Waiting for the Barbarians cover art

Waiting for the Barbarians

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About this listen

For decades the Magistrate has been a loyal servant of the Empire, running the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement and ignoring the impending war with the barbarians. When interrogation experts arrive, however, he witnesses the Empire's cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Jolted into sympathy for their victims, he commits a quixotic act of rebellion that brands him an enemy of the state.

J. M. Coetzee's prize-winning novel is a startling allegory of the war between oppressor and oppressed. The Magistrate is not simply a man living through a crisis of conscience in an obscure place in remote times; his situation is that of all men living in unbearable complicity with regimes that ignore justice and decency.

©1980 J. M. Coetzee (P)2019 Audible, Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political War & Military War

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All stars
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So well read, a beautiful and complex novel. Such a sense of place and history. I really loved it.

Absolutely marvellous

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Story for our time or any time. Stunning the performance is excellent and the story resonates throughout.

Fantastic performance of a great book

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This tail evokes the sense of how empire can lose it's humanity and it's tolerance of others. Despite his flaws the magistrate tries to cling to these fundamentals whatever the sacrifice.

Waiting for the barbarians

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Beautiful writing but I couldn’t see the point of it. If it hadn’t been for a book group I wouldn’t have bothered finishing it.

Tedious

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I loved the movie with Mark Rylance, such a great ending. This audio was so disappointing. Dull and characterless and lacking in any charm or exoticism. I’ll watch the film again instead. What a shame!

Nothing like the film :-(

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