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Patricia Highsmith
- Selected Novels and Short Stories
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 27 hrs and 16 mins
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Publisher's summary
The remarkable renaissance of Patricia Highsmith continues with the publication of Patricia Highsmith: Selected Novels and Short Stories, featuring the groundbreaking novels Strangers on a Train and The Price of Salt as well as a trove of penetrating short stories. With a critical introduction by Joan Schenkar, situating Highsmith’s classic works within her own tumultuous life, this book provides a useful guide to some of her most dazzlingly seductive writing. Strangers on a Train, transformed into a legendary film by Alfred Hitchcock, displays Highsmith’s genius for psychological characterization and tortuous suspense, while The Price of Salt, with its lesbian lovers and a creepy PI, provides a thrilling and highly controversial depiction of “the love that dare not speak its name”. This book firmly establishes Highsmith’s centrality to American culture by presenting key works that went on to influence half a century of literature and film. Abandoned by the wider reading public in her lifetime, Highsmith finally gets the canonical recognition that is her due.
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Prepare to be captivated by acclaimed crime writer Candice Fox’s gripping audio thriller, Hunting Game. Featuring an all-star cast including Krysten Ritter, Anthony Mackie, and Tony Goldwyn, you’re about to enter a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. NYPD Detective Esme 'Es' Compran (Krysten Ritter) finds herself torn between her duty and her own desperate circumstances when a child is kidnapped. The victim's father, Jack Dengate (Tony Goldwyn), is a controversial big pharma CEO whose company's price hikes on life-saving drugs have dire consequences for Es' ailing daughter.
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Man what a GREAT story….BUT……
- By ShawniqueLovesToRead on 03-15-24
By: Candice Fox
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Weeds
- By: Amanda Wilkin
- Narrated by: Lesley Sharp, Adelle Leonce, Joshua James, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 29 mins
- Original Recording
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Climate activist Shirley Watts has dedicated her entire life to protecting the planet for future generations. But constantly fighting for Mother Earth has taken its toll over time, leaving her in a precarious relationship with her adult daughter, Lela. When Shirley’s latest climate stunt lands her in serious legal jeopardy, Lela reluctantly lets Shirley stay with her and her boyfriend while awaiting her upcoming trial.
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Excellent story
- By Jeremy J. Hanes on 03-22-24
By: Amanda Wilkin
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Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
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Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
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Find Her
- By: Sarah A. Denzil
- Narrated by: Catrin Walker-Booth
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s Christmas Day at Wilder House, and three magical winter weddings are set to begin. But as the tables are arranged, and the food is prepared, a perfect storm hits, cutting every guest from the rest of the world. Most little girls dream of the perfect wedding. But this bride stumbles alone into the snow, her silk train dragging through dirt, her hands bloody from the murder she just committed. Now there is at least one killer roaming the unforgiving landscape surrounding Wilder House. Who else will die on Christmas Day?
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a little bit of wicked fun
- By A. Bohn on 01-25-24
By: Sarah A. Denzil
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The Bedroom Window
- By: K. L. Slater
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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My darling little boy Albie adores playing at our new neighbours’ house. And after the terrible year we’ve had, I feel so lucky that we can start over in this perfect place, with new friends who treat Albie like the son they never had. He can’t stop talking about the tree house they’re building him, and the cookies they bake together. But as time passes, something starts to feel wrong. Why don’t they ever open the front door more than a crack? They told me they had no children so who does the small pink tricycle I saw in their hall belong to?
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Miss Lucy-price Lewis
- By Angie on 06-07-23
By: K. L. Slater
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I can't stop thinking about this book...
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In A Suspension of Mercy, a masterpiece of noir fantasy, Highsmith revels in eliciting the unsettling psychological forces that lurk beneath the surface of everyday contemporary life.
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What??
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I can't stop thinking about this book...
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What??
- By Keedee on 02-19-18
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The legendary writer Patricia Highsmith is best remembered today for her chilling psychological thrillers The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train. A critically acclaimed, best-selling author in Europe, Highsmith has for too long been underappreciated in the United States. Eleven is Highsmith's first collection of short stories, an arresting group of dark masterpieces of obsession and foreboding, violence and instability.
