Persuasion

Unable to finish this Jane Austen classic with 2 hours remaining. I very rarely abandon a book and I would not have abandoned it (I think) if I had selected another version of this book read by another narrator. I plan to avoid Jill Masters in the future as there is nothing more disappointing. I could not tell you the gist of this story as I rarely stayed engaged for the 6 hours I did listen to. I feel compelled to try another narrator but I will wait for now. I never listen to a sample before downloading but that may change. This was the worst narration I've experienced in 10+ years of audiobook listening.

I enjoyed this book decently enough to finish it, without deciding to forget the whole thing and try a different narrator. I cannot stress enough how important it is to listen to the full samples given before deciding on a work with multiple narrator options. I've learned my lesson. Jill Masters is not my favorite, but she is far from the worst. Victoria McGee is by far my least favorite Austen narrators, and I couldn't even get halfway through her version of Sense and Sensibility. Lindsay Duncan is my absolute favorite, and I wish she would do all of Austen's works. In Jill Masters' defense, her style simply did not jive with my interpretation of the novel, and her inflections and emphasis did not land as I would have liked. However, she read it well and was consistent. Like many reviewers have also pointed out, I'll stress that the sound quality of this recording is not very good. The volume level fluctuates, there are some awkward pauses, and the sound quality in general is lacking. In short: not the best, but not the worst.

I adore Austen and quite like Persuasion as a novel, but this was just a poor audio book. The narrator was mediocre at best and, as some other reviews have said, the overall audio quality is poor. At times the sound is muffled or muddy and in a few chapters you can actually hear other people talking in the background. This is definitely not the quality I would expect from an Audible book. In short, definitely read or listen to Persuasion--just a different version.

I love Jane Austen's and have read and now listened to many of her other books. However, I had difficulty listening to this particular narrator. She was not able to carry off reading this book. It made the book difficult to follow. I am now trying a different audio version. I wish I had listened to the sample as I now realize there are more audio versions. I will let you know how the 2004 audio version compares.

Very poor sound quality - mostly muddy throughout - plus, at times it sounds like there's a cocktail party going on in the other room. Also, the narrator doesn't do different voices; her men especially are completely unconvincing.

This is my favorite of Jane Austen's six novels. I think it's because the passion is so English-ly understated throughout until the end where it veritably explodes off the page with first Anne's appeal to Captain Harville and culminating in Captain Wentworth's letter to Anne. (To receive a letter from the kind of quietly confident man that can carry off a line like "You pierce my soul" would be rather, shall we say, motivating.) One can easily commiserate with the desperation Anne feels to make sure she does not lose yet another chance with him. I rather like to think Miss Austen was relieved as well when Anne caught him. Perhaps it's only because my own interpretation of intonation differs from the author's that I find her narration a bit off the mark. I felt as though Ms. Masters missed the whole point of persuasion as a theme.