The Radetzky March

De: Joseph Roth, Joachim Neugroschel - translator, Nadine Gordimer - introduction

Narrado por: James Anderson Foster

The Radetzky March, Joseph Roth's classic saga of the privileged von Trotta family, encompasses the entire social fabric of the Austro-Hungarian Empire just before World War I. The author's greatest achievement, The Radetzky March is an unparalleled portrait of a civilization in decline, and as such a universal story for our times.

©1932 Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag; translation copyright 1995 by Joachim Neugroschel; introduction copyright 1991 by Nadine Gordimer (P)2019 Tantor

Brilliant historical novel

The storyline is incredible: poignant, funny, and tragic by turns, with all its elements in masterful balance. I preferred this novel to War and Peace. It covers similar themes (although a different military conflict, of course) without the overwriting and repetitive philosophizing.

Outstanding

A really good novel! Excellent narrator! The dying of an epoch, that is what this book is about. Recommended.

Important for understanding Central Europe

the Austra-hungarian empire prior to the Great war is interesting in its own right and remains significant

A real beauty of a book

deeply rich text and a great story; ironic and satiric and tragic. sometimes the narration seemed flat and detached, and I wished he would have lingered on the language but I grew used to his style and it suited the tone of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A classic finally translated!

This book is a mainstay of literature courses in German-speaking high schools, so I was excited to finally get to read this classic.

-Translation-
The translation is excellent. Honestly, it sounds very modern, while not sounding too modern. I don't know if it's the translation, or the way the book was originally written, but this book is a very easy read. It's not hard to know what's going on at any given point. There was almost never a point where I was confused, and had to replay a section to understand something.

-Story-
The story is great, but it's somewhat simple. That doesn't mean it's bad. This is a story about the Trota family through three generations. What truley makes this book shine isn't the story, but the way it's told. The descriptions are fantastic, the author does an excellent job of showing the complexities of 19th century Austrian society.

-Narration-
Flawless. The narrator was perfect for this kind of book. I have no qualms whatsover. The narrator reads slowly, and directly. For this book it actually works out very well.

-Overall-
This is a 10/10 book. If you're interested in history, World War I, Austria-Hungary, Europe in general, this is a must-read.

dull dull dull

I couldn’t care about the characters or relate to their concerns. just really slow with too much repetitive detail that didn’t add to the setting or story

Epic and yet personal

This is a stunning find. An epic and intensely personal journey of a family, unwillingly thrust into a time and mindset they didn’t want, but then followed as a brilliant analog to the decline of an empire. Far far from stuffy or dull, the story surprises and the prose set me in awe. Just one of the best listens ever!

it's a 100 year old novel

headline says it all. interesting story, but a lot of stylistic elements in the writing that feel unusual/odd because it is a (drumroll) 100 year old novel. Narration is excellent