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The Dynamite Room
- Narrated by: Will Thorp
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Summary
July 1940. 11 year-old Lydia walks through a village in rural Suffolk on a baking hot day. She is wearing a gas mask. The shops and houses are empty, windows boarded up and sandbags green with mildew, the village seemingly deserted. Leaving it behind, she strikes off down a country lane through the salt marshes to a large Edwardian house - the house she grew up in. Lydia finds it empty too, the windows covered in black-out blinds. Her family are gone.
Late that night he comes, a soldier, gun in hand and heralding a full-blown German invasion. There are, he explains to her, certain rules she must now abide by. He won't hurt Lydia, but she cannot leave the house.
Is he telling the truth? What is he looking for? Why is he so familiar? And how does he already know Lydia's name?
Eerie, thrilling and piercingly sad, The Dynamite Room evokes the great tradition of war classics yet achieves a strikingly original and contemporary resonance. Hypnotically compelling, it explores, in the most extreme of circumstances, the bonds we share that make us human.
Jason Hewitt is a playwright and actor. He was born in Oxford and lives in Wimbledon. The Dynamite Room is his first novel.
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What listeners say about The Dynamite Room
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Andy
- 06-04-14
Vibrant and evocative tale of human spirit
What did you like most about The Dynamite Room?
I found it to be superbly constructed and paced with rich narrative and very easy to resonate with the characters. The reveals were perfectly timed and drew me easily on further into the story.
Who was your favorite character and why?
This is hard to explain without spoilers, but both the main protagonists are wonderfully created characters with very real human motivations and aspirations. More than any other book that I have read in recent years, I connected emotionally with both of them.
What about Will Thorp’s performance did you like?
The pace of the reading reflected perfectly the pace of the story. I also thought that he pretty much nailed the subtle accent intonations necessary for the story to really work. Too many narrators either lack this skill or ignore it altogether and it was so refreshing to not have to listen past badly voiced characters.
5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- david.ibbotson
- 02-04-14
Great listen.
What did you like most about The Dynamite Room?
The story is intriguing from the outset.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Dynamite Room?
Descriptions of time and place.
Which character – as performed by Will Thorp – was your favourite?
The girl, Lydia.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Three sittings.
Any additional comments?
Looking for other books by this author.
5 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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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mrs. K. I. Richards
- 10-03-16
a different slant on a war story.
Any additional comments?
really enjoyed this story, couldn't put it down until the end.
both the main characters were well written and the situation they were in. the past of one the main characters was interspersed with the present.
will Thorpe did an excellent job of performing the book.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Sarah
- 21-07-14
A bit static
Is there anything you would change about this book?
Maybe develop the back story a bit. I wanted to know a bit more about those characters.
Would you recommend The Dynamite Room to your friends? Why or why not?
Probably not - only because it didn't have any real spark to the story despite having a great premise.
What does Will Thorp bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
Much better accents than my hopeless attempts would ever create!
Did The Dynamite Room inspire you to do anything?
No. (An odd question?)
2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Ms Much
- 26-12-14
The dynamite room
Struggle to finish extremely dull and boring went on and on getting nowhere the only good thing about the story with the narrator will thorp
1 person found this helpful