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The Chronicles of Clovis

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The Chronicles of Clovis

By: H. H. Munro - Saki
Narrated by: Ian Richardson
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The Chronicles of Clovis, published in 1911, was the third in Saki (H. H. Munro)'s series of very funny and very vicious stories. As an insider, Saki was ideally poised to eviscerate the Edwardian middle class way of life, and his pitiless and magnetic sense of humour - teamed with an ability to wield that sharpest of writer's tools, the (very) short story - makes these some of the funniest and most quotable of tales.

All of the running themes in Saki's work are here: the ghastly maiden relatives, plucked directly from Munro's experiences as a boy with a pair of overly disciplinarian aunts and delivered up to retribution in such famous stories as "Sredni Vashtar"; the somewhat dodgy attitude to female emancipation, shown very short shrift by the newly crowned fictitious King of England in "Hermann the Irascible"; and the ease with which nature, red in tooth and claw, overcomes the seeming power of the Edwardian sense of its own civilisation in the merciless hunting story "Esmé".

There are 29 stories in this collection, each one exquisitely crafted, totally vicious and very, very funny.

Public Domain (P)2007 Silksoundbooks Limited Classics Funny
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This is one of my favourite audio books.... it has many superb cameos containing insights into human nature as seen through the lens of mischievous humour

excellent

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Each of Saki's short stories is a perfectly formed gem of wit and cruelty. This collection has many of his best, including "Tobermory", about a cat who is taught to speak, "Sredni Vashtar", about a persecuted boy who enlists a ferret for his revenge, and "The Unrest Cure", in which Clovis Sangrail, the mischievous character around whom most of these tales revolve, devises an ingenious torment for a man who had dared to complain that his life had become boring.

Ian Richardson's narration is so perfectly tuned to the nuances of Saki's characters and the peculiar sardonic humour of the author that I don't think I'll be able to read these tales again without hearing his voice. One of the best audiobooks I've bought. The only negative point is that, as always with Audible, the download is not chaptered, so there's no way of jumping to an individual story.

The Joy of Saki

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My regular go to for relaxing.
Soothing voice and a good selection of stories.
Sleep choice.

relaxing

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What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Having decent quality audio - how can a 7 hour reading fit in to an 80MB file? The audio is very harsh and ruins Ian Richardson's reading.

Which character – as performed by Ian Richardson – was your favourite?

Clovis

Any additional comments?

For the price, why not supply us with decent audio quality? This is far worse than tape!

Perfect reading - attrocious audio quality

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