Boring Narrator

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

I remember reading this book many years ago and thoroughly enjoying at the time and had always intended revisiting. Having long journeys to work I thought it would be a quick win to listen to. I am so disappointed as I find the narration so boring despite restarting several times. Have decided to give it a miss for now.

I notice there are several versions of this available and if anyone can recommend a good narrator it would be much appreciated.

Has Les Miserables put you off other books in this genre?

No

What didn’t you like about Frederick Davidson’s performance?

Just boring

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment

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2 people found this helpful

The clue is in the title

What disappointed you about Les Miserables?

The relentless dreariness.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Thank goodness that's over!

How could the performance have been better?

A bit more characterisation

Any additional comments?

Go for the abridged version, this one went on far too long

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Wait for a better narrator

Where does Les Miserables rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Magnificent as a work of literature - the language, detail and scope are breath-taking - but made a real test of listening endurance by the narration.

What did you like best about this story?

I constantly marvelled at Hugo's breadth and depth of knowledge. I know some listeners have complained about the "asides" lasting an hour, and I confess my own heart sank at times when I realised Hugo was going off at a tangent, but I couldn't help but be amazed at how much he KNOWS about everything and the way in which he covers his subjects from every angle. What an incredible mind. I was fascinated by the data on the French sewer system! I should also say that I am a professional translator and I was constantly stunned by the quality of this translation - so poetic and flowing and such a wealth of rich vocabulary.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Yes, it's a marathon and of course I respect him for his staying power, but the narrator at times drove me mad. He reads with a cynical or (as others have commented) bored tone, and has an irritating habit of letting his voice go UP at the end of a sentence so it sounds like a question ("Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo?"). I really recommend other listeners to wait until a better reading is released. It's only because the book is so good that I stuck with it. I will definitely avoid all other readings by this narrator.

Any additional comments?

I am giving this this 2 stars overall purely because of the narrator.

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8 people found this helpful

The most boring narration ever!

I love the stories in Les Miserables. I've read the book a couple if times, seen the stage play half a dozen times and will be seeing the film on Thursday. How sad then that this crashingly boring narration has meant that I haven't been able to get past the first part. It sounds like the narrator is thinking that there's nothing interesting in this novel. I can't send it back so one of these days I might try to struggle through, but then again, probably not. Don't bother folks. There are better options out there.

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It's so hard to follow

What did you like best about Les Miserables? What did you like least?

I disliked listening for 2 hours talking about a building or a person that in the next chapter. Is either dead of the building has been walked though. I had to keep fast forwarding to continue with the story.

What was most disappointing about Victor Hugo’s story?

Just so much going into details about things that are just not needed. Nearly an 2 hours was wasted talking about the battle of Waterloo. It had nothing to do with the the story. I bet the story could have been half a long if he left out all the extra details and just kept to the story.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The story teller was hard to start with but soon got use to him. Shame that after a while I was blaming him for going on and on about things that where not necessary . Even though he was just reading the book.

Could you see Les Miserables being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

It already has

Any additional comments?

If you like books that go into A LOT of details this is for you. If not don't buy. I can take so much but in the end I gave up about half way.

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Dull and rambles on

Get the abridged version - this guy has the worst accent and sounds annoying - I listened to all 60 hours of this tripe - the story is annoying and there are hours of wasted description for no reason other than to prove the author is clever. get the abridged version - save yourself hours of time - same story less description

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4 people found this helpful

A test of endurance

I did persevere and listened almost to the long awaited conclusion (I fell asleep just before the end). The story line itself was reasonable, but oh, I wish I had purchased an abridged version. I normally like to listen to an unabridged version no matter how long, but this book seemed to have been padded out with lengthy, unnecessary and boring chapters. I shan't be listening to anything else written by Victor Hugo!
On the plus side, the narration by Frederick Davidson was good.

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