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Hard Times

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Hard Times

By: Charles Dickens
Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
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About this listen

One of Dicken’s best works appraising English society. Highlights the social and economic pressures of the times. A masterwork.

Public Domain (P)2013 Trout Lake Media Classics

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All stars
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Peter Bachelor does a fair job of it. The sound is a little low in quality which can be a struggle when some of the less annunciated characters speak. can't complain for the price though.

Pretty good work.

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Listening to Batchelor narrate this classic novel is like savouring every mouthful of your favourite food.

Bachelor's narration of this classic is pure class

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Narrator is brilliant. the variety of voices is excellent. Easy and enjoyable to listen to.

Loved it

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An excellent rendition of one of Dicken's shorter novels (some of the northern pronunciations were a little dodgy but it didn't spoil the telling) . I loved it

what a bargain

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Hard Times is an excellent example of Dickens social commentary, it also has the merit of being one of his shortest.

Set in the fictional Coketown, it follows industrial manufacturers and circus performers in an examination of morality and money, fact and fancy. The hard, emotionless upbringing that Mr Gradgrind insists on for his children impacts the decisions they make as they grow. Dickens is criticising the emerging capitalism of the time and how a life focused purely on money is empty and cold.

Peter Batchelor gives an average performance. His voice is amazing but he doesn't truly bring the characters to life. Dickens are some of my favourite books to listen to rather than read because of their length and structure, if you wish to get in to Dickens I recommend you start with this one.

Dickens does Dickens

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Hard Times indeed, the many characters are all so well written, as Dickens always does.

Peter Batchelor’s narration is excellent, how does he keep tabs on the vast cast list he’s presenting. I’ll search Peter Batchelor for other books.

Thank you.

A narrator Dickens would approve of

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This was my first ever read/listen of a Charles Dickens novel and I thought I'd start with Hard Times as it's one of the shorter ones. it took me a while to get used to the language and into the story but once I did I really enjoyed it and shall be listening to more Dickens novels in the future. The recording isn't the best but not terrible either and the narrator is fantastic and brought the characters to life.

Great first Dickens listen

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The narrator is good for the male voices, but his squeaky female voices are jarring

Imperfect narration

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The narrator was appalling, in particular the female voices. I bought the book a few months ago and I couldn't remember why I hadn't finished it, but as I was out of anything else to listen to. I don't think it's one of the best of Dickens, but perhaps I was prejudiced by my feelings about the narrator

Poor narration

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narrator's voice so low it can surely only audible to dogs, couldn't understand a word

wtf????

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