The Street

By: Mordecai Richler, William Weintraub - afterword

Narrated by: Charles Officer

In this beguiling collection of short stories and memoirs, first published in 1969, Mordecai Richler looks back on his childhood in Montreal, recapturing the lively panorama of St. Urbain Street: the refugees from Europe with their unexpected sophistication and snobbery; the catastrophic day when there was an article about St. Urbain Street in Time; Tansky's Cigar and Soda with its "beat-up brown phonebooth" used for "private calls"; and tips on sex from Duddy Kravitz.

Overflowing with humor, nostalgia, and wisdom, The Street is a brilliant introduction to Richler's lifelong love affair with St. Urbain Street and its inhabitants.

©1969 Mordecai Richler, 2002 Mordecai Richler Productions, Inc., Afterword copyright 2002 William Weintraub (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Wonderful book, pitiful narration

Mordecai Richler's The Street is one my favorite books that I have reread many times. I was looking forward to hearing it in the spoken word with its wonderful rhythms of Jewish street life in post war Montreal. I was sorely disappointed. The narrator not only mispronounces Yiddish words, which are so important to the texture of the stories, but he mispronounces many
English words as well. In addition, he slurs his words, garbles syllables, and ruins the meticulous phraseology of the author. How in world was he chosen for this task?

Even the Street name is mispronounced

One of Mr. Richler's best early books is rendered useless by the narrator. St Urbain is pronounced St Urbin in English. He pronounces it St Urbane.It defies rational thought that anyone would put out an audiobook and have the centrepiece mangled.
A St Urbain street resident for 37 years
yr ol pal
Campbell