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The Bostonians

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The Bostonians

By: Henry James
Narrated by: Xe Sands
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From Boston's social underworld emerges Verena Tarrant, a girl with extraordinary oratorical gifts, which she deploys in tawdry meeting-houses on behalf of "the sisterhood of women." She acquires two admirers of a very different stamp: Olive Chancellor, devotee of radical causes and marked out for tragedy; and Basil Ransom, a veteran of the Civil War who holds rigid views concerning society and women's place therein. Is the lovely, lighthearted Verena made for public movements or private passions? A struggle to possess her, body and soul, develops between Olive and Basil. The exploitation of Verena's unregenerate innocence reflects a society whose moral and cultural values are failing to survive the new dawn of liberalism and democracy.

When it was first published in 1886, The Bostonians was not welcomed by Henry James's fellow countrymen, who failed to appreciate its delicacy and wit. But over a century later, this book is widely regarded as James's finest American fiction and perhaps his comic masterpiece.

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor Classics
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The lady narrating this great novel is reading it as though it is a Peter and Jane book. There is some characterisation but it's not very accurate, all the women sound the same. She over emphasizes certain words which makes the speech wholely unnatural and this, (certainly for me) went a long way to ruining the story and any metaphors or allegories contained within it. Overall it feels as though she had never read the book before making this recording.

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