Parade's End

By: Ford Madox Ford

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 38 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy, set in England during World War I, is widely considered one of the best novels of the 20th century.

First published as four separate novels (Some Do Not…, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up, and The Last Post) between 1924 and 1928, Parade’s End explores the world of the English ruling class as it descends into the chaos of war.

Christopher Tietjens is an officer from a wealthy family who finds himself torn between his unfaithful socialite wife, Sylvia, and his suffragette mistress, Valentine. A profound portrait of one man’s internal struggles during a time of brutal world conflict, Parade’s End bears out Graham Greene’s prediction that "there is no novelist of this century more likely to live than Ford Madox Ford."

©1950 Alfred A. Knopf (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Probably easier to listen to than to read

This is a long and difficult work. Having an audio version probably makes it easier to follow since much of it is stream of consciousness, and the narrator does an excellent job of distinguising the different characters. The effect of the novel is cumulative--and well worth the effort.

Insightful and modern

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

Structure and language are interesting and engaging. The story is told in circles around specific points in time before during and after WWI. Set among the English aristocracy, its biases and racial stereotypes place it in another world but oddly familiar. I have no idea what the HBO miniseries is like. The book is enough.

See the TV Series then read the book

Wonderful, but wordy and sometimes slow. I first saw the TV series staring Benedict Comberbatch in all his brilliance. The series happens to be one of those rare instances where the screen adaptation faithfully follows the book capturing the important parts and sparing us much of the repetitious mental ruminations of 'Ford's characters. This doesn't take away from the merits of Ford's investigation into Edwardian society or the study of a virtuous man tormented by having to live in a world unworthy of him. Tiejans is an ultra-conservative, but one with a heart embodying all that is good in the Tory philosophy; honesty, fairness, obligation to care for those in his service. He's a rather good example for how the American Republican party might reinvent itself and still remain true to its core values. Seeing the Series gave me images of the characters and places that made the story even more vivid. The series also largely overlooks the last volume which is the weakest of the four books and more of an after thought involving the protagonist's brother. Crossley's narration is spot on doing justice to both male and female characters.

The Masterpiece Theatre production is better

I enjoyed the Masterpiece Theatre series more than the book. It's rare that I don't like a book better than a film. I quit the book, bored, Then I picked it up again after watching and found i more enjoyable, getting more meaning from it.

Fabulous

A classic book; I was sorry when the 35 hours, more or less, came to en end. The reader was excellent too.

20th Century’s Greatest Masterpiece

Parade’s End is my all time favorite novel. Ford Madox Ford paints a picture of the decline and fall of the old order. It’s not about WWI but how the war exposed and vulgarized the ruling class of England. The characters of Christopher and Sylvia Tietjens are two of the most fascinating characters created in all if literature. By the end the reader or listener understands why there will be no more parades.

Special word about the narrator, Steven Crossley. The reading of tgis novel is especially important because it touches in class and attitude. I cannot imagine and reader topping Me. Crossley. He is magnificent.

Can't believe it's over.

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

Very much, but it must be to one's tastes. I loved every second of it. It is long and intense.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not possible!

Any additional comments?

I read this when much younger and listened to it just last year. Deeper and more powerful than before. I will read it again maybe next year.

Some Difficult Stumbles Down the Fox Hole

I remembered reading Parade's End many years ago and thought it would be a good listen for a long trip. But what I'd forgotten was how easy it was to simply flip forward a few pages when Ford would go on one of his belly-button lint examinations of people's motivations and the absurd social constraints of the time. The thing about waxing poetic is that it should be, well, poetic. FMF just rants incoherently until the characters start eating their own intellectual tail and he has nowhere left to go. I found myself in the mire so many times, I'm sure my impatience caused me to lop 6-7 hours off of the not-insubstantial 38-hr run time. And I didn't feel as if I'd missed anything crucial.

Mr. Crossley did a fine job, especially with Sylvia and her mother. Some of his characterizations of the second string personnel started to merge a bit, but he made up for it with some glorious walk-ons.

Overall, this thing makes a great case for abridged versions.

A Superb Novel; An Excellent Reader

Where does Parade's End rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is one of those at the top of the list--combining a wonderful, but complex, story, with a reader whose understanding, style, and delivery make all of the complexities seem clear.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Two favorite characters obviously: Christopher Tietjens and Valentine Wannop. Why? Because they are the sympathetic heart of the story. and their growth apart and together is wonderful to see.

Have you listened to any of Steven Crossley’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I do not know whether or not I have, but his performance in this work is outstanding.

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

Just great enjoyment.

Any additional comments?

I recommend this to anyone who loves literature and the spoken word.

The passing of an empire told in four volumes

While the series was critically praised, the first book, "Some Do Not" is rather tedious focusing on Christopher Tietjens, a landed squire as he prepares to return back to war after suffering an injury. In his life, he balances a promiscuous wife and a burgeoning affair with a pacifist suffragette.

In "No More Parades", the second volume, Royal Army Officer Captain Christopher Tietjens, the landed heir to a noble family in a terrible marriage with the beautiful, bored, destructive and "excruciatingly unfaithful" wife, Sylvia, returns to the war to escape his terrible marriage and the chaos and pain Sylvia seems to intentionally inflict on her husband.


The third volume, "A Man Could Stand Up" begins and ends on Armistice Day with the war year of 1918 in the trenches of France as an interlude.The characters save but a few are generally unlikeable and the Victorian reticence annoying but, overall, a well written volume.

In "The Last Post" , the fourth book of the Parade's End Tetralogy, the last post focuses on the year after the end of the Great War. Though victorious over the Imperial designs of Germany, England was witnessing its own decline with the rising of the American hegemony.

Having returned to the Yorkshire countryside with his long suffering mistress as his long philandering wife takes up residence in his family estate with his former commanding general, Christopher Tietjens reconciles his relationship with his dying elder brother, the estate scion, who himself is in a long term illicit relationship with a women that decorum and tradition dictates her inaccessibility as a wife. As Marc lay dying, Christopher eeks out as an antique furniture selling ancient estate furniture from the homes of cash poor English nobility to wealthy Americans.

Because all of the characters and the self important sphere where they reside in is so unpalatable, their decline isn't heartbreaking, though I am sure that Ford felt a pang as the life from which he emerged was quickly declining, he was many from his.generation.that This is the nature of societal evolution.
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