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Eerie Tension
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In Patricia Highsmith's debut novel, we encounter Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno, passengers on the same train. But while Guy is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce, Bruno turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who manipulates Guy into swapping murders with him. As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy is trapped in Highsmith's perilous world - where, under the right circumstances, anybody is capable of murder.
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Not my cup of tea
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The Talented Mr. Ripley
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In this first novel, we are introduced to suave, handsome Tom Ripley: a young striver, newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan in the 1950s. A product of a broken home, branded a "sissy" by his dismissive Aunt Dottie, Ripley becomes enamored of the moneyed world of his new friend, Dickie Greenleaf. This fondness turns obsessive when Ripley is sent to Italy to bring back his libertine pal, but he grows enraged by Dickie's ambivalent feelings for Marge, a charming American dilettante.
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Patricia, Phil, and Pathology
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Deep Water
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In Deep Water, set in the small town of Little Wesley, Vic and Melinda Meller's loveless marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family. Eventually, Vic tries to win her back by asserting himself through a tall tale of murder - one that soon comes true.
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Classic Highsmith
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This Sweet Sickness
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In This Sweet Sickness, David Kelsey has an unyielding conviction that life will turn out all right for him; he just has to fix "the situation" of being in love with a married woman. Obsessed with Annabelle and the life he has imagined for them, David prepares to win her over, whatever it takes. In this riveting tale of a deluded loner, Highsmith reveals her uncanny ability to draw out the secret obsessions that overwhelm the human heart.
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Highly recommended!
- By nancy on 10-11-18
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The Glass Cell
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Falsely convicted of fraud, the easygoing but naive Philip Carter is sentenced to six lonely, drug-ravaged years in prison. Upon his release, Carter is a more suspicious and violent man. For those around him, earning back his trust can mean the difference between life and death.
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Letter from a fan in Prison
- By Darwin8u on 12-10-19
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A Dog’s Ransom
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The great revival of interest in Patricia Highsmith continues with the publication of a novel that will give dog owners nightmares for years to come. With an eerie simplicity of style, Highsmith turns our next-door neighbors into sadistic psychopaths, lying in wait among white picket fences and manicured lawns. In A Dog's Ransom, Highsmith blends savage humor with brilliant social satire in this dark tale of a high-minded criminal who hits a wealthy Manhattan couple where it hurts the most.
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Book's Bark is Worse than its Bite.
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Thick but rewarding
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Enjoyable listen
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Worth a credit
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When Foster Dade arrives at Kennedy, an elite boarding school in New Jersey, the year is 2008. Barack Obama begins his first term as president; Vampire Weekend and Passion Pit bump from the newly debuted iPhone; teenagers share confidences and rumors over BlackBerry Messenger and iChat; and the internet as we know it is slowly emerging from its cocoon. So, too, is Foster emerging—a transfer student and anxious young man, Foster is stumbling through adolescence in the wake of his parents’ scandalous divorce.
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Narration Makes It
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It is 1946, and war-weary young ex-intelligence officer Lane Winslow leaves London to look for a fresh start. When she finds herself happily settled into a sleepy hamlet in the interior of British Columbia surrounded by a suitably eclectic cast of small-town characters, she feels like she may finally be able to put her past to rest. But then a body is discovered, the victim of murder, and although she works alongside the town's Inspectors Darling and Ames to discover who might have possibly have motivation to kill, she unknowingly casts doubt on herself.
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Clever and Comfortable
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What listeners say about Patricia Highsmith
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sara
- 06-08-15
Dark, Sad and Unhappy Stories
This collection of stories and novels were unpleasant listening. Stilted, overly sad and terribly dark. I agree with another reviewer that they entered the creepy zone--and not in a good way. Recommended only if you are looking for an exploration of Noir sadness--otherwise I'd avoid. Depressing.
