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Waiting for the Barbarians

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Waiting for the Barbarians

By: J. M. Coetzee
Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
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About this listen

For decades the Magistrate has been a loyal servant of the Empire, running the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement and ignoring the impending war with the barbarians. When interrogation experts arrive, however, he witnesses the Empire's cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Jolted into sympathy for their victims, he commits a quixotic act of rebellion that brands him an enemy of the state.

J. M. Coetzee's prize-winning novel is a startling allegory of the war between oppressor and oppressed. The Magistrate is not simply a man living through a crisis of conscience in an obscure place in remote times; his situation is that of all men living in unbearable complicity with regimes that ignore justice and decency.

©1980 J. M. Coetzee (P)2019 Audible, Ltd
Fiction Literary Fiction Political War & Military War
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Absolutely marvellous

So well read, a beautiful and complex novel. Such a sense of place and history. I really loved it.

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Waiting for the barbarians

This tail evokes the sense of how empire can lose it's humanity and it's tolerance of others. Despite his flaws the magistrate tries to cling to these fundamentals whatever the sacrifice.

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Fantastic performance of a great book

Story for our time or any time. Stunning the performance is excellent and the story resonates throughout.

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Nothing like the film :-(

I loved the movie with Mark Rylance, such a great ending. This audio was so disappointing. Dull and characterless and lacking in any charm or exoticism. I’ll watch the film again instead. What a shame!

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1 person found this helpful