The Manchurian Candidate

De: Richard Condon

Narrado por: Christopher Hurt

Buried deep within the consciousness of Sergeant Raymond Shaw is the mechanism of an assassin, a time bomb ticking toward explosion, controlled by the delicate skill of its Communist masters. Shaw returns from the Korean War to an idolizing and unsuspecting country. In a farcical, uproarious scene, he is greeted amid flashbulbs and frock coats by his power-hungry, domineering mother and her politician husband, who have decided to use Shaw's fame to further their own unscrupulous ambitions. What follows is at once a spy story, a love story, and a sobering, yet outrageously funny satire on demagoguery in American politics. Two tender love stories provide an undercurrent theme: the powers of light against the powers of dark. Shaw, the pawn, the brainwashed, is caught between the forces struggling for his soul.©1959 by Richard Condon (P)1995 by Blackstone Audiobooks

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A psychoanalytic horror tale...and an irate sociopolitical satire." (The New York Times)
"Filled with that 'un-put-downable' element which makes this sort of [listening] a great deal of fun indeed." (San Francisco Chronicle)

a classic

struggled to finish. good basic story but no excitement but shows how brain washing done

Well Known Political Thriller

The Manchurian Candidate is possibly best known from its film adaptations, the first being the old black and white version starring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, and the second being more modern featuring Denzel Washington and Liev Schrieber. I have only seen the first of these adaptations, and can say that the film version does not stray very far from the novel it is adapted from. I am curious about reading the novel more, as the narrators delivery was a bit bumpy. It was noir-ish and while not terrible, I think his delivery downplayed significantly tense events. The sound quality overall left something to be desired as this sounded like an old recording. All in all not a bad listen, but not a great one.

What a wonderful title!

Both the author and the narrator of this book are truly skilled and make this title a genuine treat. The speed of both the plot and narration are perfectly excecuted and the characterization is superb. What is an excellent plot is made even better by this narration!

Balancing terror with humor with shocking effect

In the pale light of our North American crime wave in Washington. The Russians and Chinese use of “brainwashing” seems ironically amateur.

Great story; great narrator.

I've seen both versions of the movie, but they didn't take anything away from the book version. Excellent writing.

Book is even better than the film

Always been one of my favorite films but the book doesn’t let you stop listening it just gets better and better

Resentment, fear, & suspicion...root of all evil

I'm in a period on my life where in beginning to understand how harmful resentment, fear, and suspicion are to the human psyche. This book did a beautiful job of exploring this in an entertaining and engaging way. it is a classic I was much overdue in reading (listening).

frightening

The scenarios presented here, a genuinely flawed individual, pitiable for the damage inflicted on him, having only one joy in his life, suborned by his mother’s lust for power, dies with the realization that he has killed his joy….at the behest of his mother. Politics are truly a dirty game.

The odd truth within truth

There is a strange playbook in this novel. The number of time that this text has been referenced by history, since it’s publication, is remarkable. Just before the JFK shooting, just after Reagan and John Lennon.
Take a close look and reference it again… is this novel a playbook?
Fun Fact: The novel that inspired Die Hard the film, is the book end of Marco’s Character.
Fun Fact: 3 Days of the Condor is about looking into Books for subversion.

Good book

CIA sucks wang more then the kgb did ever lol good stuff u baaswalds my