the least well known Brontë sister, this is definitely worth a listen if you like classic historic novels.

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Marred by some execrable narration!

Here’s a book which in recent times is being hailed as the “first feminist novel” and rated as being up there with the Greats from the other Brontë sisters, but which I’m not sure I’ll even manage to finish, so spoiled is it by some very inept and jarring narration by its male reader.

Piers Wehner’s voice and narrative tics are distinctly ODD. He emphasises all the wrong words in a sentence, e.g, placing great stress on prepositions & conjunctions (such as “of”, “at”, “but”, “and”, “for”) while swallowing the important nouns and verbs. The ensuing distortion of meaning makes you wonder if English is his first language. He reads extremely slowly so that you have to increase the speed on your device, and all in one vaguely northern accent, with no attempt to accommodate changes for gender, class, provenance or age.

After about 16 chapters, mercifully, the female voice intervenes and all of a sudden the narrative starts to race along and, at last, you can appreciate the book’s merits. Alas, 30 chapters on and we’re back to plodding Piers again, and I’m wondering if I’ll be able to stick it out! His narration really is the worst I’ve ever heard on an audio book.

Also bad editing, when you have a book requiring one speed for one reader and a faster speed for another.

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1 person found this helpful

Great read, great narration

I enjoyed this novel - so well written, of course! The audio was very good. I like the tone of both readers. I also like that you have used two readers for the main characters.

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A performance better forgotten

It's wonderful to be able to listen to the third Bronte sister's work. It has none of the genius of Emily's or Charlotte's writing but has its own fascination for students of the novel. It's very minor stuff.

Katy Carmichael does a reasonable job but Piers Wehner sounds like somebody reading from a manuscript scribbled in inscrutable handwriting: his delivery is halting and PAINFULLY slow. He makes Markham sound like a mentally challenged poltroon. The pages he's responsible for pass like a tedious goods train trundling over a level crossing: will it ever end? It's like listening to a book being broadcast in morse code. I have NO idea what dialects he thinks he's using but they don't conjure up the far north.

A distinctly odd production from the usually impeccable Naxos team!

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1 person found this helpful

Wonderful narration

The narration of this book is really good, I could listen to Markums voice all day long. It's a very well written story, she must have had either direct experience or witnessed up close the kinds of behaviours exhibited by the terrible husband, because the accuracy of his characteristics and behaviours is really excellent. Coercive control, emotional abuse, the manipulative behaviour, love bombing.... It's all there in raw detail. Such an interesting story. Can never stop smiling at the end, every time I read it. Despite having such a grim subject, it's fantastically feel good.

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Superb novel & audible presentation of full text.

A superb novel - and both narrators were truly excellent - this novel should be much better known than it is.

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3 people found this helpful

Wonderful dramatisation!

Really enjoyed this - both voices were read by really excellent actors with appropriate accents. I suspect if one wasn't a fan of the Brontës, there are parts that might feel a bit over-long - I can sympathise with the original editors, who cut some of the length - but as a fan, I enjoyed every moment!

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Brilliant

Brilliant analyses of human nature. I enjoyed this book immensely. The characters were so interesting.

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Absolute bull crap

I hate this book I don't know why I used this credit. I regret it dearly.

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