Sacrament

By: Clive Barker

Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell

Length: 20 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

Will Rabjohns, perhaps the most famous wildlife photographer in the world, has made his reputation chronicling the fates of endangered species. But after a terrible accident, Will is left in a coma. And in its depths, he revisits the wildernesses of his youth and relives his life with a mysterious couple who have influenced his life as an artist and a man.

When Will awakens, he sets out on a journey of self-discovery - one where he will penetrate the ultimate mystery and finally unlock the secret of his destiny.

Soaring, provocative and passionate, Sacrament is a masterwork from the pen of one of today's most acclaimed authors.

©1996 Clive Barker, Ink (P)2014 David N. Wilson

Great Adventure, and what an ending..

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

I would recommend this to certain friends, but not everybody. There are some very provocative sexual parts including pedophilia (30yr-old-woman and 12yr-old-boy) and the main character is homosexual and lives in San Francisco, which is a large part of the story. If that kind of stuff won't bother you, I recommend you get this book. It's nothing THAT bad.

fanastic story

I loved it and highly recommend it as an excellent story that will hold your interest. it was hard to put down.

Magnificent!

Beautiful
One of the best Clive's works I've ever read and listened to. Finally Mr. Barker incorporated gay themes into his exquisite imagery.

As usual, Clive Barker delivers

This book was well written, as Barker’s works usually are. It was very interesting throughout as well as original. And he, thankfully, had a wonderful narrator which is something else I’ve found with his books. The narrator can break a good book if he doesn’t perform it well. MacDonnell did a fine job. I’d definitely recommend Sacrament as a read or one to listen to while going about your tasks. Loving Clive!!!

Love Clive

As always a heady mix of horror + wonder + sensuality + repulsion, Ive read many of his books long ago, but hadn't caught this one yet. I think ill be revisiting the rest!

Only thing- narrator was great, but his American accents esp. the southern were tough to listen to! Thankfully those characters werent main stage.

Living and dying we fuel the fire.

Typical Clive

The Narrator was good the story was strange, typical of the author. I like story's that are outside of the box. That being said every book I've read from him has had heavy sexual overtones both straight and gay. It doesn't bother me terribly I'd prefer it not be there but isn't a deal breaker, but for many it may be and it's only fair to know it going in so there's your fair warning. The story itself can be reviewed by others.

great book!!

what a great book,and a great narrator,as the story was read in my mind I could see everything unfold,as a hobbyist nature photographer myself this book touched me on many levels,as I often find myself rudamenting on the bewildering spirit of nature...loved it!!

I really hated this narrator.

The narrator is so difficult to listen to. He's very nasaly, especially when he's doing women voices and it's like nails on a chalkboard. I really want to listen to this book, but I really don't think I can suffer through with this narrator. Here's hoping I can find someone else reading it elsewhere.

Typical Barker

Would you listen to Sacrament again? Why?

Yeah, but not anytime soon. The story's pacing was slow in places, between the action, but held my attention. I did finish the book and did not find myself getting bored or using it to fall asleep. Decent mish-mash of normal life and paranormal/horror.

What other book might you compare Sacrament to and why?

Take your pick of Stephen King...

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The reader's voice at first sounded to me like one of the robot voices. After a time it grew on me and was passable. At times the female voices all sounded the same.

Any additional comments?

Main character is gay, this may affect how some readers approach this book. As is typical with Barker, sex is a part of the story, but there is nothing overly explicit. Others may be put off by the almost-sex scene between one of the antagonists and a minor.

it was okay.

I like books that show symbolism. this was a little iut there for me.

Compelling once you get over the initial chapters

I struggled to get past the first few chapters, but after several attempts, I made concerted effort to finish it, and I'm glad I did. It is a very depressing story and I would have liked more uplifting moments but that's the thing with Clive Barker... you never know if he'll fill your dreams with angels or demons.

Pants

This is a difficult review for me to write; because Clive Barker is one of my all time favourite writers. Books like Imajicka and Weaveworld blew my mind and opened me up to a whole new view of what writing could be. Books like Coldheart Canyon and Cabal took me on a rollercoaster of emotion and sensation, and brought a true, weighty feeling of humanity even among the darkest of circumstances. Never before had I read a book of his (and I've read almost all of them) and not completely and utterly adored it. Until now that is.

Sacrament is pants. It has some interesting ideas in there, and characters that could well be great if they were more fleshed out. The writing is largely beautiful, and some of the scenes are genuinely touching in the way I've come to expect from his work. The unavoidable problem though, is that this book is dull; really, really dull.

In between the moments where Barker's talent shines through are seemingly endless stretches of nothingness and boredom. The plot starts off really intriguing, and ends up coming across as a bad imitation of his other work. For the first time in my life, I've stopped reading (listening in this case), around 6 hours before the end of the book.

I'm sure I'll go back and give it another go at some point out of my love for Barker, but I honestly cannot face putting myself through it at the moment as I'm honestly saddened by this blip in his outstanding collection of novels. I've read most of them more than once, and some of them are books I return to again and again as time passes, without them ever feeling stale or dull. It doesn't help in this case that the vocalist put in a lousy performance.

If you've never read Barker, please for the love of god don't start with this one. Grab a copy of Weaveworld instead, and prepare to have your mind blown.

Narrator is a good sleep aid

So, as the title of my review indicates, the narrator is sleep inducing, but regardless of that fact, this story is miserable so he is a good choice for such a depressing tale.
The story starts with misery and ends in misery which is now what I wish on the author, I bought the hardcover of this abomination when it was first released. I threw it in the dustbin after a few chapters, and what puzzles me most is what on earth posessed me to buy this audio version but buy it I did (for whatever reason) and I got no further with this version than I did with the print version although I am happy to say I did not have to throw this copy into the bin.
This is a nasty tale of nasty people and I do not recommend it to anybody. I was previously a Clive Barker fan before this book.

hardest clive barker book so far

defiantly struggled to finish this 1,clive barker being my favourite novalist for over 20 years was a bit of the normal story line for him compared to what ive read before not bad at all just different

good story, narration not the best

the narration could have been better. not the best at wonens voices but still worth a listen.