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Paris Stories  By  cover art

Paris Stories

By: Mavis Gallant
Narrated by: Lorna Raver, Yuri Rasovsky
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Publisher's summary

Mavis Gallant is an undisputed master of the short story whose peerless prose captures the range of human experience while evoking time and place with unequaled skill. This new collection of 15 of Gallant's stories, edited by best-selling author Michael Ondaatje, gathers the best of her many stories set in Europe and Paris, where Gallant has long lived.

Mysterious, funny, insightful, and heartbreaking, these are tales of expatriates and exiles, wise children and straying saints. They compose a secret history, both intimate and panoramic, of modern times, and offer a kaleidoscopic impression of the world within a world that is Paris.

©2002 Michael Ondaatje (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

  • Audie Award Finalist, Short Stories, Collections, 2007

"Mavis Gallant writes some of the most superbly crafted and perceptive stories of our time." (Globe and Mail)
"Mavis Gallant's finely honed prose captures the small details that illuminate a life." (Publishers Weekly)
"Ms. Gallant...has dared to drift in a disorienting century, always trusting her own imaginative compass. Her fiction, never fooled into trying to keep up with history, will last a long time." (New York Times)

What listeners say about Paris Stories

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

beautifully narrated

This are great stories full of insight, humor, and
complexity. The narrator, Lorna Raver, is amazing; she can mimic voices of her characters, male or female, with uncanny realism. Highly recommended on all counts.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Never could get into it

I could never get into this audio at all. What I did hear was not captivating. This is one of those I regret!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Sorry, no Chekhov here

Or William Trevor, for that matter. I struggled to get through these stories because they were devoid of action. Even in a short story, something - anything - has to happen to somebody. I was expecting a lot more. The narrator is good, but I tired of her voice because I tired of the story, and not the other way 'round.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

table of contents!

Love these stories. My one critique is that short story anthologies needs to have the title of the story, and numbering chapters is useless. The lack of a good table of contents makes it very difficult to relisten

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

The readers ruin it for me

I just thought the readers were very annoying. The stories I found uninteresting. Maybe I’m missing something

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

exquisite

Gallant's stories are perfectly crafted and delicious. Lorna Raver's narration is pure and satirical, beautiful formed and a delight to listen to. Rasovksy's leave some to be desired but with some attention can be tolerated. a really fine experience.

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