The Manchurian Candidate

By: Richard Condon

Narrated by: Christopher Hurt

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Buried deep within the consciousness of Sergeant Raymond Shaw is the mechanism of an assassin, a time bomb ticking toward explosion, controlled by the delicate skill of its Communist masters. Shaw returns from the Korean War to an idolizing and unsuspecting country. In a farcical, uproarious scene, he is greeted amid flashbulbs and frock coats by his power-hungry, domineering mother and her politician husband, who have decided to use Shaw's fame to further their own unscrupulous ambitions. What follows is at once a spy story, a love story, and a sobering, yet outrageously funny satire on demagoguery in American politics. Two tender love stories provide an undercurrent theme: the powers of light against the powers of dark. Shaw, the pawn, the brainwashed, is caught between the forces struggling for his soul.

©1959 by Richard Condon (P)1995 by Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"A psychoanalytic horror tale...and an irate sociopolitical satire." (The New York Times)
"Filled with that 'un-put-downable' element which makes this sort of [listening] a great deal of fun indeed." (San Francisco Chronicle)

What a wonderful title!

Both the author and the narrator of this book are truly skilled and make this title a genuine treat. The speed of both the plot and narration are perfectly excecuted and the characterization is superb. What is an excellent plot is made even better by this narration!

Raymond's mother

Forget Rosemary's baby, cousin Kevin and Norman Bates' mom, Raymond's mother makes them pale into insignificance! An excellent tale of mind manipulation and cold war hysteria. Not for those who want car chases and regular explosions, although action addicts are catered for in the final chapters.

Relevant

The Manchurian Candidate, published in 1959 is as relevant as it was than as it is now. Dealing with political manipulation and spy thriller, Richard Condon weaves a tight human drama against the backdrop of political espionage and intrigue. The characters are developed in three dimensions, even Raymond’s mother, who is in competition as the worst mother of all time, has sympathetic moments. You also get the sense of Greek tragedy and a psychological study through Raymond’s 9 year ordeal during the political rise of his family. Condon also does something very smart and mentions no political affiliation of any character (although it is somewhat alluded to) and although his allusion to McCarthyism was a main focal point and quite apparent, it still has scary similarities to today’s world of talking heads in the media and political world. Like “1984” before it, “The Manchurian Candidate” will always serve as a warning about the trust we put in our elected officials and to whom their true motivation lies.
The narration is strong and keeps your interest throughout.
Highly recommended as one of the best political thrillers of the past 60 years.

A Killer Book

Gripping, fantastic. Great narration, great story. Had me hooked from the start, with its twisted mind games and slowly unraveling power struggles.
If you like your books with espionage, politics, military manipulation, and mind control, this will not disappoint.

A Production Worthy of Repeat Listening

Condon's novel is a classic that will surely stand the test of time and enter the annals of American Literature as one of the definitive examples that reflects the culture of the United States during the epoch of technological advance and sociopolitical unrest known as the Cold War. On top of that, Christopher Hurt's expressive and engaging narration style only adds to this magnificent production.

On a personal note, I found myself sneaking off with my iPod, unable to limit myself to listening only during my commute. My only complaint is that I wish the novel had been longer so that I could have drawn out the pleasure of the experience a bit longer. I'm already looking forward to revisiting The Manchurian Candidate, and with so many audio books at my disposal, I rarely listen to any more than once.

Brilliant premise, but the book's not just...

... all over the place, but all over the place in a highly implausible way. The original movie's much better. I actually believed what happened in the film could happen. Well, that wasn't the case at all here. Didn't find the characters or the situations they were in remotely believable. To top it off, the audio has an annoying "fuzziness" to it. This is not a clear listen.

The premise is great, of course, but if you don't believe it's possible, then it's hard, if not impossible, to get involved in the story. I know I didn't.

Did not age gracefully

This is a story that may have been interesting at one time, but I'm afraid that it has not aged gracefully. The storyline, the technology, the characters... all are very dated. The politics are dated enough to be far less interesting. The part that I found most iritating was the fact that almost 10 hours of book contains (at most) a solid 2 hours worth of actual story. The pace is dreadful, and the prose so overdone that it makes "It was a dark and stormy night..." seem like a rough first draft. I've listened to dozens of Audible books at this point, and I'm serious when I say that this is the first one that I've ever finished simply out of a sense of guilt for having already paid for it. I'd recommend a pass on this one.

Pavlovian bamboo, slipped Freud-like under your finger nails.

This great tongue lashing of the McCarthy era reads eerily prescient today as loud mouthed tyranny crowds the highest offices of this country, again. In turns comical and suspenseful, acerbic and then romantic, trained like a sniper on the ironies of power and control and the inner roilings of the sordid guts we call our subconscious, this time honored tale of wearing a mask into the ball of Trojan politics that is American democracy reminds us of why we must read historically, lest we forget and lose our way now.

Great Recording Great Book

Fantastic story with a fantastic reader. The delivery of the twists of the story were amazing

Dated storyline, dull plot, sick characters

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

There wasn't much of the story in the book. I waited patiently for the story to pick up the pace and things to happen, but it just ended without any high points in between. The plot wasn't developed fully, and the I felt the story jumped around a lot and missed the continuity. If you are expecting a thriller or a spy-story - this isn't one. I liked the narration though - and that's what made me survive the 10-hours and finish the book.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment

An entertaining read

A couple of Richard Condon's books (this one (original version not the rather lame recent re-make) and "Prizzi's Honour" with Jack Nicholson) have been turned into excellent films, and you can see why. Tight and intriguing plots, a well balanced mix of thrills, satire and humour, likeable characters and splendid villains and tremendous momentum. I particularly enjoyed the mix of satire and thriller in the Manchurian Candidate - puts you in mind of present day political shenanigans!

I've docked a star because of the variability in the narration. The narration itself is really excellent - the satire is splendidly brought out, for example - but the way in which the narrative has been edited together is sometimes a bit disjointed, with overlong gaps between paragraphs and sentences, which I found mildly off-putting.

Overall, though warmly recommended.

Very good

I think this is one the best conspiracy novels that I have read, now I will watch the movie.

superb

I've read this book every year since I was a teen. it's gripping and astonishing. Absolutely recommended

They don't write them like this anymore, a classic

Dry, dark, brilliant. Don't watch any of the films of this book as they don't do it justice and miss crucial parts.

One of the best ever!

Simply, there should be a 6th star rating for writing quality of this nature. (and performance)

Great novel

writen and set in Washington about a assassin sent it to the heart of Washington and the ramifications of this . Also the novel made a huge impact as it was released when the McCarthy hearings were going on about the Communist hunt for active members in the USA. have seen both movies on this but love the book

Absolutely outstanding

Absolutely outstanding narration, giving a far better feel of the funny, subversive nature of the original book than the movie managed. One of those titles which encourage the listener to keep finding excuses to return to. Give yourself a treat and download it; you won't be disappointed.

Gripping

Loved it. The writing and performance great. Suspense through the whole book. Definitely recommend it

Excellent listening experience!

Great story. Prescient. Highly relevant to contemporary American politics. Nicely narrated. I recommend this very highly.

Having recently watched the Sinata film

I decided to listen to the book and as usual was interested in the differences. I needn't have bothered as it was nearly word for word , plot for plot. Having said that I enjoyed bother mediums but you really only need to do one if your struggling with a fat library