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29 people found this helpful
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- Linda J. Westerschulte
- 09-18-11
Strangers on a Train
I wanted to read Strangers on a Train because I love the noir film classic based on this book. It was interesting because Patricia Highsmith is a master at painting the slow downward spiral, the menace in the every-day, and the grim experience of late stage alcoholism (note to self: it does not look like fun). But it needs editing. The same scenes repeat themselves too often and the protagonist goes over the same ground and comes to the same decisions over and over again. The book just doesn't get down to business and go where it's going. By the end I was weary enough of the story that I didn't much care how it came out.
I didn't care for Bronson Pinchot's reading. In trying to produce southern accents he made the southerners sound bored - not southern. Also, he used a particular lilting drag for the bad guy, the faithful woman, and the private eye. These are all very different characters who should have to some extent their own voices, or at least not the same odd drawn-out way of speaking that makes them blend together. And I wish men readers would just read women's voices normally - Pinchot, like some other men I've heard, tries to make it clear this is a female voice by making it breathy or whiny. The female voices were annoying.
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25 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Carole
- 08-29-11
Highsmith: Her Name Reflects Her Craft
I learned much about her private life and pathological relationship with her mother. While she was strange in her personal life, that same quality exists in her writing which also demonstrates her intelligence, her focus on resourceful/unique characters, settings, and creative and unique plots which usually hinge on at least one amoral or sociopathic character. She follows with meticulous logic from beginning to the end of the story and her writing is fairly literary and compelling to read.
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13 people found this helpful
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- Peace
- 04-11-15
Long before "Carol," I admired and respected Ms. Highsmith
Her writing is sublime. Her stories rich with authentic emotional details. The angst of life and moral dilemmas vividly detailed. This is a full measure of her talent for real life storytelling. She captivates you with problematic characters which you can hold up to your self mirror. Sheer rather gruesome delight.
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12 people found this helpful
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- Elena
- 03-20-11
Narrator is fantastic
the voice of Bruno, in Strangers on the Train, is perhaps the best audio narration I have ever heard . . .
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12 people found this helpful
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- Joy
- 09-29-11
Patricia Highsmith: Selected Novels and Short Stor
I bought this because I wanted to read Strangers on a Train. I'm sorry I did I think Alfred Hitchcocks version is much better.
main reason not to buy this book The length is achieved by reading the same stories twice
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11 people found this helpful
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- Alex G
- 05-05-21
TOC is a travesty
This is a brilliant book, with a great performance by Balki (sorry, Mr. Pinchot). BUT the table of contents is only numbers, from 1 to 80 something. But the book contains two novels and some stories. So you cannot pick and choose the story or novel you want to listen to. This is a serious drawback for this great book, and impacts the reading experience.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Patrick
- 09-23-12
Excellent Performance of Terrible Story
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
The only people who will enjoy this kind of book are the people who will be fascinated by Patricia Highsmith the author and her creation of "Highsmith Country". But for my tastes, it's a needlessly nasty world and I have no intention of ever returning to it.
What was most disappointing about Patricia Highsmith’s story?
