The Black Dress
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Narrated by:
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Deidre Rubenstein
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By:
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Deborah Moggach
About this listen
Critic reviews
'Moggach is at the height of her powers.' (Sunday Times)
'Full of warmth and humour, as well as blistering truths.' (Daily Mirror)
Found the narrator's accent irritating
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easy listening with some surprises
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Narrator was off putting
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So, so worth a listen
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Pru's desolation, loneliness, sense of betrayal and feelings of uselessness are minutely observed with a mix of aching pity and sardonic humour as you'd expect from Deborah Marigold Hotel Moggach. Old age is a dark presence - even the flower food attached to a bouquet of flowers is like 'a little colostomy bag'. Pru's adventures into sex and relationships maintain this balance between poignancy and slightly sick comedy. I can't give more detail because it's essential that all the packed-in twists and turns and variations of the truth which make for utterly compulsive listening are not spoiled. The gradual teasing out of truths and non-truths and perhaps-truths keeps you intrigued and puzzled.
BUT I think the final section on Pru and Azra is entirely and seriously misjudged and spoils the whole. When you listen you'll know which element I'm referring to and you may well feel the same. I felt badly let down by the author! All the same, it doesn't prevent the whole from being a great listen.
BUT again - the narration! I really hated the hammy, gushing, exaggerated, irritating way in which it was read. Had I not really wanted to listen to it as I like Deborah Moggach, I'd have sent it back. Just AWFUL. There's drama enough in the story without injecting such a false, over-the-top tone which diminishes the strong insightful, human element of the book. I wonder what the author thought of the narration.
How true are truths?
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