Pale Fire

By: Vladimir Nabokov

Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Robert Blumenfeld

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

A 999 line poem in heroic couplets, divided into 4 cantos, was composed - according to Nabokov's fiction - by John Francis Shade, an obsessively methodical man, during the last 20 days of his life.

©1962 Vera Nabokov and Dmitri Nabokov (P)2010 Audible, Inc

Critic reviews

"This centaur-work, half poem, half prose . . . is a creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness, originality and moral truth. Pretending to be a curio, it cannot disguise the fact that it is one of the great works of art of this century." (Mary McCarthy, The New Republic)

"Of all [Nabokov's] inventions, Pale Fire is the wildest, the funniest and the most earnest. It is like nothing on God's earth." (New York Herald Tribune)

"A monstrous, witty, intricately entertaining work . . . done with dazzling skill." (Time)

Genius

Brilliant. Surprisingly audiobook friendly despite the structure of the text. Really amusing and believable voice acting.

Butterfly Frail

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

With all certainty, T am sure it will lead to greater things by Nabokov.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Pale Fire?

The reading of the Cantos Poem and the reader,s display of his great voice, all of Audible's telling of this great book is wonderful, for sure magic.

Which scene was your favorite?

There is not a particular scene of merit, Nabokov goes on and on and each momemt if studied is a thrill in each novel he creates.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I read this book very much younger, like with Lolita I could not find the pace of the information, now as my experience in the library increased, I love his writing. One must understand Nabokov, he teases one for reaction only, which he knows a studied reader will enjoy, I always laugh, hand over mouth not to insult him, but the whole experience is fully an act by both me and the writer, a very personal thing, he being the genius, of course. I love Nabokov for years, my confession to all, he never fails me!

Any additional comments?

Nabokov asks me to spend every molecule, of many, of my restless mind with a net gathering frail butterflies, as his example, in this he teaches the ways of life which are simple for complicated wanderers, like me and you.

absurdist amusing

I think the readers accent accentuated the absurdity of this story. to presents itself as a poem with notes. the poem is okay the story is the notes. there's a sense and then most nebokav that the world is not what most of us experience it is not what the narrator experiences, but that helps us in some ways to better perceive our own world

Brilliant, Touching and Fun

You have to give this book a chance. It's a little rough to get started but once you catch all the implications, it's a funny and brilliant look at academia and humanity.

I laughed out loud at a few lines and then I felt this rather sad pathos start to come over me. It's just a spoof, right? A brilliant spoof, but the book is merely satire and so we shouldn't be disturbed by it. But it is disturbing and it runs a lot deeper than spoof.

The feeling you'll experience are real.

Even the title...

Give it a chance. Buy a hard copy. Try. It's certainly one of the finest assembly of words ever.

Interesting

Very interesting and unique book. I didn't like the performance as much but the story itself was great.

Brilliant performance, dazzling witty novel

Narrative performance and production altogether outstanding. Nabokov's unreliable narrator perfect companion to his Lolita.

Literature at its Comic Inventive Best

Where does Pale Fire rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Pale Fire is in the top rank of the audiobooks I have listened to so far. Nabokov's work is the pinnacle of word craft. This audiobook is endlessly interesting and one you can rehear many times and each time appreciate this work of high art.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The "author" of the book is the most interesting character. He narrates the story while the narrator reads the book.

Which scene was your favorite?

The conclusion of the commentary at the end of chapter eight. The many possibilities explaining who Jack Gray was and who he sought illustrate the ingenuity of the story.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

You thought it couldn't be done.

Any additional comments?

The book can and should be listened to several times. The lyric of the prose is sufficient reward for each relistening. Untangling the artful chaos can only be done with multiple hearings.

Excellent

This is an excellently audiobook, the best one I've listened to. The narrators of the book really brought out the characters Nabokov created. I've listened to this audiobook probably four full times. And I'm certain that I'll listen to it again.

Flawless rendering of a brilliant book

I’ve have listened to many hundreds of audiobook recordings, and consider this among the very finest. The narrator voicing the character Kinbote catches all the nuances of irony, petulance, lust, and humor perfectly. His Slavic sounding accent is spot on, and—exceptional in an American audiobook recording—he conveys the occasional passages in French and German with flawless accuracy.

This is a very funny, yet erudite work, and both narrators clearly understand the subtle intricacies of the novel.

I consider this one of the best audiobook performances ever made. I’d give it not five, but six stars.

Quality recording!

This audiobook has two well-chosen narrators: one for Shade's poem and another - Vietor, I assume - for the commentary. The poem narrator also reads the opening reference lines to each footnote which breaks up the flow nicely and gives aural cues for each new note. Because of the highly non-linear structure induced by cross-references in the commentary, some may recommend constantly pausing and consulting a hard copy. Pale Fire demands to be reread and further explored in ways which might render the audiobook useless. This was perhaps an opportunity to be more creative with the audiobook indexing, but instead you just get roughly hour-long chunks.

Alas, I found my first reading to be fabulously enjoyable, if not entirely illuminating, without such devices (straight-through). Well-read, never dull voicings, 5 stars