Vanity Fair
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Narrated by:
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John Castle
About this listen
Exclusively from Audible
Set during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, this classic gives a satirical picture of a worldly society. The audiobook revolves around the exploits of the impoverished but beautiful and devious Becky Sharp who craves wealth and a position in society. Calculating and determined to succeed, she charms, deceives and manipulates everyone she meets.
A story of early 19th-century English society, it takes its title from the place designated as the centre of human corruption in John Bunyan's 17th-century allegory Pilgrim's Progress.
Receiving popular and critical success on first publication, the novel is considered Thackeray's masterpiece, and this satire of society is as relevant now as when it first appeared. In 2003, Vanity Fair was listed at Number 122 on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's best-loved books.
Thackeray was born in Calcutta in 1811. After his father's death, he was sent to be educated in England at five years old, while is mother remarried in India. The canings and abuses he received in private boarding schools formed a basis for some of his work as did the culture of Anglo-Indians which also featured prominently.
Narrator Biography
After training at RADA, John's professional career began in 1964 at the Regent's Park Theatre.
Film credits include Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up, The Lion in Winter, Man of La Mancha, King David, Antony and Cleopatra, Robocop 2 and The Sparrow. Theatre credits include Bloody Sunday (The Tricycle Theatre), Claudius in Hamlet (National Theatre), Rat in the Skull (Duke of York's Theatre), End Game (Tron Theatre, Glasgow), Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (London Shakespeare Group), Infidelities (The Boulevard Theatre), and Breaking the Code (The Comedy Theatre). Television credits include Tracate Middoth, The Fixer, Spooks, Poirot, Silent Witness, The Holocaust on Trial, Casualty, Princes in the Tower, Gods and Generals, Fight Against Slavery, Ben Hall, I, Claudius, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and Lillie.
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Having lost the family savings on risky investments, Richard Grey removes himself from family life and suffers a bout of depression. Feeling helpless and frustrated, his youngest daughter, Agnes, applies for a job as a governess to the children of a wealthy, upper-class, English family. Ecstatic at the thought that she has finally gained control and freedom over her own life, Agnes arrives at the Bloomfield mansion armed with confidence and purpose.
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Loved it
- By Kerry on 05-22-10
By: Anne Brontë
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Agnes Grey
- By: Anne Bronte
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Written when women---and workers generally---had few rights in England, Agnes Grey exposes the brutal inequities of the rigid class system in mid-19th-century Britain. Agnes comes from a respectable middle-class family, but their financial reverses have forced her to seek work as a governess.
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Make.it.stop.
- By Wayne on 03-18-22
By: Anne Bronte
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Anna Karenina
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 35 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.
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Need to Disclose and Highlight Name of Translator
- By Charles B on 08-27-18
By: Leo Tolstoy
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The American
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Self-made American millionaire Christopher Newman arrives in Paris brimming with hope and optimism, excited to experience the culture and, hopefully, find the perfect woman to become his wife. After a chance encounter with American expatriate friends, his attention is drawn to Madame de Cintré, 25-year-old widowed daughter of the late Marquis de Bellegarde. Having fallen on hard times, the centuries-old aristocratic family permits Newman's courtship to proceed; however, they later persuade the widow to break off her engagement to the nouveau-riche businessman.
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excellent reading
- By Andorboth on 12-03-22
By: Henry James
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The Mill on the Floss
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Laura Paton
- Length: 20 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Maggie Tulliver has two lovers: Philip Wakem, son of her father’s enemy, and Stephen Guest, already promised to her cousin. But the love she wants most in the world is that of her brother Tom. Maggie’s struggle against her passionate and sensual nature leads her to a deeper understanding and to eventual tragedy
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Great compassion
- By nina lalumia on 12-26-16
By: George Eliot
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Man and Wife
- By: Wilkie Collins
- Narrated by: Nicolas Boulton
- Length: 23 hrs
- Unabridged
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Published 10 years after Collins’s most popular novel The Woman in White, Man and Wife centres on the confused and inequitable marriage laws of 19th-century Britain, reflecting the author’s own antipathy toward the institution. The plot follows the fortunes of a woman who, committed to marriage with one man, comes to believe that she may have inadvertently married his friend, according to the archaic laws of Scotland and Ireland.
