The Best Narration, One of the Greats

I agree with the reviewer who said that John Castle was born to narrate this book. I don't think his performance can be bettered. I had no idea that Vanity Fair was so good, or that Thackeray was such an interesting writer. It's hard to be in Dicken's shadow, I suppose. This was a great buy.

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26 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

It's All Entertaining Vanity

The characters who populate Thackery's Vanity Fair (1848), set in England and Europe during and after the Napoleonic Wars, are a cast of decadent lords, pious snobs, pedantic teachers, sycophantic schemers, hedonistic spinsters, tyrannical fathers, imperious brats, philandering generals, gambling rakes, gossiping servants, false friends, faithful toadies, and many more. Unlike in Dickens, there is no perfect person. Thackery plays his "puppets" through scenes that are comical, appalling, suspenseful, moving, or revelatory. He keeps us alert, peering through layers of irony. And he has such empathy for humanity that he makes most of his characters, even the feckless or false or cruel ones, at least sometimes sympathetic.

Becky Sharp, the "poor little friendless orphan" who becomes a bohemian adventuress, who remains throughout her life selfish, scheming, heartless, and "artful," who abominably neglects her son, alarmingly attracts the husbands, brothers, and sons of her friends, and comically mimics everyone behind their backs, and yet who is capable of genuine feeling, is one of the most fascinating anti-heroines in literature. Is she a plucky survivor or a wicked siren? Her foil, the seemingly pure, simple, loving, and good Amelia Sedley, is also compelling, for with selfish selflessness she indulges in her Angel in the House, submissive and dependent feminine saintliness to such a degree that she harms herself and her true lover.

The reader John Castle is great! With perfect pauses, emphases, wit, and emotion, he engagingly reads all the characters' voices with their different accents, personalities, genders, and moods, whether a stingy hyena-faced old country baron, a drunken cockney footman, a boastful Irish officer's wife, a mercenary French maid, or a foppish German diplomat--everyone.

Thackery's "historian" narrator, who's telling a "true" story based on the accounts of the principle characters he has met, satirizes early 19th century British and European culture (class, religion, education, business, war, tourism, etc.) so as to expose human vanity in general. We are all driven by vain desires and feel unfulfilled after getting what we want. We are all selfish, artful, and self- and other-deluding. The novel may seem misanthropic. But Thackery is so good at making us laugh, groan, cry, or think, that if the novel ("without a hero") is not uplifting, it is entertaining, stimulating, and often moving.

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Fun Book, Incredible Narrator

This classic is wonderfully written--insightful and extremely funny and entertaining. If all narrators could be as fabulous as John Castle, how happy I would be. He's a true actor who gives the characters their own voices, and his accents are spot on. I highly recommend this book.

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Wonderful Narration

The narrator of this story is quite easy to listen to and has a very engaging voice and tone. Highly recommended!

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Becky, the great "bad girl" of English literature

In spite of the slow second half, Vanity Fair's Becky Sharpe still stands as a model for the anti-heroine.
Thackeray is a bit heavy handed in the latter part of the novel where he must have felt compelled to moralize and show a more degenerate side of Becky, done at the expense of sublimating the highly entertaining malice of her behavior. The "nice" folks grow rather boring in contrast to Becky.
But Vanity Fair was a shot heard round the world. Trollope and Mrs. Gaskell were friends and admirers of Thackeray and must have been influenced in some of their character depictions by his portrayal of the charming and ruthless Becky.

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Fantastic narration

I have read Vanity Fair before, so there were no surprises here.
It is a well written and interesting novel.
My 5 star rating is as much for John Castle's narration, as it is for the novel. Superb!

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Best Narrator EVER!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! Engrossing story, richly drawn characters and wonderful language.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Colonel, for his growth of character through the narrative.

Have you listened to any of John Castle’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I immediately searched him--he is absolutely the best narrator ever--his diction was lovely, his accent superb, and his enunciation and pronunciation perfect and that is including his excellent French and Latin phrase turns as well. Perfection! I wish he had a hundred books to his name in voice! First rate! Top notch! Sublime!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed and cried, though more laughs out loud and just a little tearing up, nothing extreme for this was Vanity Fair...

Any additional comments?

This is a pleasingly long book--at first daunting, then eagerly appreciated for its length and depth of story. Fabulous.

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Oh Becky Sharp!

Born at the wrong time: a 21th century woman stuck in the 19th! a great listen

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INCOMPLETE - DO YOUR HOMEWORK

This version is missing the crucial preface and coda to the work. While some installment purists will point out that the original serialized version did not have the preface when it was released in monthly parts from 1847-1848, the first full edition of the book did have one in 1848, of course written by Thackeray and intended to be read before and after the actual text.

Do yourself a favor and read the preface (easily found online, simply google "Vanity Fair PDF" and click on the first link - it's in the public domain) before starting the audiobook. Additionally, when you take a break from listening, have a gander at some of the illustrations that originally accompanied the work - they're every bit as biting and satirical as the text itself.

Lastly, Thackeray expected the reader to be familiar with the term "Vanity Fair" - not just as a magazine title. An extract from the VF wiki: " 'Vanity Fair' or a 'vanity-fair' was also in general use for 'the world' in a range of connotations from the blandly descriptive to the wearily dismissive to the condemning."

Now that you've done your homework, please enjoy a magnificent performance of one of the most relentlessly mocking, least empathetic novels ever written. Unless your name is Amelia Sedley, I'm sure you will.

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Thoroughly delightful!

If you could sum up Vanity Fair in three words, what would they be?

Humorous, elegant and sly.

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

Castle's performance really enhances Thackeray's humor and insights re. British society at that time. He also has a wonderful voice and does a great job portraying the many different characters with appropriate accents, etc.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Hugely entertaining. I loved it.

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