Stephen

Buyer beware

Revisado: 06-10-17

This book has been taken from Librivox and is available there for free. It was never meant to be taken and sold. The reader has no association with the people that are trying to profit from other peoples work. Please don't buy this version.

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esto le resultó útil a 13 personas

Disappointing

Revisado: 01-30-17

To begin with I must acknowledge the immense effort needed to record this book.
That said and this being one of the most iconic works of literature in modern times, I do have reservations about this edition.
Firstly, I found that on a large number of occasions the text was misread showing that the reader didn't fully understand what he was reading. This was a major problem to me as I was reading along with it and caused some confusion.
Secondly,
there was a lot of mispronouncing of names. Most noticeably Dedalus( one of the main characters) and Howth, to name a few. Joyce went to a great deal of trouble to be as accurate as possible in the details of the book and I think it lazy that a few minutes on the web could have avoided this.
Finally and worst of all, Molly Blooms soliloquy was read by a male. It just didn't make any sense. Surely a female reader could have been found.
All in all I'd have to say that this isn't a version that I would recommend.

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esto le resultó útil a 15 personas

Disappointed.

Revisado: 01-05-17

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I bought this version on the basis that a professional actor was reading it. I was very disappointed with the performance. There was very little difference between the various voices and and fell very flat for me. I expected more from a big name. I didn't finish it and will look for another version.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Very poorly interpreted reading

Revisado: 10-02-16

Any additional comments?

I decided to give myself a year to tackle Ulysses properly and when I came to the last episode I bought this recording to help me.
After listening to it a couple of times I still found it somewhat confusing so I read along with it.
I found that a lot of the confusion was not with the writing but with the reading. To my annoyance, there are countless instances where the text was totally misinterpreted and misread. The reader clearly had no idea what certain parts of the book were about. I presume that the recording was proofed but whoever proofed it was also at fault.
This is one of the most iconic pieces of writing of all time and its lack of punctuation and writing style test the reader throughout. This recording does nothing to help and in fact adds to the difficulty.
I don’t recommend this recording and will continue reading from my paperback version.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Reluctant one star (I'd rather give none)

Revisado: 09-18-16

What disappointed you about The Secret Scripture?

The story is based in Ireland yet the reader chosen was English. After about ten minutes of one of the worst attempts at an Irish accent I gave up. I realised that I had come across the reader before reading Edna O' Briens book on Joyce and I had the same problem. Is it too much to ask that the reader is capable of carrying off an accent? It completely spoiled the book and as a result I'll definately be returning it. No more Wanda Mc Caddon/Donada Peters/Nadia May for me.

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Excellant book. Poor narration

Revisado: 06-02-16

I found the book to be what I expected, a potted history of Joyce. Edna O' Brien gives a good account of Joyce's life and I would recommend it gladly. Only in book form however.
The reader spoiled it for me. When you bear in mind that twice in the book it's mentioned that Joyce claimed that if Dublin needed to be rebuilt his works could serve as a blueprint then it's inexcusable that time after time the reader mispronounces place-names. For example; howth, clongowes, caple street, finglas, chapelizod. I'm sure Joyce would have been horrified to hear it. Also, the 1950's Hollywood style Irish accent that was used was frankly insulting. I can't believe that an Irish narrator couldn't have been found. This is a fine example of wrong reader/wrong book. It spoiled an otherwise good book and hence my low rating. I'm contemplating whether or not to return it for a refund.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Disappointed

Revisado: 04-17-16

Any additional comments?

This reader just wasn't my cup of tea. At this level of narration I expect more precision. This being an English novel I didn't like the use of the U.S pronunciation of certain words never mind the fact that some words were just pronounced wrongly. Small issues they may be but irritating enough to spoil the enjoyment.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Awful

Revisado: 03-26-16

Any additional comments?

This is a terrible version. I returned it after a couple of chapters. Very disappointed!

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Unconvincing narration

Revisado: 02-21-16

I love this book. I'v read it several times. It's one of those great ideas that come along every now and then.
However, I think a more experienced reader should have been chosen. Being from Ireland myself I found the misinterpretation of the local dialect quite annoying. Subtleties of phrases were missed. If you're not from Ireland you might not notice this but I feel it plays a large part in the story. I wonder how much input the author had in choosing the reader. A lot of the reading was flat and lacking emotion.
I'll stick with the written version for now.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Disappointed

Revisado: 01-23-16

This is one of my favourite books. I chose this version because I thought a big name reader would be best. However I found the reading extremely monotone and flat. It spoiled the book to such an extent that I didn't finish it.

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