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The Moon and Sixpence
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
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Summary
Charles Strickland, the central character, is a stock broker in London. One day, at the age of 40, he leaves his business, his wife, and their children and goes to Paris. He has neither money nor prospects. He knows almost nothing of art. But he is seized with a passion to paint, and for the rest of his life nothing else matters to him. He gives up everything to which he has been accustomed for extreme poverty, social ostracism, and the freedom to paint. When he finally dies of leprosy in Tahiti, where he had gone native, the few paintings that turn up for sale bring only six to 10 francs apiece. But he has achieved his desire to create beauty and, with the years, the world fully recognizes his blazing genius.
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What listeners say about The Moon and Sixpence
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- K K Scott
- 11-07-23
Is it Gauguin
Great book, highly recommended for detail, description, characters. Started off a bit slowly but soon got into it. May be a bit old fashioned for some and the treatment of women generally is tough. However, this is an interesting story of the time which some readers feel is based on Paul Gauguin. Highly recommended.
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- Happy Reader
- 16-12-23
Extraordinary story
One of Somerset Maugham’s best. A surprising and thought provoking take. He is a master of creating characters that reveal themselves slowly through the narrative. You start by hating Charles Strickland but by the end you are firmly in his side.
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- Ms. L. Benjamin
- 02-12-21
very good
I like Somerset Maugham's books, the way they go into a personality and what drives them.
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2 people found this helpful
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- JSM
- 12-04-22
Too long
There’s a glitch in chapter 7 with about 3 hours 31 seconds to go it jumps to another part in the story.
The story itself is ok but meanders towards the end and includes some racist language and attitudes that were prevalent at the time of writing.
It is also well read even though you can hear the reader moving around and the shuffling of paper/script.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 27-03-23
An intriguing story
A fascinating story of an artist ‘s absolute compulsion to perform their art to the exclusion of all else -and our difficulty in understanding that singular but necessary frame of mind .
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- richard2
- 13-05-22
Interesting but very flawed
Somewhat compulsive, yet it is hideously sexist and pretty racist too. Also - the narrator sounds a bit like Kenneth Williams! Perhaps the connection with Gaugin gives it some substance. The general impression is rather distasteful somehow. Perhaps Maugham was a misogynist and racist, or just an Englishman of his era, or perhaps it is just easy to confuse the author’s attitude with that of ‘Strickland’, the protagonist.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Buys too much on Amazon!
- 19-06-22
Narrator sounds arrogant
I'm not far in, but it's difficult to get going due to the voice of snide arrogance of the narrator. Having listened to other Somerset Maughan books previously, I built a fondness for the author 's attitude, but the change in narrator grates somewhat.
It was an "Included" book so fortunately didn't cost me anything.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-05-22
Always excellent
I found this to be an excellent, if western, reflection on beauty, suffering and the artist struggle for meaning in a world that only they truly understand and which does not understand them. The unnamed narrator is wholly and fundamentally set in the ranks of the English middle class and shares their prejudices. It is from that perspective the narrative explores its themes and it is interesting that the principle character and subject of story only finds his true, artistic voice in the company of what the narrator keeps referring to as 'natives'. His parting comment shows perhaps the authors more enlighten view behind that of his narrator. All in all a thoroughly good listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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- ReluctantTechno
- 03-01-23
Complicated, subtle and intriguing
This isn’t “a fictionalised life of Gauguin”, but a fantasticaton setting some of the facts of his life as a backdrop to Maugham’s idea of the tortured artistic visionary. Some sections are a little laboured and repetitive, but others are almost frightening in their clarity. Once ghe story moves to the South Seas, it’s riveting. The narrators voice is very gravelly and can grate, but he is absolutely right for the “voices” of the main characters who are generally indifferent to other human beings, such as the narrator and Strickland himself. When he reads the words of a sympathetic character, his voice is much more gentle, and the curt, dismissive tone used for much of the narrative disappears. Really worth listening to.
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- Vanessa H.
- 11-02-22
slow start
I almost gave up twice at the beginning of the book going off to listen to other books. once you are beyond the biography bit and the story starts in ernest it is well worth the listening. narration is old fashioned but possibly well suited
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2 people found this helpful