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God Sees the Truth, But Waits audiobook cover art

  • God Sees the Truth, But Waits

  • A Leo Tolstoy Short Story
  • By: Leo Tolstoy
  • Narrated by: Deaver Brown
  • Length: 19 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars 53
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars 46
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 46

God Sees the Truth, But Waits engages a subject that would have suited Dostoyevsky. But Dostoyevsky would have written it with a tone of fist-waving anger and frustration, while Tolstoy wrote this story with an accepting, non-violent attitude toward the grievances described. The protagonist has been wrongly accused of murder, separated from his family for 26 years, and by circumstance meets the real murderer in Siberia.

  • 3 out of 5 stars

  • Good Story, Poor Narration

  • By Michael on 08-17-13
The Kingdom of God Is Within You audiobook cover art

  • The Kingdom of God Is Within You

  • By: Leo Tolstoy
  • Narrated by: Michael Scott
  • Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
  • Abridged
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars 1
  • Performance
    0 out of 5 stars 0
  • Story
    0 out of 5 stars 0

Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, along with many others, have referred to the influence that this work, written by Leo Tolstoy, has had on their psyche, and subsequent permanent change in their state of mind. The selected excerpt, from this much larger writing, reveal Tolstoy's philosophy regarding the literal interpretation of Christ's teachings and his fundamental ideas on nonviolent resistance.

A Confession audiobook cover art

  • A Confession

  • By: Leo Tolstoy
  • Narrated by: Simon Vance
  • Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 112
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars 97
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 98

Tolstoy’s autobiographical essay is a dissection of his soul, a study of his life’s movement away from the religious certainties of youth, and a vital piece of reading which contextualizes the great works he is best known for. Marking the point at which his life moved from the worldly to the spiritual, Tolstoy’s philosophical reassessment of the Orthodox faith is a work that holds vital spiritual and intellectual importance to this very day.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Wow

  • By David Murphy on 05-25-16
The Cossacks audiobook cover art

  • The Cossacks

  • By: Leo Tolstoy
  • Narrated by: David Thorn
  • Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars 84
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars 73
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars 73

The colorful Cossack way of life is made alive and real in this historical novel.

Tolstoy's first novel and acknowledged as one of his best, it is based on his own forays into the Caucasus, abandoning his aristocrat life of gambling and carousing in Moscow and volunteering to be attached to the regular army.

  • 3 out of 5 stars

  • Tolstoy masterpiece is wounded by terrible audio

  • By Darwin8u on 07-24-13
Where Love Is There God Is Also [Classic Tales Edition] audiobook cover art

  • Where Love Is There God Is Also [Classic Tales Edition]

  • By: Leo Tolstoy
  • Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
  • Length: 33 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars 39
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars 34
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars 34

Martin is an old cobbler with a good trade, but he has had a hard life. His soul is now embittered against God. When he hears a mysterious voice calling him in the middle of the night, his soul seems to lighten and awaken to answer the call.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Lovely tale.

  • By Jane on 08-14-17
The Metamorphosis audiobook cover art

  • The Metamorphosis

  • By: Franz Kafka
  • Narrated by: Brian Kelly
  • Length: 2 hrs and 23 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars 23
  • Performance
    3.5 out of 5 stars 17
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 16

"The Metamorphosis" (German: "Die Verwandlung") is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin".

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Intriguing

  • By Amazon Customer on 08-06-18

Editorial Reviews

Tolstoy's novella offers a penetrating examination of the Christian faith and the nature of life and death. Listeners will also be sure to delight in Tolstoy's sharp and sometimes satirical eye for the very modern-sounding details of the life of a nineteenth-century Russian bureaucrat. With masterful ease, a warm tone, and conversational pacing, British actor Oliver Davies captures Ivan Ilyich's preoccupation with interior decorating and debt and his avoidance of family weddings and home remedies. Then the shadow of death wipes away all trivialities and pretense. This work's prose and performance are so vivid, so human, and so listenable that there's no doubt why Tolstoy stands as one of the giants of world literature.

Publisher's Summary

The subject of this well-known Tolstoy novella is a high court judge in St. Petersburg who lives a carefree life. One day, without warning, he is beset by pains and soon has to come to terms with the fact that he is going to die. The judge has to learn to face death without fear and yet feel compassion for the family he is leaving behind.
Download the accompanying reference guide.
©2008 Naxos Rights International (P)2008 Naxos Rights International

Critic Reviews

"Davies' skill with inflection, even within words, heightens the social satire of the early section and shifts with Ilyich's slide into ever increasing pain and irritability." ( Publishers Weekly)

What members say

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Audible.com Reviews
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Amazon Reviews
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • O.
  • Anderson, IN United States
  • 03-08-17

Excellent voice

The reader was excellent. It helped to get through the heaviness of the text. Recommended reading.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great

so sad. we don't see how we live our lives until the end. the reader is the best

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting and kept me curious

I don't like to read but this book I was actually able to finish. Audible made it more interesting with the narration and expressions in each characters voice.

The story about living, why we live? Are we living for the right reasons? What are the stages of death? It seems so painful after reading this. I'm so afraid of dying!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Masterly reading

The reader captures the humor and irony of the suffocating social norms that defeat and eventually enlighten Ivan. His voice has lots of twists and turns. The musical interludes were lovely too. A great audiobook.

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

This book is an incredible story dealing with life and death. It really shines light on the matter of death. Tolstoy's writing is truly a piece of art and the narration is on point with the tone of the writing. Would listen to again!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A beautiful tale.

Leo Tolstoy writes beautiful stories that explain his concerns about what society believes to be important.

This narrator brought the tale out of the pages of a book and gave a compelling voice to this story. Exceptional!

I will listen again.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Sort by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Francis
  • 02-16-10

The best 'Death'

The death of Prince Andre in War and Peace and the death of Levin's brother in Anna Karenina are among the most memorable scenes depicting death in world literature. But in this short novella Tolstoy surpasses his earlier achievements in the unflinching portrayal of the death of a self-satisfied public official. Satire on the inauthenticity of most ordinary existence is joined with acute psychological insight into the effect that death has both on the dying person and on those around him.

I remember the overwhelming impact reading Tolstoy's story had when I first read it as an adolescent many years ago. Now from a very different perspective this superb reading by Oliver Ford Davies is no less powerful : throughout he judges the tone and variety of Tolstoy's writing with great intelligence and insight and has the dramatic ability to convey the author's insight into both major and minor characters. Such a reading provides effectively constant illumination into the text and the total effect is most moving. There are a number of readings of this work but I am sure this is the one to have. Strongly recommended.
I can only hope that Naxos will employ Oliver Ford Davies to read Master and Man,Hadji Murat, the Kreutzer Sonata,etc.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful