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The Noise of Time

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The Noise of Time

By: Julian Barnes
Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
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About this listen

In May 1937, a man in his early 30s waits by the lift of a Leningrad apartment block. He waits all through the night, expecting to be taken away to the Big House. Any celebrity he has known in the previous decade is no use to him now, and few who are taken to the Big House ever return.

©2016 Julian Barnes (P)2016 W F Howes Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction
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It seems a slight story to begin with, but develops into a detailed and interesting narrative, which is well-read.

Interesting and well-read

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Very well written, obviously well researched, just not for me. Not always easy to follow as an audiobook.

Just not for me.

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Any personal consideration of this novel is driven initially by a comparison to David Pownall’s 'Master Class' which I saw in around 1983 at the Theatre Royal Newcastle. The pairing of Shostakovich and Stalin was, in that instance complemented with the appearance on stage of Zhdanov and Prokofiev. I remember thinking that the get-together was a fantastic pretense and a wonderful construct on which questions of artistic intention and integrity were played out with lots of laughs, some real reflection and great skill on the part of Trevor Cooper.

In Julian Barnes’ novel the focus is entirely personal, built around a series of historic events rather than a single pivot. Its a more natural choice for a novel, of course, and these days its great to be able to quickly interrogate the British Pathé archive viewing the arrival of Shostakovich in New York as described and do the background checks on Nicolas Nabokov and the CIA.

Entirely satisfying? Not really. Unlike The Sense Of An Ending there is no sense of an edge in that, where historical facts are blended into the narrative, there is no clear cut between that inventive narrative fiction and documentary. That impacted my reading of the latest effort from a great contemporary novelist - not to say that the novel represents beautiful clear writing stopping off at all of the important emotional and intellectual points along the way to enjoy the view. A struggle between 4 and 5 star stuff although I am sure that the author didn’t trouble himself with my tape-measure considerations. A victim of his own high standards in this case, perhaps and emblematic of its subject.

Hey, Shosti......Nabokov and the CIA

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It's a book that requires concentration and I had to go back to the beginning a few times. However, it was well worth the effort. As would be expected, the writing is tight, the characters well drawn and learning about something of the Russian political systems was a bonus.

Unexpected Pleasure

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I liked the overall tone, but all Russian names, city names and brand names were really badly pronounced by the reader.

Good story

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