Guy Haines is, to use a childish term, a sissy. Here the moron gets letters from Bruno—handwritten, presumably signed letters, which probably have fingerprints all over the place!!!—which map out a proposed murder, tell Guy what to do, give tips on how to escape the murder scene, etc. Bruno even sends him a gun!!! And what does our hero do, ladies and gentlemen? Surely he would call the police, for presumably, coercion into murder was illegal in the 1950s, even if there were no laws against stalkers? Heck, no! He does the only reasonable thing: destroy the evidence!No question of it: Guy Haines wins the Darwin Award for 1950. The entire novel is a situation of Guy’s own making. You can make the argument that it makes for a compelling character study, an allegorical novel of good and evil within each man. I make the argument that Guy is a moron. Here he is with physical proof that Bruno has killed his wife and is trying to get him to commit a murder—he’s in the position of strength! Instead, he destroys the evidence and then whines about how his guilt haunts him. In the Hitchcock film, Guy had a reason for being frightened of Bruno, who was capable of framing Guy by planting false evidence and threatened to do so, leaving nothing behind for Guy to use against him. The movie Guy is a likeable hero, caught in a perilous situation. The book Guy? I say he can go straight to that not-so-great-place-opposite-of-heaven.In the Hitchcock film, Bruno at first seems to be a charming fellow, and his proposed murder scheme sounds like a joke. That’s how Guy and the audience choose to take it at first, and that makes the murder shocking. But in the novel, Bruno is an obvious psychopath—you can spot his insanity at twenty paces. He’s never charming—he’s an annoying little brat. You have no idea why Guy would have a conversation with him in the first place. Not even Guy understands it, although he’s the one who follows Bruno to his compartment in the train and they have dinner together. When Bruno demands that Guy commit his murder, it isn’t the demand of a dangerous murderer but the petulant tantrum of a spoiled child. I had a hard time finding the suspense that is supposed to permeate this novel.And the book, incidentally, drags on and on AND ON!!! The pace is snail-like and gets extremely boring. After the two murders are committed, you simply have no idea why Guy and Bruno would keep seeing each other. No wait—if they didn’t see each other you couldn’t have any obvious SYMBOLISM!!! The entire novel feels like the author is trying to write Literature with a capital L, but she doesn’t succeed.Strangers on a Train became a nasty story about nasty characters being nasty to each other for no reason other than “the plot says so”. Oh, and Bruno? Not only is he an obsessive homosexual with clear mental issues, he’s also in love with his mother. (How does that work???)I didn’t like either of the two male leads, and nobody else is worth talking about. Patricia Highsmith was not a happy person, and it shows in this book. But instead of making me interested in her characters, this aspect made me want to get them all in a secluded alleyway and open fire on them with a tommy gun.
Have you listened to any of Bronson Pinchot and Cassandra Campbell ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No I haven't, so I will only comment on the narration of this book alone. I did not bother continuing past STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, narrated by Bronson Pinchot. His performance is excellent but unfortunately the material itself is terrible. The narration manages to make the novel bearable, however, but I simply couldn't proceed any further with the stories. It's no fault of the narrator's.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Anger certainly, at the author and her insipid characters. Perhaps some disappointment because I was hoping to enjoy the book. But apart from that, once all is said and done... I was left indifferent.
Any additional comments?
Perhaps the other stories and novels in this collection are worthwhile, but I couldn't get past the first. Patricia Highsmith is an "acquired taste"-- meaning one that some people will never acquire!
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- au
- 08-11-12
Good interpretations
What made the experience of listening to Patricia Highsmith the most enjoyable?
As a Highsmith fan, I'd already read most of these stories myself. I don't normally listen to stories but I got this Audible because in listening to another person read to you, you pick up different nuances to the story and somewhat of a different interpretation as well. That proved true here to great effect, although it can be a little jarring to have an idea of what a character sounds like in your head be different to that of the narrator's interpretation!
Did Bronson Pinchot and Cassandra Campbell do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
I think audio narrators should stick to making voices for only characters of their own gender. Pinchot mimicking women's voices and Campbell mimicking male voices was, for the most part, unintentionally hilarious. While it was entertaining it took away from the listening experience and from the story.
Pinchot uses the same slow drag which made different characters' dialogue run together. Campbell was all right, though I was disappointed in her "Carol" (The Price of Salt) voice which came off a little too nasally and high whereas in the story it's described as sultry and dark.
Aside from that, the narration was just fine.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Michael
- 07-29-12
Boring.
This was the first time I tried Ms. Highsmith. I bought the book for Strangers on a Train because of the movie. The underlying story was fine but I had difficulty staying interested because of the extensive time spent in the protagonist's mind and not pursuing the story. I did listen to all of Strangers because I wanted to see how it ended. I tried one or two of the short stories but could not develop any interest in them. Then, the Price of Salt bored me to tears. I quit within 20 minutes of starting Salt as the story itself had gone nowhere. While she may be considered an accomplished writer, I could not get interested in the characters or story.
I only gave Stranger on a Train three stars for story. What I did listen to beyond that got zero stars for story.
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