White Nights

A Fyodor Dostoyevsky Short Story

By: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Narrated by: Deaver Brown

"White Nights" is the third major Dostoyevsky short story everyone should read or listen to, along with "A Faint Heart" and "The Christmas Tree and Wedding". The story contains a series of Winesburg, Ohio-like moments: a woman and man meet accidentally on the First Night; proceed to meet again on the Second and Third, almost fall in love, and at the last minute the former lover of the woman returns to take her away. But the point is that the man had a moment, a glorious moment when, for the first time in his life, he had something special. Was that enough? That is the question the author leaves us with.

Public Domain (P)2011 Christina Brown

Terrible narration

The narration ruined such a great story. Do yourself a favor and pick another version.

Always check audio Sample

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I felt like the narrator was reading un-enthusiastically in a high school English class. He simply read the words on the page, pausing at seeming random intervals to take a breath with no consideration for punctuation.

Poor performance

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This needed a different audio narrator, with an attempt to impart some of the emotions. The words are flatly spoken with odd pauses. Also the audio quality is not on par with high end recordings.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The unnamed narrator of the story, the main character, provides some insight into being young in Europe in an era of change where urban norms are disconnecting people from society.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The audio narrator reads like he has no care at all for the story, with odd pacing and no proper emphasis. As if he is not even paying attention to the story.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from White Nights?

That is way above my pay grade.

Any additional comments?

Just read the book, this audio version is worthless.

I wish it was dramatized.

Somewhat hard to understand who is speaking when. So a dramatized version would have been a lot easier to follow. But overall not too bad. A short little classic. And intro to the authors work.

Terrible narrator

Worst narrator ever.... seriously. Ever! Don’t buy this, it’s seriously painful to listen to. The story is good, of course.

Narration spoils of classic story

What disappointed you about White Nights?

What ruins this audio book is the narration, which is delivered in a flat, nasal New York accent, totally inappropriate for a Russian love story. No effort is made to distinguish between the voices of the characters or convey something of their emotions, which makes this dialogue heavy story almost impossible to follow. The words are simply being read off the page.

What was one of the most memorable moments of White Nights?

After the narrator delivered Natasha's plea "How can I live without you?" in a bored monotone with an awkward pause for breath in the middle, I gave up and read the hard copy.

that some things are truly bittersweet. even in fiction.

I like the character is I like the bittersweet ending I like the way the book introduces two peoples feelings and wants and dreams in a bittersweet way.