The Moonstone

I was attracted to THE MOONSTONE after reading (Hearing) Wilkie Collins" THE WOMAN IN WHITE. What is fascinating to me is how a book written over 140 years ago can be read eaily without footnotes to explain the significance of the events of the time. The characters and the action brought me into that time period with ease.

I plan to sownload every Wilkie Collins book that is available in Audible.com

I read this book years ago & loved it, but it is very long, so I have not read it since. I am VERY glad that I invested the time to listen to it now. The book is even better than I remember it. The author was a great talent & the reader's skill makes it a truely amazing listening experience. I whole-heartedly recommend this book & this reader to anyone who wants a quality, intelligent listen.

I probably never would have read this on paper - too old-fashioned, too long - but with it narrated (and done so well by Jeffrey!) I was able to hear the voices of the characters and be entertained by the different perspectives as each one tells the story from their point of view. I thought this was a masterfully crafted story, with parts that made me laugh out loud. Had to be able to concentrate when listening to keep track of the plot and characters.

First, I'm a fan of Charles Dickens' novels, so historical fiction doesn't challenge me in the slightest, provided it has a plot. And The Moonstone has plot in spades, along with one of the most adorable characters I've ever encountered in all of literature (Gabriel Betteredge), and a wonderfully involved, somewhat gothic, mystery. If films like Gosford Park send you screaming, don't even dream of taking on this novel. But if you love English historical and gothic fiction, and enjoy an occasional mystery, this atmospheric gem will provide hours of guilty pleasure. Wilkie Collins was a contemporary (and friend) of Dickens, so expect similar pacing. Peter Jeffrey's narration was superb!

The narrator was wonderful and the story was interesting and highly enjoyable. The plot might be a bit slow and verbose for some people, but if you like a well turned phrase and detailed character depictions, you will like this aspect as much as I did. The narrator's reading and distinctive voices for the different characters was outstanding.

Many consider the Moonstone to be the first detective novel ever written. And it's, in my opinion, one of the best. The plot is riveting, the story full of surprises. Even when Collins seems to be losing his way in a subplot, he always manage to enrich the main mystery: what happened to the Moonstone, a huge diamond discovered in India and sent to a young woman from her uncle. Almost as soon as she comes into possession of this magnificient jewel, it mysteriously disappears. What happened to the Moonstone, who took it, why and how? The how is especially puzzling. One thing is for sure, you will be entertained all the way to the final solution to this puzzle. It's a must read for true mystery fans.

The narration done by Peter Jeffrey is first class. I could listen to him telling stories all day long. Enjoy!

i enjoyed this book and the reader...i have read the hard copy before and wanted this to listen to while i knit...it did its job well! and his accent is so much better than mine!

This is one of the best audible listens yet. I am very particular in choosing my audio books and it took me sometime to settle on this one - I don't regret it in the least. It was a marvelous and keen story. Very perceptive and subtly witty. It is not a fast paced or a short book, but I was happy to return to it every time I had the chance to listen. I am looking forward to reading other works by Wilkie Collins and I thought Peter Jeffery captured the emotion and flavor of the work beautifully.

Peter Jeffrey does the various voices with great skill and character. The humor of the novel comes through strongly. I wish Peter Jeffrey would do more narration, he's really fabulous.

When I first started listening to the book I had to keep restarting it to get used to the accents and sentence structure. Even though this is written in English I felt challenged to understand the train of thought of the writer.

At about one third into the book the perspective changed. The story narration was taken over by another character and I realized that the first narrative was intentionally written in a "wandering" style to reflect the personality of that character.

Subsequent narratives were much easier to understand and to the point of the story. It is easy to see why one might stop listening to the first wordy and tedious narrative.

If you like stories to proceed at quick pace I would recommend the abridged version which I would expect to be more concise.