Noli Me Tangere

By: José Rizal

Narrated by: Richard E. Grant

Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Jose Rizal’s two novels Noli Me Tangere and its sequel El Filibusterismo are beloved classics in The Philippines. Here, they are read with characteristic flair by Academy-Award Nominee Richard E. Grant, who apart from his work in Film and TV, is well-loved by audiobook listeners.

It might be fiction, but it is also Philippine history.

Rizal travelled to Europe as a student and wrote these books there under difficult circumstances. His friends helped ship them back to Manila where the books were swiftly banned by the Spanish authorities. They took exception to the hilarious satirical portrayals of Philippine society at the time - and paticurlaly of the Spanish Friars and their nominal secular overlords. The vivid characters in these books are known to all Filipinos, and many of the personalities described are said to persist to the present day.

However, Rizal paid a high penalty for self-expression; he was executed by firing squad on 30 December 1896 mainly because of these two books. Filipinos, inspired by Rizal, declared independence, establishing Asia's first democratic republic in 1898, which survived in the face of a bitter war against US occupying forces until 1901. In 1946, exactly half a century after Rizal's execution, Filipinos became the first Asians to win independence from Western colonialism.

©2010 Chalcot Press (P)2021 Chalcot Press

Very much recommended

This version of Rizal's Noli Me Tangere is a reliable source of the author's original. It is accessible / understandable even for the casual reader / listener, while at the same time, it is a strong companion to scholars and students studying the hero and the Philippines of the 1890s.

Timeless

Classics are timeless when they speak clearly of the human condition, that sadly has changed little over hundreds if not thousands of years. Because of this you will find many truths in this story that, to those who are paying attention, are still true and relevant today.

The story is a national treasure; the performance.

I wish there was a voice actress for the women dialogues. The narrator's female voice is distracting.

Filipino Classic

Much has been said about the impact of Rizal’s work. We know him to be THE National Hero of the Philippines: “fighting with his pen rather than a sword.” When read with a critical and attentive mind, this book is amazing.

Listening to any performance by Richard E Grant is an absolute joy. However, I must say that he wasn’t the ideal choice. A book so important to the Philippines should have been narrated by someone who could do justice to the idiosyncrasies of both Spanish and Filipino accents. He thankfully doesn’t attempt these (though some pronunciations like names were not well done), and instead employs mostly British accents, even using a variety to help discern between characters. That being said, I would probably rather listen to a stellar actor than a poor actor with proper accents.

Timeless story but needs different performer

Truly thrilling to have this book in Audible, thank you! The story is timeless, tragically published at the price of blood of our National hero, Jose Rizal. A must read/listen for everyone.

My only complaint is the performance. I wish it was read and performed by a Filipino, Spanish, or someone who can pronounce well the words in Filipino and Spanish.

Narration is my only complaint

Read this because my girlfriend is Filipino and it was wonderful. Feels relevant even today. It is even more poignant knowing that Rizal sparked the independence movement and was condemned over authoring this. I only wish it wasn’t read with British accents, the performance is solid but using Cockney or Scottish burr to voice characters with Spanish names/dialogue felt clumsy and inappropriate. Very thankful that Audible has it in the catalog though it’s such a historically significant piece of literature.

Ironic that a book about colonization...

...uses a British actor employing British accents to depict Spanish and Filipino characters. Well, what can I say. Rizal's work endures simply because we are still being colonized even today. The choice of Richard E. Grant to voice these characters with very specific British dialects that neither evoke Spain nor The Philippines (and everyone at the publishing house OK'd it) is the very definition of how colonization still pervades our unconscious. If you're going to go European, Javier Bardem or Antonio Banderas would have been far better choices. At least they're actually from the country of our colonizers. God forbid, you would find an actual Filipino actor to narrate this book. And the beat goes on...

Great to see Filipino literature represented, but the British accent was distracting

When I finally saw Jose Rizal’s work finally on audible, I was THRILLED!! I had been checking for him and other Filipino works to catch up on. Growing up as a Filipino American it wasn’t always easy to access Filipino literature. Thank you for making this work accessible on Audible! Please continue to provide more!

However, as Filipino American who understands Tagalog, it was incredibly distracting to hear this book read in a British accent especially the Tagalog words. And it felt weird also to hear almost like that cockney accent. (I suppose to represent lower class status people?)

Is there a way that a next iteration can be made with Filipino vocal talent or someone who can execute a more authentic Filipino accent and Tagalog word pronunciation? Or alternatively, to be more appropriate to the time period in this specific story, someone with a Spanish accent from Spain?

Performance destroys the story, pure cringe

The reader should get his head checked for that performance, jesus christ. It's like he is reading for three year olds and every character is from a wacky saturday morning cartoon show. Completely distracts from the story and cheapens and ruins great art.