Justine: The Alexandria Quartet

An excellent~~superb book and the narrator is one of the best.


That said i must also inform all those who purchased this title in the few months after it came out in october to ask audible for the version which is now available and is 9 hours 55 minutes and NOT the 8 hour 55 minute one[ only just taken down last week] which is missing part 4 of the book!!!

without the ending one is missing much of the story and would have difficulties continuing with the quartet--which i strongly recommend.

I don't think it is actually better than the print version, but I read that four times over twenty years and love it madly. That said, the audio version with Jack Klaff is quite wonderful. He gets the characters and seems to understand the city and the circumstances better than most. I think his voice works well for this title...and probably the whole quartet as well.

The slow unfolding of the storyline/plot is beautifully handled and neither too fast nor too slow. I love this because there is a sense of leisure and of the Alexandrian baroque in the book. He is right when he says the city is a character...it affects everything that happens and everyone. This story would not have been the same in another city.<br/><br/>Time unfolds and the plot unfolds in a way which is not usually seen in novels. I love the books because there is time to savor what happens and discover what it means to the characters and to me.

This book one of four is considered the best book ever written in the english language. The narrator brings each character to life with voices better than I could have imagined reading it myself. This is the only audio book Ive actually finished after going back over and over to make sure I had not missed anything.

Durrell's Alexandra Quartet (Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive, Clea) ranks as one of the seminal works of 20th century English fiction. Although understanding the setting might require a little research for some readers, the depth of these books, dedicated to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, surpass (IMHO) even Ulysses. Jack Klaff's versatile and sensitive narration exceeded expectation.

I'm not sure why the Quartet only ranked as 70th (out of 100) on the NY Times "Best Books of the 20th Century" list; my suspicion is that the usual not-set-in-NY biases were at work. Among the thousands of books I've read, I struggle to remember a novel or set of novels of such stunning beauty, complexity and human understanding.

I have loved the Alexandria Quartet for years. Durrell's writing is so beautiful that I thought it would be wonderful to reread the novels in the audio edition. I read the negative reviews of the narrator, but I listen to a lot of audiobooks, love the medium, and am in general able to adapt to the style of any narrator, so I was not deterred. But I actually had to stop listening to Justine, because I find this narrator impossible to listen to. His general reading is fine, but the voices he adopts for the different characters are contrived to the point of being ridiculous. I have tried, but I just can't do it. And this is one of my favorite novels, and one that should be so beautiful to listen to. Such a shame.

I loved this book when I read it many years ago, and I have been looking for the audio book ever since. I was so happy to see it had finally been recorded, and when I heard the sample, Jeff Klaff's voice sounded wonderful in his seemingly natural British accent. However, his acted accents have such strong affectations that I found it painful to listen! He slows down, pauses at very odd moments, and drops his voice an octave making it distractingly hard to understand and listen to. All his Egyptian accents sound as if the person is on their death bed- even the women. It is hard to feel the intense infatuation for Justine that the narrator expresses when she talks in such a ridiculous voice!Sadly, I'm going to need to discontinue listening, and I will not buy the 3 other audiobooks, something I was really looking forward to. Jeff, you have a beautiful voice, have more faith in your own voice and use less affectation, I'd rather hear Justine and the other characters as a softer version of your real voice then the voice you or the director chose for her. It currently sounds like over acting. I'm truly sorry about the negative comments, but I hope that they will serve folks well in the future.

I really hate leaving negative reviews, but I have just given up on this audiobook after listening for an hour. I have been wanting to read the Alexandria Quartet for years, without ever finding the time, but I just can't listen to this narrator, especially the character voices. It may be a matter of taste. Please listen to a sample before you buy and see if you can take it. Audible.com - please see if you can get a version by another narrator!

A torrent love affair erupted b/w the damaged Jewish wife of an Egyptian aristocrat and his poor English friend, while the living, breathing city of early 20th century Alexandria injects its exotic mixture of degradation, desires, and philosophical reasoning into each of them. Durrell's prose is smooth as silk and sharp as daggers, his characters studies are forthright and bald on which the none linear plot weaves and slithers unto the pinnacle of writing art form.

I found the accents difficult to listen to and understand. The regular narration was just fine.

I listened for 2 hours, and the story never engaged me. Since I did not finish the book, I can only rate it on a partial read. However, the performance was so bad I could not concentrate on the story. <br/><br/>The main character is read in a singsong, pretentious, and monotonous voice. The female voices were especially terrible. I would not recommend this audio book with this reader. Perhaps it is better on the page.

Different reader.

Different reader