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Doctor Zhivago
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
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Publisher's summary
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of its original publication, here is a new translation of the classic story of the life and loves of a poet/physician during the turmoil of the Russian Revolution.
Taking his family from Moscow to what he hopes will be shelter in the Ural Mountains, Zhivago finds himself instead embroiled in the battle between the Whites and the Reds. Set against this backdrop of cruelty and strife is Zhivago’s love for the tender and beautiful Lara: pursued, found, and lost again, Lara is the very embodiment of the pain and chaos of those cataclysmic times.
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Don’t be daunted by the towering reputations of Russia’s literary giants. Listening is the perfect way to appreciate the masters. Russia is a sprawling country with a rich and complex history, which is reflected in its literature. Whether you’re keen on brushing up on classic Russian literature or you want to find a new author to explore, we’ve rounded up 13 of the best Russian authors, classic and contemporary, whose work you should know.
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- Syd Young
- 02-16-13
Russian Philosophical Feast
Any additional comments?
This book is so much more than an epic historical love story, but I would never have picked up on it earlier in life. It is a Russian philosophical feast. The women in Zhivago's life clearly portray his feelings about Russia and the social changes that it went through. I'm amazed at how Pasternak was able to do this. The audio version was excellent because it provided a short intro that helped me with the magical /folktale part of the book, and then it had an afterword and a short history on Pasternak's life. Just be prepared for its typical Russian length and repetitiveness on theme / thought. Oh, and the love story is magnificent, too.
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52 people found this helpful
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Overall
- gran 80
- 02-05-17
A wonderfully enjoyable read
My first encounter with the novel was the 1957 Italian translation from the Russian, which I loved. When the 1958 English version came out I had a more difficult time with it, comparing it rather unfavorably with the Italian version. I am happy to say that this audiobook of the new English translation, read so beautifully, is remarkably similar to the Italian version.
It's flowing descriptions of the era, sometimes shocking, rich use of language and sentimentality of the main characters are touching. It is a love story and a history of Russia at the beginning of the last century. For my taste it is more meaningful than War and Peace, maybe because it is based on more recent events. For those who have read the 1958 English translation I suggest this entirely new version will be very rewarding.
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49 people found this helpful
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- Jay Quintana
- 02-04-16
Read it for history, not for story about Zhivago..
... and Lara.
This felt more like a history book than a novel. Of course, a well-written and lyrical history book, but still. Like many, I read this because I loved the movie. As others have mentioned, this is nothing like the movie. The primary goal of this novel, it seems, is to tell what life was like during the Revolution. The secondary, or maybe even tertiary, goal of this is to tell the stories of Zhivago and others. Found this very hard to follow. I have to put this book in the "glad I listened to it, but sure didn't enjoy it" category. I've listened to and enjoyed War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, and Crime and Punishment, so I'm not at all adverse to long, philosophical Russian novels.
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31 people found this helpful
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- W Perry Hall
- 08-15-14
Love and poetry sacrificed to ideals and folly
This sweeping romantic epic, set in Russia mostly during and after the 1917 Revolution, involves Yurii Zhivago, a young physician and poet, and Lara Antipova, his great love through the tumult and upheaval of the Revolution and most of the ensuing civil war between Red and White partisans.
This audiobook is made all the more profound and affecting if the listener is aware of the tragic harm done to Boris Pasternak for writing this novel, which was first published in Italy in 1957, but not in the Soviet Union until 1987. The communist regime forced Pasternak, an esteemed poet in Russia for years before writing this novel, to decline the 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature, by jailing his long-time companion Olga Ivinskaya, his inspiration for Lara. Pasternak died two years later at the age of 70.
Zhivago, an army doctor wounded during WWI, is nursed to health by Lara. Upon return home, Doctor Zhivago returns to find his post-revolution Moscow ruined by disease and riots. He flees with wife Tonia and their child to settle in a small village in the Urals, where he soon after meets Lara and their mutual passions are inflamed.
Zhivago is soon taken by a group of Red partisans and forced to serve as their doctor during guerrilla warfare in Siberia against White partisans. Upon return, he finds that his family has returned to Moscow. He lives with Lara, his soul mate, in an abandoned farmhouse for a period of brief bliss. That is, until all is upset by the tempestuous events surrounding the return of Lara's husband Pasha, who she has not seen in years and is now infamously known as Strelnikov, meaning Shooter, a detested and dreaded commander for the Reds.
