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Where There's a Will

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Where There's a Will

By: John Mortimer
Narrated by: Bill Wallis
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About this listen

Following the best-selling Summer of a Dormouse, Sir John Mortimer - playwright, novelist, octogenarian, and erstwhile QC - offers up more lessons in living and growing old disgracefully. What would we like to leave to our descendants? Not a third-rate painting or our PEPS, according to Sir John, but a love of Shakespeare, a taste for alcohol, the ability to defeat boredom, the importance of never locking the lavatory door, and so on.

Owing something to Montaigne's essays, something to Wilde's aphorisms, and something to Yeats' poem for his daughter, Where There's a Will offers plenty of advice from one who saw it all.

©2003 Advanpress Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Essays Nonfiction
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Most relevant
The most enjoyable listen with superb narration I've ever experienced and I adored it throughout!

Quintessentially Mortimer at his best

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This a collection of articles with the theme of advice to the reader / listener given as entitlements in a metaphorical will on a mix of subjects. There are a number of anecdotes thrown in and social and political views and commentary.



I found it interesting and engaging and I will seek out the paper version because in places I found my attention wandering. I'm sure I've missed things I ought not to. Appropriately delivered according with stage of life of the author (and the narrator) but perhaps needed a bit more variety in pace and punch at times, (to hold my attention anyway). Perhaps I'm getting old!

...there's alot of relatives and here, wise words

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John Mortimer is sadly missed and the other great personalities of his era are disappearing fast. His wisdom and wit are unequaled in our woke society; he gave us a sense of what is truly important and more importantly, what is not.

Excellent

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What did you like best about Where There's a Will? What did you like least?

A wry sense of humour is what best maintains an otherwise overindulgent and somewhat stale rehash of the Mortimer view of life. Whilst entertaining in parts, it tends to pall after a while, and becomes rather repetitive.

What could John Mortimer have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

He could have edited it better and be a little bit more original rather than just repeating what he has expressed in the same vein many times before.

What does Bill Wallis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

A very real sense that you are hearing the author himself instead of just imbibing dry print.

Was Where There's a Will worth the listening time?

Only partly

Any additional comments?

No

A BIT DISAPPOINTING

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I used this recording very successfully to combat insomnia. The readers voice is tired and depressive and lacks Mortimer's humour and authority. The opinionated ramblings of an old man can be tedious, and the book is very much of its time; lefty, chauvinistic and UK-centric.

A good book to send you to sleep quickly

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