Great Expectations

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Peter Batchelor

Listen to the story of Pip, an English orphan who rises to wealth. After he deserts his true friends, he becomes humbled by his own arrogance. Great Expectations is Dickens at his finest.

Public Domain (P)2012 Trout Lake Media

Wonderful classic

I am so glad I read this. It's an engrossing story filled with rich characters. The story holds up so well and the themes are timeless. I highly recommend this.

Great Expectation Appropriate Title

Would you listen to Great Expectations again? Why?

yes. To ensure I discover and get all the clues that link all the characters and situations in the story.

What other book might you compare Great Expectations to and why?

No other that I can compare with at this time.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

It was a good performance.

It seems the narrator had too low a volume at certain points. Part of Chapter 52 was not on the audio.

Who was the most memorable character of Great Expectations and why?

Pip. Obviously for his self realization of how he treated the other characters in his rise to Great Expectations and his actions once the truth was revealed.

I really enjoyed this book.

I really enjoyed the book and the narration was good. There were some bad edits in the book.

Difficult to listen to, get a different version!

The story is excellent, a classic, and well-known before even breaking into the book. The performance, however, is pretty miserable. The low tone, excessive vocal fry, almost no variability in character, and low volume all combine to make this reader incredibly difficult to listen to. I really tried, but I'm bailing because struggling to listen is affecting my appreciation of the story. This is a good lesson for me to investigate the reader and listen to the sample, especially when there are several versions available.

A book that takes you back

Having read this as a teenager, and now picking up the courage to read this again, this book transports you into an era where simplicity in itself sufficed. People were pretentious, judgmental and very, very distant. You can see that complete change in behavior when you have riches, which is almost comical, in that you see it even today, well over a century later. The line between the working class and nobility, the complete inability to speak your mind when you need to due to the fear of being judged or misjudged, all emotions captured beautifully in simple, elegant prose. This book took me out of this world, amidst distractions and all, even if only for moments here and there. Great read of you are into the English literature of last century. A true classic.