The Breaking Point


Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)

(4.5 stars; 746 reviews)

Mary Roberts Rinehart -- "America's Agatha Christie," as she used to be called -- set this story in a New York suburban town, shortly after the end of the first world war. Dick Livingstone is a young, successful doctor, who in the course of events becomes engaged to Elizabeth Wheeler. But there is a mystery about his past, and he thinks himself honor-bound to unravel it before giving himself to her in marriage. In particular, a shock of undetermined origin has wiped out his memory prior to roughly the last decade. Rinehart, who presumably had been reading, or reading about, the then popular Sigmund Freud, plays on what today is called "repressed memory," as she takes Dick into his past, and into the dangers that, unknown to him, lurk there. Is she correct about the behavior of memory? Who knows? After all, this is not a clinical treatise, but a work of fiction, one of the thrillers that made her such a popular writer of the earlier twentieth century.(Introduction by Nicholas Clifford) (11 hr 27 min)

Chapitres

01 - Chapter I 18:08 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
02 - Chapter II 11:36 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
03 - Chapter III 22:52 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
04 - Chapter IV 6:27 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
05 - Chapter V 9:51 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
06 - Chapter VI 7:41 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
07 - Chapter VII 15:15 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
08 - Chapter VIII 9:34 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
09 - Chapter IX 7:20 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
10 - Chapter X 7:45 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
11 - Chapter XI 21:58 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
12 - Chapter XII 12:53 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
13 - Chapter XIII 23:27 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
14 - Chapter XIV 16:15 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
15 - Chapter XV 12:52 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
16 - Chapter XVI 16:36 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
17 - Chapter XVII 8:31 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
18 - Chapter XVIII 9:41 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
19 - Chapter XIX 10:23 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
20 - Chapter XX 8:41 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
21 - Chapter XXI 14:24 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
22 - Chapter XXII 16:09 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
23 - Chapter XXIII 14:34 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
24 - Chapter XXIV 18:12 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
25 - Chapter XXV 19:50 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
26 - Chapter XXVI 13:54 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
27 - Chapter XXVII 15:31 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
28 - Chapter XXVIII 14:39 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
29 - Chapter XXIX 10:54 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
30 - Chapter XXX 11:03 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
31 - Chapter XXXI 16:57 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
32 - Chapter XXXII 14:36 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
33 - Chapter XXXIII 13:18 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
34 - Chapter XXIV 15:09 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
35 - Chapter XXXV 18:40 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
36 - Chapter XXXVI 15:40 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
37 - Chapter XXXVII 9:08 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
38 - Chapter XXXVIII 21:25 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
39 - Chapter XXXIX 21:31 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
40 - Chapter XL 20:45 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
41 - Chapter XLI 25:28 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
42 - Chapter XLII 18:07 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
43 - Chapter XLIII 6:02 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
44 - Chapter XLIV 11:34 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
45 - Chapter XLV 17:02 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
46 - Chapter XLVI 9:16 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
47 - Chapter XLVII 19:24 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
48 - Chapter XLVIII 6:25 Lu par Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)

Critiques

Awesome story - loved it


(5 stars)

Okay, it's a bit far fetched, but still good. Our hero has met the woman of his dreams, but he has a gap in his memory that he wants filled. So he returns to the place he thinks that will jog his memory. Unfortunately it works, and he forgets the ten years he has spent as an honored doctor and only sees himself as a killer on the run. Fortunately, he has earned some friends who want to help him, but will it be too little, too late? Can he reclaim his position as a doctor and fiance? Reader was excellent, no complaints. I really enjoyed this story.


(4 stars)

A very good book. I felt a variety of emotions from sadness to joy. A writing of life where all is not rosey. Really enjoyed this narrator. He did a great job and it makes a difference.

A very good story


(5 stars)

This is a very good story -- long, but good. I'm learning that Mary Roberts Rinehart was very good at writing the complexities of relationships, the nuances of emotions, and in combining those human elements with some well thought out mysteries. This Librivox volunteer reader did a very good job. (I must say that I've seen MRR praised as "an American Agatha Christie"; that she is not. Christie is controlled and concise and packs a lot into her much thinner books, whereas Rinehart rambles on prodigiously with minute details of actions and emotions. Both are good writers, but they are very, very different.)

A very enjoyed leisurely listen


(5 stars)

The reader has a perfect narrator's voice! The story is intriguing; although a bit slow moving it is very well-woven and worth the patience to slowly experience all the angles.

Bang'n - Intense - Ride of Emotions


(5 stars)

Mary Roberts Rinehart writes with both passion & wisdom, born of an understanding of Human Nature, whereby Men & Women, alike, can enjoy her Novels.

Rinehart Does It Again!


(5 stars)

Between the well done narration and another finely crafted Rinehart novel, Librivox conspires to hit another one out of the park!

very drawn out


(3 stars)

N. Clifford is a first-rate reader. The book is about twice as long as it needs to be, however.


(5 stars)

Excellent reading and quite a fine story. I was surprised. I'll be listening to more of the author's work and the reader's.