Lord Jim

De: Joseph Conrad

Narrado por: David McCallion

Lord Jim is considered by many to be one of the greatest novels published in the 20th century. At its core, Lord Jim is a story of conscience and what can happen if one forgets one's honor and turns one's back on one's fellow man.

During a dangerous mishap, Jim abandons the ship in which he serves as the first officer. Although he lives, he is consistently haunted by his horrible actions and the memory of those he left behind. Disgraced and in low spirits, Jim travels to Patusan, resigning himself to a life running a remote trading post. Eventually Jim finds some peace, but that peace is about to be shattered when a group of thugs arrive on the island and threaten those who have befriended him. Everyone's lives are at stake. Can he make amends for his misdeeds by standing against evil and doing the right thing this time?

Public Domain (P)2017 A.R.N. Publications

Serious narration problems

I’m sorry to say that this reading of a wonderful novel is very disappointing. The biggest problem—which SHOULD have been caught by the editorial staff, surely—is that phrases in languages other than English are horribly mispronounced. Not just once or twice, in minor places: repeatedly, and throughout. For instance, the major character Stein is pronounced “Steen” consistently. German j-s and w-s are pronounced as though English. And even some English words are egregiously wrong. (livery pronounced lye-very, for example).

Less problematic, but still annoying is the repetitive cadence of the reader. He has a rather “heroic” readerly style—not inappropriate to the material—but the text is read with the same limited range of cadences. It isn’t acted, but simply read.

I expected better, especially in terms of pronunciation.