The Power and the Glory

I've been waiting years for this to come to Audible and wondered if it would succeed as an audiobook - it does.

The product description calls this novel a Christian parable-- and it is, but don???t expect a cute or motivational story, with a Joseph Girzone Christ-figure hero and a happily ever after (although there is an implied hope for faith enduring at the hands of materialism). The ???power and glory??? allusion is meant ironically . The novel describes people trapped in a country who ???were not hard hearted; they were watching the rare spectacle of something worse off than themselves??? in the whiskey priest hiding more rat-like than conventionally heroicly in the countryside. The characters' and their dialogue are more about internal struggle than the political struggle surrounding them. The style is more like Greene s Confidential Agent (individual trapped by impersonal forces of revolution struggling with metaphysical good and evil) than his more overtly political works which name political actions and forces as evil in themselves.

I think the narration very appropriate for the novel --a kind of British narration style (even though few characters are British) It's more read than narrated with many varied voices BUT that style suits the novel well. Green could use 5 colons in a paragraph when describing internal dialogue of alienated characters, so be prepared for a slow start to the listen.

I keep listening to this book over again something always gets to me that I didn't fully get before. The image of the nameless Father being continually pared down to his essence, which is so pure, is compelling and strangely comforting. The narration is striking and quite funny in parts. Mr. Mayes has unusual voice that drew me in right away. I highly recommend this book.

A better narrator. I could not get past the first 30 or 40 minutes.

Yes.

NO WAY.

I have to pass on answering this as I didn't finish the book. I'll probably have to read it by the traditional method!

I found this performance difficult to hear. I could not enjoy the story while straining to hear the words.

I like listening to audiobooks in the car, which is admittedly a poor acoustical environment. However, I can hear all the other audiobooks i have purchased. If you are listening to in a quiet place it might be fine, but for my purposes it was not functional.

It was difficult to listen past the distortion of the recording and the awful voice of the narrator. Sounds like it was recorded in the 50's with a cheap microphone. Turning down all the bass and mid tones and turning up the high eq made it a little more bearable. Need to stop trusting audible and always preview the recording first....

The book itself is amazing have read it any times

Anyone with a more human sounding voice. Mr. Mayes sounds like a dying frog.

Not better, but different aspects of the story were revealed. More portable.

The scene in the crowded jail cell.The cruel ambivalence of the jailer.

His dialogue inflections are clarifying.

I didn't just cry, I was haunted by the story for days.

This story resembles what I have often observed occurring in real life. It is sad that there are not many such novels. It tells of a wayward man committed to be better than he is by nature, because he is a priest.

The narration is deadly. No energy or dynamics, mid-Atlantic accent is stilted and inappropriate for the content.

With a realistic novel dependent on character and dialogue (accented) the narrator needs to be able to bring this to life in a naturalistic style.

Since Greene was British, the British accent itself would not be inappropriate, but this narrator's style is stiff, cold and monotone.

I was very disappointed and dismayed that Audible would offer such an inferior production of a classic set in America. I could not finish it.

Wasted a credit.

Although not his best known, this is probably Greene's best, and certainly most powerful, book, depicting the holiness of a priest who does know know he is holy, and in fact believes the opposite is true. Well worth listening to!

This is classic Gramham Green struggling with his love/hate relationship with Catholicism. The "hero" is an alcoholic priest on the run from persecution in Mexico. He is a coward, he has fathered a child and yet he struggles to serve. He is totally believing of a very narrow Catholicism that condemns him. Today even many Catholics would consider his beliefs almost superstitious and yet he is true to them and is indeed heroic in many ways. I don't know if readers who are not familiar with the Catholicism of those times will understand or find it believable yet it is a powerful story.

The beautiful writing, the way Greene pulls you completely into the characters and their struggles. There is so much poverty, superstition, hatred and yet so much hidden strength. And how he faces the weaknesses in people - he has seen it all, including his own.

He read beautifully. He did not try to over-act the voices. He is the kind of reader I like.

The scenes when the priest on the run encounters people who initially disgust or frighten him and how he struggles to see them as they really are.

This is one of Greene's novels that examines evil.

A "whiskey" priest repeatedly escapes a lieutenant who is part of the regime suppressing Catholicism in Mexico. The priest questions his own worth, and towards the end comes to terms with God as he faces his execution.

I've seen many movies based on novels by Graham Greene, but this is the first I've read.

Based on the presidency of Plutarco Elías Calles. Calles' regime was known for its represive anti-Catholic phase.

Quality of the audio book was horrible. I listened at 1.5x speed, which seemed to help.