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Far Eastern Tales

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Far Eastern Tales

By: W. Somerset Maugham
Narrated by: Robert Powell
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About this listen

 Far eastern Tales is a collection of Maugham's short stories, all born of his experiences in Malaysia, Singapore, and other outposts of the former British Empire. The stories included on this recording are Footprints in the Jungle, Mabel, P & O, The Door of Oportunity, The Buried Talent, Before the Party, Mr. Know-all, Neil MacAdam, The End of the Flight and The Force of Circumstance.©2014 Audible, Inc. (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Short Stories Fiction Thought-Provoking Singapore

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All stars
Most relevant  
These stories were amusing, tragic and interesting from a historical perspective. Well written and read.

Lovely insight into the Empire!

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Loved it a great experience well read just good quality collection of stories well done.

just great

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It is so pleasing to get such wonderful writing and storylines; the narration was great.

Wonderful Writing

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Somerset Maugham has complete mastery over the written word & over the art of story telling. Robert Powell reads these stories faultlessly, with such consummate fluency & skill it is a joy to listen to his voice.

Simply superb!

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This collection is great. It captures the art of what I think WSM did best - rather extended short stories. They are mostly long enough to really build the plots, create many characters, and lead you through a proper story, but end with you wanting a bit more. This collection covers a lot of ground: love, marriage, honour, and adventure - often with a bit of humour.

The narration from Robert Powell perfectly matches the period and the settings. Very good.

Lovely, and Long 'Short' Stories

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It has taken me 50 years of hearing about Somerset Maugham to eventually ‘read’ the books, Tales From The Far East was particularly evocative. Human frailties; careers in the colonial service, delusion, illicit affairs, old flames, all written about with his ability to tell a story that is compulsive reading. This version was wonderfully read and I shall be dipping back into it for years to come to delight in the twists and occasional abrupt and surprising end.

My only criticism is of Audible for not arranging the chapters correctly. There are six or seven ‘chapters’ that contain two halves of different stories. Very frustrating.

Our grandparents/greatgrandparents were also human

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Has there ever been a better storyteller than Somerset Maugham? And these are substantial short stories which, if you have the slightest interest in short stories, are gripping.
And the narrator is perfectly suited to delivering them, adapting just the right voice for the different characters.
The only caveat is that many of Somerset Maugham‘s stories are a little bit grim! So if you don’t find suicide and depression in the slightest interesting or entertaining then perhaps try something else!

Perfect

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I really enjoy WSM’s characters (having grown up in the Far East I can sympathise with some of them). Robert Powell reads them all so well, including great accents
Real shame the chapters don’t correspond to the stories - makes finding them very difficult so down a star for that.

Trip down memory lane

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these stories show some of the strengths and weaknesses of Maugham as a writer. the weaknesses come out more in this collection, most notably the way in which his own unhappy marriage colours and distorts the marital relations in these stories. The result is depressing, ending in suicide or breakup. The stories also have elements that are unbelievable, e.g. the story of the pearls. but Robert Powell's narration is superb.

depressing stories wonderfully read

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Each story transports the listener to a time when the British ruled an exotic part of the world.
beautifully read by Robert Powell

Can't beat Somerset Maugham for story telling

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