Twenty-five of Zhivago's poems make up the novel's final chapter. Pasternak meant the poetry to be an essential component since Zhivago sees his poems, not as a pastime or vocation, but a vital part of his identity, supplying spiritual succor when none seemed possible in the violent turmoil and restlessness of the years during and after the October Revolution. He wrote nearly all of these for Lara. As Robert Penn Warren once said, 'what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography.'
A brilliant tale of love and poetry sacrificed at the expense of ideals of a revolution and the folly of communism.
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22 people found this helpful
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- Beth
- 12-13-11
Nothing like the movie.
What did you love best about Doctor Zhivago?
A living historical document of the Russian Revolution, by one who lived through it to tell the tale.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Strelnikov. Hero and villain, most realistic character.
What about John Lee’s performance did you like?
He did women's voices pretty well.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I was appalled to learn that Pasternak was a self hating Jew.He went off on some antisemitic rants, which, considering he was of Jewish heritage, was extremely shocking.
Any additional comments?
I am more impressed now, by the David Lean film. He was able to take a somewhat tedious narrative and piece together an unforgettable film.
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18 people found this helpful
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- Maui Diver
- 04-23-17
THE RUSSIAN novel and history lesson for the world
This recounting of all that was Russia should be mandatory reading throughout the world. At all levels it challenges the spirit and makes us questions all that we are,
.This new translation touches the fiber of humanity.
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14 people found this helpful
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- sally
- 08-06-14
WoW!
Would you consider the audio edition of Doctor Zhivago to be better than the print version?
It was outstanding!
What did you like best about this story?
I was warned that it would be difficult to follow the characters, but it was not difficult at all.
What about John Lee’s performance did you like?
Everything!
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
the story of life.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall
- L. Kerr
- 08-15-11
decent
The translator and narrators did a fine job. However, the novel had zero humor and was very preachy. I listened to this book because Pasternak won the Nobel Prize and the David Lean movie is a classic. But don't expect Tolstoy or Dostoevsky.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Ashley
- 12-30-12
Endured it, but I didn't get a prize.
Would you try another book from the authors and/or John Lee?
John Lee sure. He saved it. But this book was a chore.
What could the authors have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
I read this book because it is a classic. I suspect it reflects the people and the times well. But oh, my. Take me back to Follett's Century Trilogy.
What about John Lee’s performance did you like?
Voices distinguishable and not annoying, even though the characters were.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Relief it was over and sorry it cost 2 credits.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Eduard Alf
- 07-19-12
Forget the movie
If you could sum up Doctor Zhivago in three words, what would they be?
"Just being there".
Who was your favorite character and why?
Zhivago ... Yuri .... of course. Because he reminds me of myself. I have a certain inertia which keeps me grounded and for the most part I just flow with what comes at the moment. That is Yuri's mode of living. Yuri is life. This isn't a love story, as one might take from the movie, but of being drawn to something new because it seemed right at the time. That is, the opportunity presents itself and you live it to the full.
The aspect of living life is poetically described in the race of Yuri in the broken down tram and Mademoiselle Fleury. Yuri simply loses that race and Mademoiselle Fleury carries on with hers. Which is significantly different from the movie which has Lara in the place of Fleury, and the message is entirely lost.
That Yuri is life shows itself in the manner of description for which Pasternak is emminently skilled. When Yuri experiences something the sensuality of it is brought forth through the words, better than for any other author I know of.
Would you listen to another book narrated by John Lee?
The narrator isn't that important here.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes. But best savoured in portions ... when reading again after the first time. I read the book perhaps 2 or 3 times a year.
Any additional comments?
The repetitions and coincidences are exceptional in this book. An example is the Rowan Berry tree [European Ash] and red wine.
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Lara
- The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago
- By: Anna Pasternak
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Stalin came into power in 1924, the Communist government began persecuting dissident writers. Though Stalin spared the life of Boris Pasternak - whose novel in progress, Doctor Zhivago, was suspected of being anti-Soviet - he persecuted Boris' mistress, typist, and literary muse, Olga Ivinskaya. Boris' affair with Olga devastated the straitlaced Pasternaks, and they were keen to disavow Olga's role in Boris' writing process.
