Shakespeare's Classic The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet: (Annotated) with a Study of Themes, an Overview and Famous Quotes

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Andrew Arnett

Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Unique to this collection is:

• An overview of the tragedy Romeo and Juliet
  
• A study of the themes present in the tragedy Romeo and Juliet
  
• A list of the best famous quotes from the tragedy Romeo and Juliet
  

You may, of course, skip all of it and go straight to the main title if you do not want any spoilers and come back later to the beginning.

Shakespeare writes about the plight of Romeo and Juliet with a lot of empathy and views their tragedy as a result of bad fate, rather than a problem with their characters. We sense from the very start that their relationship is doomed.

Romeo and Juliet are portrayed as sincere and virtuous young people who are madly in love, but because of the feud between their families, their relationship has to end. As they won't even consider a separation, the only way out of the situation they find themselves in is by taking their own lives.

What makes this story so sad is that romantic love ends so grimly for a very stupid reason. And the tender age and the innocence of the young lovers make their fate even more tragic.

Enjoy this timeless classic!

Public Domain (P)2019 Chronos Publishing

Lovely

Love this timeless love story ,though tragic.I enjoyed listening to this on Audio for review, The Narrator was captivating and passionate, listened to the whole story in one sitting. "I was given this free copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review"

Not great, but not too bad.

The author of the overview states that Romeo and Juliet saw that the only way out of their predicament was taking their own lives, but I find that inaccurate, as Juliet actually had found a better way, and only took hers in the end as a result of Romeo's despair at her supposed death. This was no planned suicide pact to escape their troubles, but rather rash youthful overreaction to personal tragedy in both parts. The reader slipped into modern mode of speech occasionally, for instance using inconsistent instead of inconstant moon during the balcony scene. Overall, this was okay, but far from the best telling.

Great Performance

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This was a reread for me. I have read this book a couple of times. It was however the first time I have listened to it on audio. I enjoyed it. The narrator was great as was the commentary.

The Play That Inspired All Those Movies

This edition provides some useful study notes and a quick reference for most of the best known quotes in addition to the complete text of what is, perhaps, the best known of Shakespeare's plays. It is well read although the single narrator does make it difficult, at times, to sort out who is talking.

GREAT CLASSIC!

I love the classics! The narration was great and will keep you entertained! I read this book in high school and wish audible was available back then. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Narrator needs training

This is definitely not the first book I’ve read/listened to by Shakespeare. I’ve watched plays, movies, read the book, yet still was curious to try this rendition.

This is the first book I’ve listened to by this narrator (Andrew Arnett). He uses the same expression in every conversation which makes everything run together. Parts like ‘Enter Romeo’ seem part of the conversation due to a lack of pause or differentiate in the narration. It makes listening awkward and confusing. His cadence is not very fluid and takes the fluidity from the words. Character voices are not well differentiated. Unfortunately I’ve listened to much better renditions.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.