The End of the Affair

By: Graham Greene

Narrated by: Colin Firth

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Audie Award Winner, Audiobook of the Year, 2013

Audie Award Nominee, Best Solo Narration, 2013

Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) won the Audie for Audiobook of the Year in 2013—for his first audio performance, The End of the Affair. The love affair at the center of this 1951 classic novel takes place in the bomb-strewn last days of World War II, and just after. Bendrix, a writer in war-torn London, has fallen in love with Sarah, the wife of an acquaintance. Though unhappily married, Sarah won’t leave her husband; she ends their affair and abruptly vanishes, reducing Bendrix's inner life to rubble. His investigation of Sarah’s disappearance reveals the role her newly-awakened Catholic faith played in her decision to leave, and other startling truths.

The End of the Affair mirrors Greene’s own relationship with a married woman, and positions religion as a pivotal element in both the inner turmoil and outer destruction occurring in his life at the time. Firth brilliantly conveys Greene’s characteristically bleak emotional terrain in an intimate, nuanced, and unhurried performance.

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©1951 Graham Greene (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Colin Firth is an amazing narrator

Any additional comments?

This is a copy of my review on Goodreads:

Like some others, I'm not really sure how to rate this book. The book was almost flat as far as the overall story is concerned. No real peaks or valleys in the plot, no main driving point we are waiting to reach. We already know the affair has ended, so there is no suspense in that regard. The emotions of the characters however take us on quite the roller coaster ride between love and hate and occasional, but not real, indifference. This is where the book holds it's strength. Bendrix, Sarah, Henry and even Parkis present different sides of love and affection none right or wrong or perfect. All flawed and yet oh so human.
I'm not sure if I enjoyed this book or not. I almost gave it up half-way through, but now that I'm done I find myself thinking about it and the characters. So no, I probably won't read it again but I think I'm glad I did.

I listened to the Audible edition, narrated by Colin Firth and this is the one point I'm certain of--Firth is an EXCELLENT narrator. I think he is what made me stick with the story in the first place. The raw emotion in his voice when talking about love, hate, God etc is so powerful he makes you feel every word. If you're going to read this book, get the Firth Audible instead.

Audible at its Best

What made the experience of listening to The End of the Affair the most enjoyable?

The way Colin Firth tells the story is as good as the plot.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Colin Firth who played the hero.

Have you listened to any of Colin Firth’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, and he is always good. The King's Speech may be his best of all.

If you could take any character from The End of the Affair out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Colin Firth because we would talk about English theatre and English movies.

Any additional comments?

This is a book I will keep on my hard drive so that I can listen to it again. It isn't so long that you lose your place. It is just the right length. I enjoyed it very much and wish you had some more just like this.

Exquisitely Nuanced Reading

Colin Firth's velvet voice conveys the blend of acceptance and menace felt by a narrator beset by internal conflict

A Pleasure

What made the experience of listening to The End of the Affair the most enjoyable?

Colin Firth does an amazing job with a story I would not have listened to otherwise and thoroughly enjoyed. An amazing actor doing an amazing job bringing to life a character that would be easy to dislike and making him sympathetic.

New to Greene: Deep pleasure.

Would you consider the audio edition of The End of the Affair to be better than the print version?

Wonderful! Beautiful. Painful and poetic. Firth brought the story so vividly to life in my imagination that I can hear him and the pain of the three characters reverberating still. Greene and Firth make God live in the most real and tragic way.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The End of the Affair?

The pain in Firth's voice embodied the anguish of the narrator.

A beautiful story!

Colin Firth's performance was excellent. This was a beautiful story that made me cry and think how complex humanity is.

Great narration, beautiful writing, not much plot

Great job by Colin Firth bringing all the characters alive like you are listening to a full cast radio play. The writing is beautiful, to say the least. The story itself, though, is nothing to write home about. There's an expectation of the story building up to something explosive but it mostly fizzles at the end with some weirdness.

Fabulous performance and well written story

Thoroughly enjoyed Colin Firth's performance. I would probably enjoy listening to him read a dictionary. The story itself is frustrating in its efforts to deal with religious beliefs perhaps because it was written in an earlier era and is a bit dated.

A very strange book

It is indeed the story of an affair, and of a sexual love, that becomes a discourse on belief in God. Wonderfully put together and still strange and unexpected.

Compelling

One of my favorite audiobooks. Great pairing of writer and narrator. Colin Firth's understated reading lets Graham Greene's complex writing sparkle through.