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A wonderfully enjoyable read
- By gran 80 on 03-15-17
By: Anna Pasternak
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The Zhivago Affair
- The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle over a Forbidden Book
- By: Peter Finn, Petra Couvée
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In May of 1956, an Italian publishing scout took a train to the Russian countryside to visit the country's most beloved poet, Boris Pasternak. He left concealing the original manuscript of Pasternak's much anticipated first novel, entrusted to him with these words from the author: "This is Doctor Zhivago. May it make its way around the world." Pasternak knew his novel would never be published in the Soviet Union, where the authorities regarded it as an assault on the 1917 Revolution, so he allowed it to be published in translation all over the world.
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Read this to understand Doctor Zhivago and Russia
- By KathrynVB on 10-16-14
By: Peter Finn, and others
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And Quiet Flows the Don
- By: Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Mikhail Sholokhov’s groundbreaking epic novel gives a sweeping depiction of Russian life and culture in the early 20th century. In the same vein as War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, And Quiet Flows the Don gives listeners a glimpse into many aspects of Russian culture, and the choices a country makes when faced with war and destruction.
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Do not buy this version!
- By Liam Foley on 11-27-20
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The Enchanted Wanderer
- And Other Stories
- By: Nikolai Leskov, Richard Pevear - translator, Larissa Volokhonsky - translator
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 23 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Written over the course of Leskov's career, each story in The Enchanted Wanderer elucidates the very essence of the human condition; themes of love, despair, loneliness, and revenge are explored against the backdrop of 19th-century working-class Russia. Leskov deftly layers social satire and subtle criticism atop myth and fable, resulting in a richly entertaining collection.
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Leskov is the master of Russian short stories. Dos
- By Ben on 05-02-20
By: Nikolai Leskov, and others
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The Idiot
- Vintage Classics
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear (Translator), Larissa Volokhonsky (Translator)
- Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
- Length: 30 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
After his great portrayal of a guilty man in Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky set out in The Idiot to portray a man of pure innocence. The 26-year-old Prince Myshkin, following a stay of several years in a Swiss sanatorium, returns to Russia to collect an inheritance and “be among people”. Even before he reaches home, he meets the dark Rogozhin, a rich merchant’s son whose obsession with the beautiful Nastasya Filippovna eventually draws all three of them into a tragic denouement.
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I should've learned my lesson
- By Ben on 11-15-19
By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, and others
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Oblomov
- By: Ivan Goncharov
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 20 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
A member of the landed gentry, with a seemingly guaranteed income from his estate in the country, Oblomov lives in Petersburg, uninterested in the business that provides his living and barely aware that the revenue is diminishing. Not that he leads a dissolute life of extravagance, balls and entertainment. Instead he is a dreamer, a sybarite, content above all to spend most of the day supine, in bed. The novel opens with Oblomov thus ensconced, attended only by his dirty, grumbling, indolent servant Zahar, who has looked after him since childhood, catering to his every need.
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funny and smart
- By Bennett Weiss on 07-29-20
By: Ivan Goncharov
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Lara
- The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago
- By: Anna Pasternak
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Stalin came into power in 1924, the Communist government began persecuting dissident writers. Though Stalin spared the life of Boris Pasternak - whose novel in progress, Doctor Zhivago, was suspected of being anti-Soviet - he persecuted Boris' mistress, typist, and literary muse, Olga Ivinskaya. Boris' affair with Olga devastated the straitlaced Pasternaks, and they were keen to disavow Olga's role in Boris' writing process.
-
-
A wonderfully enjoyable read
- By gran 80 on 03-15-17
By: Anna Pasternak
-
The Zhivago Affair
- The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle over a Forbidden Book
- By: Peter Finn, Petra Couvée
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In May of 1956, an Italian publishing scout took a train to the Russian countryside to visit the country's most beloved poet, Boris Pasternak. He left concealing the original manuscript of Pasternak's much anticipated first novel, entrusted to him with these words from the author: "This is Doctor Zhivago. May it make its way around the world." Pasternak knew his novel would never be published in the Soviet Union, where the authorities regarded it as an assault on the 1917 Revolution, so he allowed it to be published in translation all over the world.
