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Perlmann's Silence  By  cover art

Perlmann's Silence

By: Pascal Mercier, Shaun Whiteside - translator
Narrated by: Mel Foster
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Publisher's summary

In a quiet seaside town near Genoa, experts gather for a linguistics conference. One speaker, Philipp Perlmann, is recently widowed and, struggling to contend with his grief, is unable to write his keynote address. As the hour approaches, an increasingly desperate Perlmann decides to plagiarize the work of Leskov, a Russian colleague who cannot attend, and pass it off as his own. But when he learns that Leskov has arrived unexpectedly in Genoa, Perlmann must protect himself from exposure by constructing a maelstrom of lies and deceit that will push him to the brink of murder. In this intense psychological drama, the bestselling author of Night Train to Lisbon again takes the reader on a journey into the depths of human emotion and the language of memory and loss.

©2012 Pascal Mercier, Shaun Whiteside (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Perlmann's Silence

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    3 out of 5 stars
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A Modern Day Crime and Punishment

Despite being much too long, this book was a psychological thriller, as advertised. The reader knows the "crime", knows who did it, and watches as the perpetrator falls apart. The suspense was amazing. My biggest problem was the poor quality of the narrator's pronunciation of the various languages involved - Italian, German and the accented English of almost all of the characters. One of the main characters (Leskov) was Russian, but as I don't speak any Russian, I am in no position to judge the correctness of his speech. I do know that the Italian and German were poor. This book has a great deal of language issues, and there should have been a reader who could better deal with them.

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It was incredible. A deep Cerebral joy ride.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, and did do to all my reading, book loving friends. If I could rate only 1 book five stars I would be torn between this book and Watership Down.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Perlmann's Silence?

The psychological transformation of a brilliant mind as it slowly dissolves with seer and utter panic. He allowed fear to ruin him and spiral him from genius to primal nut. In other words he drove himself insane.

My favorite part was When he was driving the car and trying to remember his murder plans, while is victim was so loving and friendly. His victim only had Perlmanns interest in mind as Perlmann was trying to remember how and why to kill him.

Which character – as performed by Mel Foster – was your favorite?

Narration was awesome. Played all parts well.

If you could take any character from Perlmann's Silence out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Well I did love Perlmann But i'm not sure I want to be friends with him.

Any additional comments?

This novel is very complex and muti-layered. The detail with which his thoughts are tormenting him and consuming him was sheer genius.

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