The Mayor of Casterbridge

De: Thomas Hardy

Narrado por: Pamela Garelick

From its spectacular opening, the astonishing scene in which drunken Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter to a passing sailor at a country fair, to the breathtaking series of discoveries at its conclusion, The Mayor of Casterbridge claims a unique place among Thomas Hardy's finest and most powerful novels.

Rooted in an actual case of wife-selling in early nineteenth-century England, the story builds into an awesome Sophoclean drama of guilt and revenge, in which the strong, willful Henchard rises to a position of wealth and power, only to achieve a most bitter downfall. Proud, obsessed, ultimately committed to his own destruction, Henchard is, as Albert Guerard has said, "Hardy's Lord Jim...his only tragic hero and one of the greatest tragic heroes in all fiction."

(P)2001 Blackstone Audiobooks. Originally published in Great Britain in 1886.

Fabulous

This is my first Hardy novel but it is not going to be the last. When I fist saw Jude the Obscure as a film, I was so taken with it that I could not get it out of my mind for months. It is only upon listening to The Mayor of Casterbridge that I have come to understand that in making Jude, the director Michael Winterbottom) had raw material of an unparalleled literary quality. I love English a written and spoken by 19th C writers. This book does not disappoint in any respect. As someone who has listened to audiobooks for some time now, I found the quality of reading to be excellent. Throughout this long book, there were no moments during which I wished it to be over. The work is slow but its drama effects one directly. I find it hard to listen to a work of this sort without becoming personally invested. I am going to be upset about the book ending because I have taken sides. That's life.

Another astonishing novel beautifully read

How inventive Hardy is, creating unforgettable characters, bold men and equally bold women. This book begins with a drunken misogynist selling his wife to a sailor, and the tragic and pleasant consequences. It is a plot invention worthy of Kafka. The reader is perfect

Casterbridge keeps you wanting to read more

Very well narrated. The woman narrating soes a very good job of bringing out the emotions for male and female characters

complex

this was such a lovely story. It was nothing that I expected. The characters were complex and the storyline was very rich.

Another Excellent Hardy Novel

This is my second Hardy novel and again I am impressed. Multi-dimensional upredictable characters, a plot with unexpected twists and turns, great use of the English language and lessons to learn about human nature. What more can you ask for from an audiobook novel? Well, you can ask for an excellent narrator who handles various accents well and puts emotion into the story - and you get that too!

The opening three chapters are very enticing - you won't have to listen for 3 disks to be drawn into the story. After having read "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" and loving it, I can say that Hardy ranks up there with the best of the classic novelists. Well worth the listen - great content, great delivery!

I would also highly recommend "Tess . . ". I became literally angry with the characters in the book for what they did. When you get angry with characters, you know the author has done a great job!