Winter's Tale

By: Mark Helprin

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 27 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

A #1 New York Times Bestseller: Mark Helprin’s masterpiece transports you to New York of the Belle Epoque, to a city clarified by a siege of unprecedented snows…

A Winter’s Tale is a major motion picture starring Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, and Jennifer Connelly.

This is a book about the beauty and complexity of the human soul, about God, love, and justice, and yet you can lose yourself in it as if it were a dream. You will be transported to New York of the Belle Epoque, to a city clarified by a siege of unprecedented winters. One night, Peter Lake—orphan, master-mechanic, and master second-story man—attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side. Though he thinks the house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the affair between the middle-aged Irish burglar and Beverly Penn, a young girl who is dying. Because of a love that at first he cannot fully understand, Peter, a simple and uneducated man, will be driven "to stop time and bring back the dead." His great struggle, in a city ever alight with its own energy and beset by winter, is a truly beautiful and extraordinary story.

©1983 Mark Helprin (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks America

Critic reviews

"This novel stretches the boundary of contemporary literature...is a gifted writer's love affair with the language." ( Newsday)

Boring. Boring. Boring. And More Boring.

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

A plot would have been nice. I listened to two hours and never really found out what the plot was. It certainly never got to the plot described in the synopsis of the story-line.

What was most disappointing about Mark Helprin’s story?

Moved exceptionally slow. I kept waiting to find out what the book was about but just became exceptionally bored with descriptions of disconnected events that seemed irrelevant to any story-line!

What didn’t you like about Oliver Wyman’s performance?

The performance was just fine.

Great story

great story I could not stop . a long book but worth the effort to keep it going

A novel of ideas and depth

Winter's Tale is a complex, engaging and thought-provoking novel. I think it demonstrates that the love of language, the love of ideas, and the ability to create characters who speak to us across time is still at the heart of great novel-writing. I read this book twenty-plus years ago and was impressed with its depth and sincerity then as I am now. AND it is good to hear it read by a gifted interpreter!

I couldn't finish this book

The writing style was so heavy it was daunting. I RARELY put a book aside without finishing it. As I was trying to push through this book I had to remind myself that life is too short to spend time on a book I don't enjoy.

Wonderful story

This is a wonderful story that spans the 20th century and tells the tale of an alternative New York with some magical additions such as an enormous natural formation of clouds that often blocks in the city and into which characters disappear only to reappear, unaged, decades later. The narration is excellent and the story of Peter Lake is interesting and full of excellent twists and turns.

Hard to follow

Wow, upon reading the reviews I thought that this was going to be a great book. Boy was I wrong. Half the time I had no clue what was going on. The characters jump around so much your head spins. I couldn't finish this one.

Wish I had returned this

What disappointed you about Winter's Tale?

I tried and tried to get into this book several times since I bought it in 2014. It just wouldn't grab my attention. I felt there is too much extraneous info...I literally felt my eyes crossing at the boredom it brought on. I wanted to get to the meat of the story! I tried it again recently...still boooooored. And now it's too late to return it.

Differing Comments re: Narration Issues Honored

My most re-read hardcover and audiobook since their publications, they're automatically my first to recommend to from my odd journey of 58 years of reading. While the narrator initially sounded wrong to me, by the fourth chapter, the choice clicked for me: despite the personal sounds I'd assigned: a lower range, more humor or gravitas, more variety in tempo, but I slipped into the audiobook smoothly during a few paragraphs as I began his exile from the bays (personally familiar from years of commuting to and from NYC and NJ) as I realized the book actually may have been written toward our early years' enthusiasm for reading while simultaneously setting the language at an older, more elegantly adult tone; wack idea or writer, you feel me?

I decided to go with this voicing in audio and enjoy my initial one in analogue…and every year I alternate the two; no other book comes close to this treatment. This must make those unhappy with this vote of confidence grind their teeth.

Please don't. I do get it: I'd love to hear a new reading closer to how I'd first read it in addition to this one, despite my hot roasted owl moment.

Oh, yeah. Did I suggest you read this amazing novel, written by the most confusing (initially) author an conservative speechwriter during the Reagan years, repugnant to me, but ultimately meaningless in reference to this book!

Fantastic Classic

Timeless. Another sweeping epic of New York City but with magic and intelligence. I defy you not to love this book. Years after reading it I'm thrilled to have it on audio.

A Big Disappointment

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I can't imagine who would like this book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I adore this narrator (Oliver Wyman) and would listen to him read the dictionary. Even he couldn't salvage this ridiculous story.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Um. It's long. I love long books.