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Intricate plot, good dialogue, desperately needed an editor
- By Seth on 07-25-21
By: Wilkie Collins
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Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Norma West
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Previously unpublished in unabridged audio, these three works (one novel unpublished in her lifetime and two unfinished fragments) reveal Jane Austen's development as a great artist.
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For the Austen Addict
- By Joseph R on 09-09-09
By: Jane Austen
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Lady Audley's Secret
- By: Mary Elizabeth Braddon
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Abridged
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A fast-paced Victorian thriller that will delight audiences today as it did 100 years ago, Lady Audley's Secret has subterfuge, kidnapping, jealousy, and fraud, all thrown into the mix and shaken up for good measure.
A mystery which keeps a listener guessing until the last moments, this production is a must-listen for anyone who enjoys playing detective.
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Narrator creates the listen
- By connie on 02-06-12
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OUTSTANDIN!!!! EVERY MOMENT A JOY TO LISTEN TO!
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Highly recommended
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When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy the freedom that her fortune has opened up and to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors, declaring that she will never marry. It is only when she finds herself irresistibly drawn to the cultivated but worthless Gilbert Osmond that she discovers that wealth is a two-edged sword.
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Fantastic Narrator
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The narrator was excellent ! He did all voices without making them caricatures and has a beautiful speaking voice and diction !!
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More Ell Potter as narrator!
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Lady Audley's Secret
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From the author of The Christmas Hirelings comes this Audible Exclusive production of Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s classic sensation novel Lady Audley’s Secret. English actress Olivia Poulet gives an assured and captivating narration; a cornerstone of the genre and a scandal at the time of its publication, Lady Audley’s Secret is an entertaining and shocking tale of high drama and shifting perceptions.
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Classic 19th Century “sensation novel”
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Having lost the family savings on risky investments, Richard Grey removes himself from family life and suffers a bout of depression. Feeling helpless and frustrated, his youngest daughter, Agnes, applies for a job as a governess to the children of a wealthy, upper-class, English family. Ecstatic at the thought that she has finally gained control and freedom over her own life, Agnes arrives at the Bloomfield mansion armed with confidence and purpose.
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Finally!
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Swann's Way is the first novel of Marcel Proust's seven-volume magnum opus In Search of Lost Time. After elaborate reminiscences about his childhood with relatives in rural Combray and in urban Paris, Proust's narrator recalls a story regarding Charles Swann, a major figure in his Combray childhood....
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Not the newer, far better translation
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Typhoon
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Typhoon is the story of a steamship and her crew beset by a tempest and of the captain whose dogged courage is tested to the limit. Captain MacWhirr was an ordinary man. However, when his steamer Nan-Shan blunders into a hurricane, he and his crew must pull together to survive. The steadfast courage of an undemonstrative captain and the imaginative readiness of his young first mate becomes a partnership vital to human survival as they are challenged from without by the elements, and from within by human doubts and fears.
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A great classic, very well narrated
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What listeners say about Vanity Fair
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Alysha
- 02-18-10
Wonderful Narration
The narrator of this story is quite easy to listen to and has a very engaging voice and tone. Highly recommended!
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13 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-11-18
INCOMPLETE - DO YOUR HOMEWORK
This version is missing the crucial preface and coda to the work. While some installment purists will point out that the original serialized version did not have the preface when it was released in monthly parts from 1847-1848, the first full edition of the book did have one in 1848, of course written by Thackeray and intended to be read before and after the actual text.
Do yourself a favor and read the preface (easily found online, simply google "Vanity Fair PDF" and click on the first link - it's in the public domain) before starting the audiobook. Additionally, when you take a break from listening, have a gander at some of the illustrations that originally accompanied the work - they're every bit as biting and satirical as the text itself.
