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The Maples Stories
- Narrated by: Peter Van Norden
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Release date: 08-01-09
- Language: English
- Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
- Whispersync for Voice-ready
Regular price: $13.96
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Publisher's Summary
In 1956, Updike published a story, "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage. Over the next two decades, he returned to these characters again and again, tracing their years together raising children, finding moments of intermittent happiness, and facing the heartbreak of infidelity and estrangement.
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- SOUTH PORTLAND, ME, United States
- 01-06-14
A weak reader hampers the work of a legend
What did you like best about The Maples Stories? What did you like least?
The performance drags down the stories here. Updike is a master of prose and characters, but Van Norden's reading has numerous problems: Pacing (he's too fast, never dynamic); Accents (I'm from the North Shore of Boston, where the Maples live, and his attempt at the middle class accent of minor characters is cringe-worthy); Consistency (often you can hear when there's a re-recorded section spliced in, because his timbre and tone are noticeably different in such moments). Overall, Van Norden's flaws are too distracting and I plan to avoid his other work.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Peter Van Norden?
Updike himself had a musical, lilting tenor voice, which he used to great effect in reading his own works publicly and in some recorded poems. For upcoming recordings of Updike's work, I suggest a similarly-voice, dynamic reader who can handle regional and class accents.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful