Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Unnamable cover art

The Unnamable

By: Samuel Beckett
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Molloy cover art
Malone Dies cover art
Watt cover art
Murphy cover art
How It Is cover art
Waiting for Godot cover art
Finnegans Wake cover art
Ulysses cover art
Vipers' Tangle cover art
The Mysterious Stranger cover art
The Poems of T. S. Eliot cover art
The Third Policeman cover art
Paradise Lost cover art
Slaughterhouse-Five cover art
Pietr the Latvian cover art
Shakespeare: The Complete Works cover art

Summary

The Unnamable is the third novel in Beckett's trilogy, three remarkable prose works in which men of increasingly debilitating physical circumstances act, ponder, consider, and rage against impermanence and the human condition. The Unnamable is without doubt the most uncompromising text and it is read here in startling fashion by Sean Barrett.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2005 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd. (P)2005 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.

Critic reviews

"Beckett is one of the most positive writers alive. Behind all his mournful blasphemies against man there is real love. And he is genuine: every sentence is written as if it had been lived." (The New York Times Book Review)

More from the same

What listeners say about The Unnamable

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    30
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    23
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I'll go on...

What made the experience of listening to The Unnamable the most enjoyable?

Before listening to this I would have said that Sean barrett is a very good narrator. After listening to this however, I believe he is the best. This is a very heavy going piece of literature, yet he reads this text with a huge range of emotions. One minute he seems to cry out in despair with the agony of his strange existance while the next injecting the story with a little light-hearted amusement, passing by resignation, anger and exhaustion along the way. Beckett's work is not easy to interpret, however I don't believe I have heard it better done than here.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Unnamable?

The last few lines of the text are spellbinding to listen too. It almost feels like the entire text builds up to just those last few lines. All I was able to do after hearing them was simply sit and gaze out of the window. I had no words for how I felt.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

isn't that almost the same question? well, my answer is as above, anyway. Given the nature of the text, it's impossible really to talk about it in terms of scenes or events.

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

It made me do both. I have never been so moved by an audiobook before. It really was an astounding listening experience. All three books in the Beckett trilogy were a revelation to me, but certain lines in this book simply left me stunned. It is terribly difficult to put it into words.

Any additional comments?

I almost feel that this book is much better to listen to rather than read. I don't think I would have stuck with it otherwise. Not only is it worth reading for Beckett's outlook on the human condition, but it's honestly a work of auditry art in its delivery. I would however not recommend reading it without having read the first two books in the Beckett trilogy to start with.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sam Beckett - Wanted For Murder

In 'The Unnamable' Samuel Beckett finished what he started in 'Molloy' and 'Malone Dies', bringing the modern novel to its knees then giving it both barrels to the head. It's the culmination of Beckett's career as a prose writer, and a work of relentless, brutal genius. The performance by Sean Barrett is a tour de force. Enjoy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Magnifico

One of Beckett's best and most difficult novels brought to extra life by the narrator Sean Barrett.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!