New Reviews: Classics

A moment occurs towards the end of this classic novel of crime and punishment when Grover Gardner delivers the voices of men on death row. Some sound resigned, others complain, one moans. These emulations of misery are palpable and demonstrate Gardner's subtle expertise as a narrator. A master performer, he elevates this naturalistic novel, an account of the strivings and... Read More

Ben Miles does an exceptional job narrating Dostoevsky's masterpiece. The novel revolves around the three Karamazov brothers and their father. It includes many of the themes found in the author's other works: murder, courtroom drama, toxic relationships, sensuality, as well as some of Dostoevsky's most profound and deepest philosophical and theological ideas. The Karamazovs are... Read More

The introduction to James Baldwin's American classic, which takes place in 1930s Harlem, is narrated in a steady, warm voice by Roxane Gay. The story involves a series of flashbacks that explain one special day in the life of 14-year-old John. As is often the case in Baldwin's early writing, the evangelical Christian church plays a part. Narrator Joe Morton begins the novel in... Read More

Wallace Shawn's performance is spirited, hilarious, and dark--typically all at once. His rousing voice captures the multiple dystopian themes in this new production of the classic Japanese novella. A psychiatric patient describes his time in "Kappa Land," which is populated by mysterious spirits who are known for their menacing presence. Akutagawa deftly weaves in the topic of... Read More

Crews's novel, published in 1988, is finally on audio, and it's worth the wait. Matt Godfrey's masterful storytelling brings it to life. Part of "Southern grit lit," the story focuses on Eugene Talmadge Biggs, a prizefighter who discovers that his most lucrative skill is his ability to knock himself unconscious. Biggs capitalizes on the public's thirst to see this talent,... Read More

With the jaunty ease of a favorite uncle holding forth before a crackling fire, narrator Matt Addis recounts this wild tale revolving around a gentleman who returns home to his ancestral manor only to discover that there is a mythical giant worm lurking in an underground cave below it. He soon finds that the beautiful but coldly manipulative widow next door, who has unwanted... Read More

Many varied characters inhabit this trio of stories, and Clare Wille creates a distinctive voice for each one. Set in and around a fictional English town during the years bridging the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, each story unfolds as its own little drama, and Wille masterfully delivers each one appropriately. Not only can Wille develop each character's personality with... Read More

Pater's essays on classical, late Medieval, and, primarily, Renaissance art and literature are written in high-flown style, intellectually and aesthetically impassioned, and Leighton Pugh delivers them at that elevated pitch. That can be wearying, and perhaps he should have sought a more varied tone, but it's easy to be caught up in his performance. His voice is a fine... Read More

There is no one like Edith Wharton to explore the complexities of human relationships, and narrator Laurel Lefkow is an excellent guide to that exploration. This audiobook features Charity Royall, a young woman who is struggling against society's constraints as she tries to develop her own sense of self. When she becomes caught up in an inappropriate relationship with a man of... Read More

Clare Corbett's silvery, refined tone and light, quick delivery suit this best known of English novelist Rose Macaulay's books. Published in 1956, it begins, "'Take my camel, dear,'" said my Aunt Dot as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass." As an eclectic group, including Aunt Dot, an Anglican clergyman, Father Chantry-Pigg, and the narrator, Laurie,... Read More

With an evident love of language and a deft ear for biting humor, Clare Corbett has a field day narrating this delightfully inventive 1918 social satire, which savages eugenics, education, bureaucracy, and gender roles, among other hot topics of the early twentieth century. The premise is simple: To avoid the disaster of another Great War (WWI) the "Ministry of Brains" is... Read More