The Turn of the Screw

Wonderful narration

(5 stars)

Wmnoffaith1

If you enjoy Henry James, or this genre, you'll like this recording. The only one better I've heard is Emma Thompson 's Audible recording. I know a few reviewers have complained they can't get through it, or the book is too hard. You have to realize this was written at a time when education was at it's peak. People had much bigger vocabularies, and they painted pictures with words. If this isn't to your taste, you'd be better off sticking to books written after the 60s or 70s. The word count per sentence is less, they're easier to understand, and they are aimed at a lower grade level. Modern libraries today can give you the rating of each book, and it's score and difficulty rating because they have all been ranked for students, so you can find the difficulty rating you are comfortable with, and then check to see what the rating is before you attempt a book.

An odd story

(3 stars)

benefitsingers

I was given the books Daisy Miller and The Turn of the Screw when I was a child. I never read them as I found them too hard. I am guessing I was about 9 or 10. The book was not much better as an adult. I listened to this one some time ago so I do not remember the narration and that may have been part of it. I really had a hard time getting through this story and honestly I am not sure what the big deal is about Henry James or a lot of classics for that matter. I am grateful; however, to Librivox that at least I had the opportunity to listen to this book.

Odd classic, good recording

(4 stars)

notmyname

This really is an odd book -- strangely inconclusive. The recording is very professional in sound quality and also pretty professional in reading style. The female reader is lushly expressive, to the point of sounding sentimental. In fact this overlush quality convinced me that the narrating governess really is a delusional hysteric (a matter of much debate, for some reason). The child characters' voices strike me as well done too. If the Librivox intro grates on your ear, as another reviewer mentioned, skip ahead and listen to a bit of the text itself -- you may find it more to your taste. One word I noticed was mispronounced: "interminably."

Great narration

(4 stars)

Mary Havens

This is my second time with The Turn of the Screw and I vastly prefer this audio version over the print. I had a hard time with the print. Nikolle Doolin did an excellent job and really brought these characters to life. I was not a fan of her sign on/sign off but that's small potatoes. Thanks for making James enjoyable!

(5 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

The text is wordy yet the narrator has done an excellent job in keeping the interest high and adding enough emotion to make the story really get under your skin. Well done!

(0.5 stars)

Elll WZ

The book is fine. But the reader is putting such unsuitable and excessive emotion into it that it becomes a torture to listen to it.

(1 stars)

Tassie

The reader sounds like she's computer generated. Just couldn't go further than Ch1. Will need to find the book for myself.

Excellent

(5 stars)

tinamcsag

By far one of the best readings I heard so far. I highly recommend the recording.