Could not gets to grips with story

I struggled with it the narrator and was good that is why I finished the story

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Spectacular narration

I doubt I could have managed this book in print alone; but I might buy it for further study now having understood and enjoyed much of the text due to the spectacular narrration.

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A story of obsession, faith and madness

Brilliantly acted by Dominic Cumberbatch, this is a story of one man's descent into madness. Not the easiest of listens, nor the most entertaining, it is nevertheless an interesting example of William Golding's work.

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Great

Really enjoyed this,being a Salisbury boy .Ben does the voices really well .going to listen again

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Treat yourself...an audio masterpiece

Loved the novel.
Reconstructed here with a master-builder of a narrator: all the power and pathos and light and shade. A masterclass in worship, an expose of hubris and a treat for the ears.

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as a stonemasonry I was unconvinced

A really well read and write book however as a stonemasonry I just didn't buy into the characters. The Dean and the master builder would have been the very best of the best in this book they both came across as rather dim. some of the terminology is odd too. The authors talks about the stair wells or spiral stairs as corkscrew stairs case. it doesn't take a historian to understand that corkscrews were not invented until much later than 14th century.
Not really what I hoped for I wouldn't recommend it.

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Got the hamming up it deserves

This may be a classic; certainly Golding got the Nobel prize but this work could and should have been abridged. The text is an open invitation not just to hamming up but to caricature.

The theme and symbolism are clear enough but the disintegration of the egregious Jocelyn went on too long although Adam’s flaying of his over-ambitious former novice is well done and to the point: plenty like him still around!

BC’s exaggeration subsists in his use of sub-stage whispering which producers should have monitored: Jicelyn’s clerical delivery is even worse than the vicar’s in the BBC’s comedy series ‘The navy lark,’ although, in fairness, the master-builder is well done given the occasional very uncharacteristic lines he gets.

Just because a work comes from someone celebrated as a great author it doesn’t mean we have to swallow it whole and assume it!s our failure if we don’t ‘get it:’ many great writers produced some forgettable stuff. I wouldn’t quite consign such a novel to the dust bin but feel very sorry to have had to stagger through this reading only to discover that obsessive spiritual pride damages and contaminates everyone and everything around, and that could have been dealt with in half the verbiage and less than half the melodrama.

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Brilliantly read

The story was excellent.
My only gripe was sometimes the audio levels dipped rather low when Benedict whispered. Too low to hear. Perhaps the master track could have used some audio compression to compensate.

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4 people found this helpful

Amazing

I love William Golding novels anyway and this was no exception. Fantastically read by Benedict Cumberbatch, it's a superb examination of human character. Brilliant.

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POWERFUL BOOK PERFORMED BY A SUPERB NARRATOR

I did not know anything of this novel and bought it on sale a little while ago. I was utterly blown away by the themes of obsession, faith, and doubt. I listened as I read the novel and it really showed how incredible Benedict Cumberbatch's performance is. Each character is distinct and his interpretation of the central characters journey is truly one of the best narrations I have heard. Excellent book and well worth listening to.

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