Is He Popenjoy ?
Gelesen von LibriVox Volunteers
Anthony Trollope
(4,398 Sterne; 49 Bewertungen)
Trollope returns in Is He Popenjoy to two of his favorite subjects: property and inheritance. As in "Doctor Thorne," the issues are complicated by the specter of possible illegitimacy. Lord George Germain, a thoroughly respectable, upstanding, if not particularly bright younger son with new wife, rather expects to inherit a title, since his vicious and dissolute elder brother, the Marquis of Brotherton, who lives in Italy, shows no signs of settling down and producing heirs. Then comes a thunderbolt in the form of a letter from the Marquis suddenly claiming that he has, late in life, married an Italian widow and sired a son. This little boy, if he is indeed legitimate, is Lord Popenjoy and the heir to the marquisate.
But is he legitimate? Are his parents in fact properly united in holy wedlock? And were they so at the time of his birth on alien soil? How on earth to find out? The book, which starts almost as a comedy of manners (and perhaps also a comedy of manors), takes on a darker and more sardonic tone with this mystery, and with some other suspected and actual romantic entanglements which are not entirely in the aristocratic Victorian rule-book. Among the large cast of characters are two memorable foreigners: the repellent German feminist Baroness Bannmann, and the rather more attractive American version, Amelia Q. Fleabody (not, of course, to be confused in any way with the real Elizabeth Peabody, who under another name, lies at the heart of Henry James's The Bostonians).(Summary by Nicholas Clifford) (20 hr 40 min)
Chapters
Bewertungen
LibriVox is a no whining zone
Vivia
(5 Sterne)
Well, it should be. Please be aware these free audiobooks come to you through the generosity of volunteers. The vast majority of people would not feel free to complain (we're not talking constructive, or critique type comments: you know whining when you hear it) because they realize these books are gifts from people 99% of us don't even know. And complaints always beg the question, could you do it better? Then volunteer. Otherwise, zip that whining lip! ANNOUNCEMENT: Though I have only moral right to do it, I have just unilaterally proclaimed whining about LibriVox volunteers and their output as kapu, taboo, tabu, and forever banned. More on punishment later.
Readers (most) fantastic; awful story
(2 Sterne)
Ive been a lover of Trollope for over 30 years and this is by far the most disappointing work of his Ive ever encountered. Cringe-y gender dynamics, awful women characters, thoroughly ungratifying story lacking interesting plot twists and tying loose ends. But by far the worst is the number of major characters who either hope for or delight in the death of a little 1/2 Italian child, and the birth of the 100% English one who replaces him is supposed to be a happy ending. The readers are what keeps one engaged, save two who only read one chapter apiece but insist on amateur theatrics (and get the interpretations all wrong because theyre bad at it and haven't read the rest of the book). But truly, lovers of Trollope can skip this one without any self-recrimination or remorse.
I know I finished it
Phxjennifer
(3 Sterne)
I'm not whining. I swear, but this book is so convoluted, and most of the characters so repellent, that the most salient memory I have is of those whistling ssss's! Maybe a filter on the microphone? It's a muddled melodrama of a plot, and toward the end I think even the author got tired of navigating through it.
BigT
(2 Sterne)
so sorry but bobolink really should review his reading,his ssssss are unbearable ,cannot continue, listening . I am such a great fan of librevox.
is he popenjoy
the Book Guru
(4 Sterne)
Easy listening, enjoyable but not his best I would say...
reader
(5 Sterne)
an absolutely perfect reading of a perfectly lovely book. thank you
Why do so many readers have difficulty pronouncing the word marquis?
(5 Sterne)
(4 Sterne)
Bobolink reads so softly that it ruins the chapters he reads.