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Hard Times
- The Audible Dickens Collection
- Narrated by: Bertie Carvel, Jeremy Paxman
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
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Hard Times
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Summary
This exclusive recording of Hard Times contains a unique introduction by Jeremy Paxman in which he takes us through Hard Times as his favourite Dickens title.
To give it its full title, Hard Times - for These Times was Charles Dickens' 10th novel and the only one not to have any scenes set in London. It was first published in 1854 and depicts the struggles that were born as a result of the industrial revolution.
About the book
'Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life.' So says Thomas Gradgrind, a wealthy, utilitarian school board superintendent. Father to Tom and Louisa, he shapes the minds of all the young children, including his own, with the exception of only one: the circus-born Sissy Jupe.
As the novel progresses, we see the lives of these three young children unfold, shaped by the beliefs and values they've been taught by their respective fathers and educators. Growing into a beautiful yet miserable young lady, Louisa is wed off to an associate of her father's. Tom, dulled by his strict upbringing, becomes a dissipated, hedonistic gambler, and Sissy, their imaginative, creative and selfless guiding light, seeks to repair the damage done to her friends by years of utilitarian training.
About the author
With his father incarcerated, Charles Dickens had to abandon his studies at a young age and set to work in a factory so as to support himself. Despite his short-lived education, Dickens went on to write 15 novels and various articles, novellas and short stories. He lectured and led campaigns for children's rights and education and arguably became, unlike Josiah Bounderby, the ultimate self-made man.
About the narrator
Known for his versatility and for "making monsters and demons understood", Bertie Carvel has twice won the Olivier Award: for his performances as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda and Rupert Murdoch in Ink. On television he was Jonathan Strange in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Nick Clegg in Coalition and the cheating husband in Doctor Foster. In this definitive audiobook of Hard Times, Carvel's presence and range shine through to gripping effect.
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What listeners say about Hard Times
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- PAUL
- 06-09-21
The Very Best of Audible
A great book and a wonderful performance by Bertie Carvel. Loved it. The last chapter, Final, did come across as a little rushed though. The author of this book, in 1854, clearly had many deadlines.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- ck
- 14-05-20
Fabulous.
All of this Dickens Collection series have been great. Read so well. What a skill to convey all the characters and voices with just one reader. You really believe you are listening to a full cast. Takes you right back to Dickens' time. Only got Pickwick Papers and Edwin Drood left...
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Mark Larson
- 25-11-18
Dickens brought to life.
This is an unusual book among Dickens's work but it's very good and the narration is outstanding.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Colin Consterdine
- 05-03-23
Wonderful reading
Excellent reader. Really too quality, he inhabited the characters so incredibly well. A real treat
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- WEP
- 07-12-23
Outstanding
Bertie Carvel’s performance is seamless brilliance from beginning to end. One of Dickens’ shortest novels - I wish it had been longer.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- keith Billington
- 18-01-21
First rate narration of a Dickens classic.
One of Dickens's best novels beautifully read with great characterisation. A version to listen to again an enjoy anew.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anna
- 07-01-22
Brilliant narration
All of my stars are for Bertie Carvel's performance, he elevates this book and makes you care deeply for the characters, simply outstanding.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Revd Phil Charlesworth
- 22-06-23
Brilliant performance
A brilliant performance of one of Dickens' better-known books, albeit, not one his best, despite Jeremy Paxman's laudation as an introduction. Bertie Carvel's characterisation is sensitive and illuminating.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- ecw199
- 07-03-20
Wonderful Narration
Bertie Carvel's performance is amazing! He brings every character to life and the variety of his voices is beguiling
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1 person found this helpful
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- Adam
- 27-07-21
Crushed by the wheels of industry
In this, Charles Dickens 10th novel, We find ourselves in the fictional Coketown (and at least the accents of this audio-book place it in the North East) as the Industrial Revolution bites.
Coketown is a character as much as the flesh and blood ones in this story, with its chimneys, grim facades, smoke and soot, giant looms, Masters and 'Hands.'
The action starts in a classroom and and we find a class in full swing, with the children being inculcated with a kind of grim, fact based utilitarianism that decries imagination and puts full store in 'facts.' It mirrors our situation today, where universities no longer to the teach the Arts because they no longer represent 'value for money' and regulators like OFSTED, do their damndest to crush the joy and spontaneity out of education for pupils and teachers alike.
Anyway, the utilitarian way that Tom Gradgrind is figurehead of is reinforced by the presence of the blustering Bounderby, a kind of predecessor of one of Monty Python's 'Four Yorkshiremen.' "House? You were lucky. We used to live in a hole in the ground...." But Bounderby, as well as being a blustering fool is also a factory owner and so has immense power over the Hands (workers) in his charge.
We follow the futures of Tom and Louisa Gradgrind as they grow and make their way in the world. At an early point in the novel they are joined by Sissy Jupe, an abandoned girl in a travelling circus, who Gradgrind takes pity on and takes into his home. She will act as light indeed to this beleaguered family, but first the children, crippled by their 'education,' soon make their first disastrous life decisions.
We also follow the fortunes of Stephen Blackpool, factory hand and honest man, agonised by a loveless marriage to an alcoholic and his love for her sister. Stephen's fortunes become enmeshed with the Gradgrind children's at a terrible cost..
This is shorter than many of Charles Dicken's works and as such it has to work faster, and it does to powerful effect. It is truly timeless, the poison of wealth and social injustice is of course still very much with us, although in different forms, be it zero hours contracts or Gig working in pittance paid service industries whilst the world's richest become a smaller and smaller minority and preach their own creeds of austerity, efficiency, value for money. And I've spoken about the desecration of values in education.
But you can't silence Dickens, and he speaks to us now, reinforcing our moral sense of justice, and kindness and duty.
Bertie Carvel's reading of this audio-book is superb, his voice acting and narration is unexaggerated and pitched perfectly.
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