The Egyptologist

By: Arthur Phillips

Narrated by: Gianfranco Negroponte, Simon Prebble, Gerard Doyle, Bianca Mato

Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Critically acclaimed author Arthur Phillips won the L.A. Times First Fiction Prize for his debut novel, Prague, which landed on top 10 lists across America and was a New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Chicago Tribune best seller. In The Egyptologist, Phillips displays his gift for brilliantly constructed, labyrinthine stories infused with imaginative wit.

Howard Carter has just made one of the great discoveries of all time, the unveiling of Tutankhamun's tomb. At the same time, Egyptologist Ralph Trilipush finds himself in a slightly less spectacular position. He has staked everything on a scrap of hieroglyphic pornography. Halfway around the world, an Australian detective sets off on a globetrotting quest to find a murderer. Or two. Or three. These events, seemingly unrelated, are about to collide in a spectacular yet utterly unpredictable fashion.

©2004 Arthur Phillips (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Witty." (The New Yorker
"Vastly entertaining." (Publishers Weekly)
"Phillips proves himself once again to be a wildly creative storyteller." (Booklist)

The Dig

I couldn't stop listening, wonderful use of material and location. Delightful irony but predictable conclusion. Very entertaining and dramatically read.

Luxuriant fun

This work defies formula, so if you're looking for something familiar and comfortable you may be disappointed. What it does offer is a highly imaginative, fun, layered slice of life into three (or more) interesting and exotic lives. I'll listen to this one again, just for the pleasure of colorful and creative dialogue and the richly described scenery of 1920s Egypt, Boston, Australia, London that have only ever existed in faded travel posters and steamer trunk stickers.

pretty good

I like this one. Looking at the other reviews it seems its not for people who dont want to fully listen and need lots of action. But it was very enjoyable for me.

Disappointing end

I felt let down by the long-drawn-out, predictable, and anticlimactic way in which the story concludes. All flowery words, but nothing to really grab the imagination. I kept waiting for the "surprise" ending that never happened. Don't believe the reviews that tell you there's a twist at the end--there isn't, or rather, you've figured it out about halfway through the audiobook. The story is also marred by characters who range from unsympathetic to hyper snooty. The narrators, for their part, were excellent but one tires quickly of the heavily embroidered language. No more Arthur Phillips for me.

Neat ending...but too long in coming

This is a fairly convoluted story that really requires the listener's full attention. All is not as it seems, which made for some cool scenes and "wait - did he just do that?" moments, but the whole thing is told through a number of different voices, some speaking "in the moment", others remniscing back...it's confusing at times. It takes you an hour or two just to figure out the relationship between the different characters.

That, in an of itself is not necessarily a problem - but it has to come together into a solid web at some point, which this story fails to do.

It tries a lame attempt at a dramatic ending, which again falls short, and leaves me wondering why I didn't quit after 4 discs like I wanted to.

Boredome in Egypt

Way, way too long. I considered stopping numerous times, but continued since i had invested so
much listening time, and wanted to see if my surmise as to what really happened was correct, I continued
to the bitter end.

The chief problem is that the main character, the Egyptologist, is an insufferable bore. The rest of the
characters are not interesting enough to propel the reader forward.

Seems people love it or hate it

I enjoyed it and found it a hoot. The "story" unravels from each character's point of view and the reader adds his own knowledge of historic events. This isn't a serious mystery/thriller or historical novel.

Complete waste of time!

The novelty of this book lasted for maybe 20 minutes. I was completely bored by the main character's drolling narative until the Australian character started in.. then I was annoyed and wondering why I wasted the $$ and time to purchase and listen to this 'book.'

A book worthy of abridgement

I never appreciated the subtle parallels the author was trying to establish between his "stories". The author attempts to maintain multiple narrative voices; with striking success in one case; and dismal failure in another.

I NEVER listen to abridged books; I might have enjoyed this one if the long, unintersting second half had been 1/4 the length.

Save yourself the trouble of downloading a loser

I haven't made many poor choices of audible books, but his one is a real lemon. There may be a story here, but I sure didn't find it. Some audio books I have to restart several times to really get hooked into, but nothing could have made this one worthwhile.

Save your credits and get the wonderful two part novel, "The Egyptian" instead. That one is a jewel; this one is trash.