From Here to Eternity

By: James Jones

Narrated by: Elijah Alexander

Length: 36 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Diamond Head, Hawaii, 1941. Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt is a champion welterweight and a fine bugler. But when he refuses to join the company's boxing team, he gets "the treatment" that may break him or kill him. First Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden knows how to soldier better than almost anyone, yet he's risking his career to have an affair with the commanding officer's wife. Both Warden and Prewitt are bound by a common bond: the Army is their heart and blood...and, possibly, their death.

In this magnificent but brutal classic of a soldier's life, James Jones portrays the courage, violence and passions of men and women who live by unspoken codes and with unutterable despair. The most important American novel to come out of World War II, this is a masterpiece that captures as no other the honor and savagery of men.

©1998 James Jones (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Abridged not unabridged narration.

This professional narration addition to book is not completely unabridged because some parts of it are abridged, especially the language paragraphs that are sexually explicit, and words whose context referred to sexual.acts.
Maybe audible should develop some kind of maturity rating, so book that contain this type language can be unavailable to younger readers by parental controls, or described as censored for language and contents; consequently, they are abridged!

Awesome story - horrible reading

What made the experience of listening to From Here to Eternity the most enjoyable?

turning it off

What didn’t you like about Elijah Alexander’s performance?

His characters are absolutely horrendous. Had to turn this off after a few hours. I tried to listen, but the voices he makes make it impossible to listen.

A MILITARY OPUS

From Here to Eternity was named by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the twentieth century. It earned the National Book Award for fiction in 1951.

Reading it in 2014 makes one hope American’ civilization has progressed since Jones wrote his Army opus about pre-WWII’ Hawaii. Jones writes about the months before and immediately after Pearl Harbor.

The stereotyping, misogyny, and bravado of Jones’ characters are, at times cloying, and at other times, entertaining. From Here to Eternity is a guy’s-guy’ novel that embarrasses men who think they are brave and women who are brave.

A Classic

A Beautiful story about soldiers, their struggles, and the women that love their soldiers. The novel details the lives of two soldiers and how they process their place in the Army and in life. Honest account of man attempting find his way in a confusing world amidst the backdrop of a Hawaiian paradise before the Pearl Harbor attack.

Narrator

Narrator needs to learn to properly pronounce Hawaiian words and military lingo. Very distracting. Thank you

Fantastic!

A big, engrossing read. Maylan Stark is one of the great characters in literature, and his voice here is delicious.

Review for audio book

If you are going to narrate a classic of US Army literature it is imperative that you understand basic US Army ranks and billets. “ S-Sgt” is not a rank, “Staff Sgt” is (same with “T” and “M”). Also, the inability to correctly pronounce “Adjutant” is unacceptable if you are going to narrate this work. You know what they say lack of preparation leads to....

Could have been better

The story- I kept waiting for it to get better but it never did
The performance- it it weren't for the accent for Stark the Texan, I would give it 5 stars but Stark's accent was SO terrible I had a hard time getting through it.

"From Hare to Maternity!"

This book starts off slow, it's not a war story but a military life story. Most of the action takes place before Pearl Harbor and we see little of the aftermath. I wasn't prepared to like this book much, but it really grows on you.

There are so many characters that are so well drawn, that you know they were all based on real people and events. Robert E. Lee Prewitt is a "30 year man" (career soldier) who starts off in the bugle corps but because he is a great fighter is put in the ring. He almost kills a man and swears off boxing and transfers out of the bugle corps and is transferred to Schofield barracks where "Dynamite" Holmes wants to have the best boxing squad of all time. Prew is pressured to fight but holds out and eventually ends up in the stockade.

Now it turns into a sadistic prison story which really gets interesting. Guards beat you for fun and some people go crazy or don't survive at all.

Milt Warden has an affair with Holmes' wife Karen who has a very bad reputation. Once Warden learns her real story he knows he will never love anyone else as much as he loves her. He even puts in for officer school so he can be the man she wants him to be.

Those are the main characters but there are many more. This is the re-released version with the gay scenes put back in and I really thought it was well done. Some I have heard say it's too long, but I listened to every minute of it and didn't see anything that didn't belong.

The narrator Elijah Alexander was new to me, but I enjoyed his accents and voices. Stark was annoying at first but I got used to him by the end and he ended up being one of my favorite characters.

The suicide of one of the characters was so unique, I cringed and almost laughed in the unusual way Mr. Jones presented it. I have since read that his own father had killed himself and this may have been an attempt of his to explain some of his feelings on the matter. Well done.

I enjoyed this book and will probably listen to it again. It is my first by this author.

Has not aged well

What did you like best about From Here to Eternity? What did you like least?

The book was probably considered bold for its time, but the writing distracts from what is otherwise a good story. Throughout the book Jones employs a strange and irritating use of adverbs in describing what the characters say (e.g., "he said pleasedly" and "he said relievedly"). There is also an undertone of antisemitism that, in my opinion, doesn't just reflect the attitudes of the characters. Also, the two key male characters do one stupid, self-destructive thing after another based on their own unique moral standards in the case of Prewitt (like The Fountainhead) or because they just don't give a damn in the case of Warden.

How could the performance have been better?

With one major flaw which I never got used to, the reading was fine. The reader employed an exaggerated, unrealistic accent for the character Maylon Stark.