Great Expectations (requested version – chaptered) - Charles Dickens

Category: Adults, Classic, Historical Fiction, Literature
Language: English
Keywords: 1090's London

Written by Charles Dickens
Read by Anton Lesser
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks
Release date: August 22, 2007
Duration: 19:09:37

Narrated in the first person, Great Expectations tells the story of Philip Pirrip (known as Pip) from his disadvantaged start as an orphan in the Kent marshes to the improvement in his position following an anonymous allowance. Pip moves to London where, only after many trials, does he learn humility and the value of loyalty. Key Dickens characters abound – the convict Magwitch and the pompous Pumblechook. Among the many remarkable scenes is the famous meeting with the eccentric Miss Havisham, surrounded by the mementos of her wedding day of many years ago.

With its meandering paragraphs, colorful character names, and engrossing plots, Charles Dickens’s masterpiece is magical in the audio book format. Anton Lesser’s performance is especially notable for its blend of the traditional and contemporary. He captures young Pip’s transformation from downtrodden lad to society gentleman with all the typical trappings of Dickens’s atmosphere: Precise accent, clipped diction, and mellifluous voice are gloriously present. However, Lesser’s performance is also wonderfully modern in its pacing and phrasing. Where some narrators resort to fusty, passive vocals, wherein they allow Dickens to own the role, Lesser is fully involved and vivacious in each sentence, propelling the story continually forward. This version of a classic is bound to become a classic in its own right

Great Expectations was first published as a complete novel in October 1861 shortly after its serialization in All The Year Round. Like David Copperfield, it drew on his early life, especially the trials of a boy who, about to enter his teen years, find himself challenged by tough life experiences.