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Weight

By: Jeanette Winterson
Narrated by: Dick Hill, Susie Breck
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Condemned to shoulder the world "for ever" by the gods he dared defy, freedom seems unattainable to Atlas.

But then he receives an unexpected visit from Heracles, the one man strong enough to share the burden, and it seems they can strike a bargain that might release him ...

Jeanette Winterson asks difficult questions about the nature of choice and coercion in her dazzling retelling of the myth of Atlas and Heracles.

Visionary and inventive, believable and intimate, Weight turns the familiar on its head to show us ourselves in a new light.

©2005 Jeanette Winterson Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Magic Mythology Ancient Greece Greek Mythology
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Critic reviews

"...alternatively earthy and mythopoetic, funny, meditative and personal...Winterson's Atlas is a very personable narrator, poetic and contemplative...Winterson artfully illustrates the interplay of free will and destiny, desire and responsibility. She retells a resonant old story beautifully."
"It's a quick read with Winterson in light and accessible mode, and the autobiographical passages dealing with how the legend has relevance to her own life fit neatly alongside the retelling."
"Weight is a masterpiece. As one of the inaugural volumes of the innovative Canongate myths series, it rewrites and reconfirms what fiction is, was, and might become."
"Winterson's precise prose explores issues of loneliness, responsibility and freedom with clarity and vision, offering the gift of seeing things afresh."
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Firstly let me say that I’m really enjoying the whole Canongate Myth series so far (I’m 5 books in now). I’m finding them all interesting, challenging, personal accounts of how story/myth has affected the various authors and their world views. ‘Weight’ carries on in the same vein, and Jeanette Winterson’s mix of autobiography and mythical tales works brilliantly, especially as the two other narrators take the roles of various characters in the stories. I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook, and though it is short it is in no way trivial or an easy read.

Unexpectedly personal ...

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I couldn't get beyond the narration to actually listen to the story. Was it AI? Why else would it read "long lived" (as in 'hid') as "long lived, as in 'conived' meaning having a long life?

I found the narration very difficult to listen to.

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