Struggled with narrator

I really struggled with the narrator. In the end, I decided to buy a physical book and read it traditionally.

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brilliant book, but beware of the narration

Often voted one of the greatest books of the 20th Century, this book should not disappoint. Unfortunately in my case, it did somewhat because John Lee's narration was so very poor when reading the many places and phrases in Spanish/Mexican. John has a great voice and his style suits sci-fi particularly well, but he desperately needed coaching before taking this one on.

That said, please do what you can to ignore the pronunciation issue because the story itself is very rewarding. Under The Volcano is cleverly constructed, rich in symbolism and literary references - which is why I had put off reading the book, as it sounded intimidating! Thankfully this is not the case and it can be enjoyed simply as an extraordinary tragedy, lightened with great humour and wit. And I'll listen again and hope to get more of the literary stuff!

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8 people found this helpful

Absorbing, Poetic, Tragic, Brilliant

Before I began listening to the book I read Lowry's biography in Wikipedia and that gave me insight into the motive for his writing of this great work. He was a poet as well as a novelist and that accounts for the astonishing descriptions of landscape and the inner voices of his characters. It is hard to witness the tragic downward spiral of the main protagonist as he descends into the hell of alcoholism. His journey takes place in one day, The Day of the Dead, in Mexico. It compares to Dante's Inferno or Marlowe's Faust - both mentioned, among other works of literature, in the novel. The undercurrent of fascism runs through the narrative hinting at a dark underbelly of fear that slowly gains a hold as the work progresses.

The narrator was brilliant in my humble opinion.

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Narrator does justice to this brilliant novel

Beautiful, sad, and absorbing novel - one of my favourites ever. I get sucked into it every time, reading or listening. Narrator John Lee does a startlingly beautiful job. Thank you.

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2 people found this helpful

A book destined for audio.

A brilliant but dense book which is made all the better for a fantastic narration. Stick with it, the first chapter is the hardest to get through.

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Great job done well

I'm three chapters in and it's fantastic so far. Obviously the book itself needs no recommendation being an absolute classic. Tried to read it once but lost focus if you know what I mean. Don't be put off by the bad reviews about the reader, I think he does a great job. Don't know him but he must be a great actor. I'm from the north of England not far from where Lowry was from and I think the reader did really well. Do we know how Lowry spoke? Another wonderful delivery from Audible 👍

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unreadable and unlistenable gibberish

I really tried to like this book but either it is too dense or it is my comprehension that is too dense

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