Lastly, Thackeray expected the reader to be familiar with the term "Vanity Fair" - not just as a magazine title. An extract from the VF wiki: " 'Vanity Fair' or a 'vanity-fair' was also in general use for 'the world' in a range of connotations from the blandly descriptive to the wearily dismissive to the condemning."
Now that you've done your homework, please enjoy a magnificent performance of one of the most relentlessly mocking, least empathetic novels ever written. Unless your name is Amelia Sedley, I'm sure you will.
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6 people found this helpful
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- john vineyard
- 10-29-12
Terrific perfomance of a timeless classic
Would you listen to Vanity Fair again? Why?
Yes, becuase the quality of Castle's performance is so good.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Vanity Fair?
Far too many to select one. He's very good at building a long story arc that culminates with some type of reconciliation between people who have long been apart or estranged.
Have you listened to any of John Castle’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No
If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
10 X better than Downton Abbey
Any additional comments?
Of the many audio novels I have listened to, Castle's performance here is one of the most rewarding of all. Thackeray's narrative skill, characterizations, and plotting are at the very highest level. One of the very best.
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- Suzette Como
- 01-31-18
great!
I really loved the book. it was long but never lagged. excellent reader as well
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- SB
- 02-12-15
Overall good book, but drags at times.
I've been wanting to read this book for years. I found myself more than once wishing the writer would hurry up with the story, it dragged on at times with mundane details and seeming lack of story progression. I felt there were aspects in the middle that could/should have been explained more too. I did like the reader though and am glad I can cross this one off my list.
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- Deirdre Barber
- 01-15-17
John Castle is brilliant!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes - great writing - interesting tie-ins to history - a clear look into the class system of the time - and a great narrator.
What about John Castle’s performance did you like?
I loved reading this book when I was young, but this narrator has such a fine-tuned ear to the vernacular, custom, and characters of the time, that it expanded and multiplied the experience for me. He never flagged; the characters were spot-on, his varying accents completely believable, and his pacing was perfect.
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- Thomas F. Lennon
- 11-26-19
more than a masterpiece
Brilliant and strangely modern, with its proto-feminist heroine (or anti-heroine) and its playfully unreliable narrator. When I say Vanity Fair is a masterpiece, I'm just saying what millions of readers have said before.
So let me tell you instead about John Castle. This actor skillfully captures the various characters of the novel, their tone of voice, their accent (his version of a Frenchman trying to speak English is especially inspired.) But his achievement goes much further. The most important voice he has captured is that of the author, or rather the narrator, which in this novel is not quite the same thing. The narrator divulges dark secrets and then . . .holds other secrets back, claiming ignorance or wishing to spare the reader. The narrator is brilliant, hard-edged, at times lyrical -- and often, like many other figures who crowd this book, not entirely trustworthy. Castle, in his pauses, his breaths, his hesitations, his hints of irony, has become that voice.
Generally, it's convenience that pushes me to listen to books, rather than read them. But this time I'm sure I've been treated to a much richer experience than the already rich, rich experience of the millions before me who didn't listen, but merely turned the pages of this great book.
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- CGD
- 01-03-22
Superlative narration of a classic
Vanity Fair is an epic novel of 19th century British society and personal relationships. Except for a tedious section near the end, which is little more than a travelogue, the story kept me fascinated. John Castle's narration is amazing. He is an accomplished English actor. His skills are up to the challenges Thackeray's unabridged text presents, including some now-archaic words and brief passages of French. Bravo, Mr Castle, and thank you, Audible, for offering this gem at no cost to members.
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- The Forever Student
- 02-03-18
The performance was outstanding
I enjoyed the story, but it was the performance that was exceptional. I will look for other books by this reader.
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- Ambrosia Sims
- 01-05-23
The Folly of Miss Sharp
Folly calls to you at the gate and will lead on the path of death. As Becky leads you through vanity fair calling on everyone around to join in the ride you see the different stings and tricks used to tie them into place. See how far down the path foolishness and vanity will take them and who will get off the ride in time.
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