The Nose: A Nikolai Gogol Story

The story itself is a gem; not only is it Russian humor at its very best, it also has a distinct Kafka-esque, "magical realism" vibe, which is impressive given that this was written 50 years before Kafka was born. For this (and this alone) I give it five stars.

And now for the narration: Audible doesn't currently carry any other version of this story, but if they ever do I would say get the other one. This version might have been forgivable as a free librivox recording, but even most librivox books sound more professional than this. The narrator sounds like he can barely follow the text. He is apparently surprised at every line break and needs to pause and gather his wits at odd points in every other sentence. Thankfully, even he isn't able to ruin this truly great story (but he sure tries).

So, in other words: wonderful story, but not worth buying if you can get a different version.

The story itself, the characters and Nikolai Gogol's fabulous writing. I always like hearing how it is an "absurdist" tale, when he was commenting on the absurdity of the ills in that (and this) society...

Most comparable to Picasso's faces more than another book. But possibly something like Salman Rushdie's "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" for it's satiric, magical fable quality.

It sounded like he remembered he had remembered he had to read the book in between having his coffee and possibly watching the football (or similar). It was disappointing, and even though I have bought it, I am not sure I can struggle through "The Overcoat" with the same narrator. The uninterested tone, poor pronounciation were very much a letdown. You should have got the guy who did Bulgakov's "Heart of A Dog"!!!

I always love reading/listening to the section about the barber, who not daring to annoy his wife first thing in the morning, opts only for coffee... forgoing the the onion bread (fresh out of the oven) the thing that he really wants. I love the characters, they are so real...

For me, this story overcame the horrific narration. The story is a farcical tale of a man who loses his nose. The wonderful seriousness the characters take with the situation, I found quite enjoyable. This is not quite the worst narration I have ever heard, but it was close. There were many weird pauses as the narrator lost his place, stumbling, mispronunciations, and more. I had an odd sized cash credit, so I used it on a bunch of very cheap selections that were not worth a real credit (all under $2). This is one of those. So, if you haven’t heard the story, and don’t mind the poor narration, it might be worth the cost.

I am surprised that such an incredibly bad performance is even offered for sale! The narrator is clearly a complete amateur who has no what he's doing. He stumbles over sentences, loses his place, skips and mispronounces words almost as a matter of course. This is a hilarious short story butchered by an abysmal performance. Run away from this recording.

The previous poster is correct that this is a thoroughly amateur reading. In addition, there is a lengthy introduction at the beginning which talks *about* the story, *before* you have heard the story. Very annoying.