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The Christmas Tree and the Wedding
- A Fyodor Dostoyevsky Short Story
- Narrated by: Deaver Brown
- Length: 21 mins
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Publisher's summary
"The Christmas Tree and the Wedding" is a bittersweet story written in 1848, the year of revolutions throughout Europe. The story has an undercurrent reflecting the tumultuous changes of that year. The narrator, attending a Christmas party with the Christmas tree referenced in the title, sees the Guest of Honor take an undue interest in a young girl, the daughter of his host. He orders the girl's friend, a young boy, out of the room, but the girl keeps him close. For this, the Guest of Honor punishes the boy by not recommending him for a position the host has tried to obtain for him. Some time later, the narrator sees this awful, rotund, rather grotesque and bestial man marrying the same young girl he had seen at the Christmas party. He sees her sadness, resignation, and unhappiness in being essentially sold to the grotesque. A haunting story with no final redemption, this is Dostoevsky at his short-story best.
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What listeners say about The Christmas Tree and the Wedding
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- planetelaine
- 12-26-11
Misleading title.
What disappointed you about The Christmas Tree and the Wedding?
The story diid not interest me. Misleading title. No Christmas message.
Has The Christmas Tree and the Wedding turned you off from other books in this genre?
No
Would you listen to another book narrated by Deaver Brown?
No
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Christmas Tree and the Wedding?
None., it is a short story
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Michael
- 02-09-13
Don’t buy this story!
For the same price get the same story with the title The Wedding with great narration by Walter Zimmerman. This narration sucked pretty bad. The story itself is dark but good. I got both versions not realizing the two different titles were the same story. For a buck the Zimmerman version is really worth it. This version is not even worth a buck.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- declove
- 03-19-15
Excellent story- terrible narration
What disappointed you about The Christmas Tree and the Wedding?
Deaver Brown, the narrator is not a good fit for Classic Literature. I was so disappointed, particularly after listening to Constantine Gregory's wonderful narration of The Brothers Karamazov. This was a dismal attempt, and the narration made it hard to pay attention to the story.
What other book might you compare The Christmas Tree and the Wedding to and why?
Other Dostoyevsky works.
Would you be willing to try another one of Deaver Brown’s performances?
NO!
What character would you cut from The Christmas Tree and the Wedding?
None. Each one is important for this story.
Any additional comments?
This is not personal of course, but some people are just not cut out to read literature aloud for a company like Audible where the listener expects excellent storytelling... because we are listening to excellent literature. This narrator may be fit to read some dry "how-to' books, but please, not famous, classic literature, at least not on Audible.
Audible, I think its your job to carefully, thoughtfully, and professionally match narrators with literature.
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1 person found this helpful