Willa Cather Short Stories

9 of Her Best

By: Willa Cather

Narrated by: Deaver Brown

Willa Cather was perhaps most famous for her great novels such as My Antonia and Death Comes to the Archbishop. However, her short stories were enchanting and practical, local and cosmopolitan. Of the great American writers of the early part of the twentieth century she stood alone in her vision. No American writer ever had her breadth of experience and knowledge of people and places, relating to farmers in Nebraska, to barons in New York, and artists in Paris. Some of each of them appear in these stories. Nine of her best and favorite short stories are read here. "The Burglar's Christmas", "The Enchanted Bluff", "The Garden Lodge", "The Namesake", "Nanette: An Aside", "On the Divide", "The Profile", "The Sculptor's Funeral", and "The Strategy of Were-Wolf Dog".

Public Domain (P)2012 Deaver Brown

Deaver Brown, bless his soul, is not a professional reader

Deaver Brown, Bless his soul, he’s not a professional reader. There are other readings available which are done with greater skill.

Not done justice

Cather is an excellent story teller, but the narrator was not up to the job. His diction was poor and he gravelly. Would have been better served by another.

Disappointing editing

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Probably good for the intended audience, which according to the introduction, is classroom use and discussion.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The sound quality itself is poor and the narration is mostly without emotion or inflection. Not up to Audible's normal standards.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Lovely stories.

Any additional comments?

The editing is too abrupt to be enjoyable for the casual listener. The various stories flow together without pause. As soon as one ends, the next begins as a following sentence. A pause of at least a few seconds at the end of each story would have been much appreciated. I would not recommend this book.

Reader' s voice is dreadful as recording quality

This is a terrible production of great author! The
readers voice is as bad as the recording.

Excellent book; awful narrator

I am a devotee of audiobooks and this is the first time in my use of audible that the experience of the book has been significantly diminished by the deficiencies of the narrator.

As I was listening to his introduction, which was well done, I was certain that he would not be the narrator of the text. I was sorely disappointed to hear him begin the first story and there was no improvement throughout the book.

The timbre of his voice, his lack of appreciation for phrasing and a generally roughshod approach to the text left a sour taste in my mouth.

These stories are wonderful and they deserve a professional narrator.

I hope never again to hear a book in this manner.