-
-
Read this to understand Doctor Zhivago and Russia
- By KathrynVB on 10-16-14
By: Peter Finn, and others
-
And Quiet Flows the Don
- By: Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mikhail Sholokhov’s groundbreaking epic novel gives a sweeping depiction of Russian life and culture in the early 20th century. In the same vein as War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, And Quiet Flows the Don gives listeners a glimpse into many aspects of Russian culture, and the choices a country makes when faced with war and destruction.
-
-
Do not buy this version!
- By Liam Foley on 11-27-20
-
The Enchanted Wanderer
- And Other Stories
- By: Nikolai Leskov, Richard Pevear - translator, Larissa Volokhonsky - translator
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 23 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written over the course of Leskov's career, each story in The Enchanted Wanderer elucidates the very essence of the human condition; themes of love, despair, loneliness, and revenge are explored against the backdrop of 19th-century working-class Russia. Leskov deftly layers social satire and subtle criticism atop myth and fable, resulting in a richly entertaining collection.
-
-
Leskov is the master of Russian short stories. Dos
- By Ben on 05-02-20
By: Nikolai Leskov, and others
-
The Idiot
- Vintage Classics
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear (Translator), Larissa Volokhonsky (Translator)
- Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
- Length: 30 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After his great portrayal of a guilty man in Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky set out in The Idiot to portray a man of pure innocence. The 26-year-old Prince Myshkin, following a stay of several years in a Swiss sanatorium, returns to Russia to collect an inheritance and “be among people”. Even before he reaches home, he meets the dark Rogozhin, a rich merchant’s son whose obsession with the beautiful Nastasya Filippovna eventually draws all three of them into a tragic denouement.
-
-
I should've learned my lesson
- By Ben on 11-15-19
By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, and others
-
Oblomov
- By: Ivan Goncharov
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 20 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A member of the landed gentry, with a seemingly guaranteed income from his estate in the country, Oblomov lives in Petersburg, uninterested in the business that provides his living and barely aware that the revenue is diminishing. Not that he leads a dissolute life of extravagance, balls and entertainment. Instead he is a dreamer, a sybarite, content above all to spend most of the day supine, in bed. The novel opens with Oblomov thus ensconced, attended only by his dirty, grumbling, indolent servant Zahar, who has looked after him since childhood, catering to his every need.
-
-
funny and smart
- By Bennett Weiss on 07-29-20
By: Ivan Goncharov
-
The Brothers Karamazov (Bicentennial Edition)
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear - translator, Larissa Volokhonsky - translator
- Length: 38 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons—the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy, red-cheeked young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the whole of Russian life, is social and spiritual striving, in what was both the golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture.
By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, and others
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The Master and Margarita
- By: Mikhail Bulgakov
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Devil comes to Moscow, but he isn't all bad; Pontius Pilate sentences a charismatic leader to his death, but yearns for redemption; and a writer tries to destroy his greatest tale, but discovers that manuscripts don't burn. Multi-layered and entrancing, blending sharp satire with glorious fantasy, The Master and Margarita is ceaselessly inventive and profoundly moving. In its imaginative freedom and raising of eternal human concerns, it is one of the world's great novels.
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Satisfying Satanic Satire
- By Jacob on 12-06-11
By: Mikhail Bulgakov
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The Moon Is Down
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
"Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat." This compelling, dignified and moving novel was inspired by and based upon the Nazi invasion of neutral Norway. Set in an imaginary European mining town, it shows what happens when a ruthless totalitarian power is up against an occupied democracy with an overwhelming desire to be free.
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A beautiful piece of propaganda!
- By Kelly on 05-08-17
By: John Steinbeck
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Notes from Underground (Vintage Classics)
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Dostoevsky’s most revolutionary novel Notes from Underground marks the dividing line between 19th- and 20th-century fiction and between the visions of self each century embodied. One of the most remarkable characters in literature, the unnamed narrator is a former official who has defiantly withdrawn into an underground existence.
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Bad Performance
- By Evan Baas on 10-08-21
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The Secrets We Kept
- A Novel
- By: Lara Prescott
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan, Cynthia Farrell, Mozhan Marnò, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dare publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world - using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and is under Sally's tutelage....