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Julian
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner, George Newbern, David de Vries, Jeff Cummings
- Length: 20 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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Publisher's Summary
The remarkable bestseller about the fourth-century Roman emperor who famously tried to halt the spread of Christianity, Julian is widely regarded as one of Gore Vidal’s finest historical novels.
Julian the Apostate, nephew of Constantine the Great, was one of the brightest yet briefest lights in the history of the Roman Empire. A military genius on the level of Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, a graceful and persuasive essayist, and a philosopher devoted to worshipping the gods of Hellenism, he became embroiled in a fierce intellectual war with Christianity that provoked his murder at the age of thirty-two, only four years into his brilliantly humane and compassionate reign. A marvelously imaginative and insightful novel of classical antiquity, Julian captures the religious and political ferment of a desperate age and restores with blazing wit and vigor the legacy of an impassioned ruler.
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What listeners say about Julian
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Abhishek Deepak
- 10-23-19
Brilliant narration!
The narrator does justice to Vidal's masterpiece. Not one dull moment. The narration grips you instantly.
11 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-10-22
Vidal always provides a depth to historical fictio
Gore Vidal's historical fiction provides more insight than most other. His political courage is missed today.
1 person found this helpful
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- A Christian
- 06-24-21
ugh
Annoying narration. Ponderous book where nothing happens. And I have to admit finally, I love Gore Vidal as an urbane, American man of letters, but his books never do it for me.
1 person found this helpful
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- Zelda
- 05-19-22
A must read for those interested in Julian
I did not really enjoy the depth of religious discussion dominant throughout the book but I do understand that was the topic of the times and Julian is famously known as the apostate. I would have preferred more stories about Julian's education and philosophy. We got some of this with religious tolerance but we definitely needed more of his philosophy. The narrator was a terrible choice for Julian. I couldn't stand listening to his voice in this role.
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- Frank Donnelly
- 11-28-21
A Really Good Historical Novel, Somewhat Unusual Format
This is a very good historical novel with a philosophical aspect to it. As an audiobook it is very well read, although I am glad I also read much of it in an actual book. There are foreign names and words that I wanted to completely understand. Gore Vidal is a “thinking man’s” author. I mean that in the traditional sense of that saying and am NOT being gender specific. I merely mean it is not a frivolous, light read. This is a novel that demanded my attention. The audiobook is excellent. Thank You…
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- nick
- 04-24-21
beautifully written and very detailed
I thought that the author could have left out some of the detail to make the story more riveting. In the effort to be complete and detail-oriented there are lots of historical facts that don't really add to the entertainment of the book but will be much appreciated by history buffs.
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- Corsaire
- 09-10-19
Faithful but dreary
Excellently performed, and written in a style which is erudite, articulate and very faithful to the style of Roman correspondence and memoirs. And yet...... it doesn't engage or hold much interest. There are pleasingly catty little jibes between the old 'friends' who are corresponding, and the events of Julian's life are told with apparent fidelity: but this is a rather dry and cerebral account, with no sense of physicality or action in a real world. We are told for instance that Wien is 'a little town of stone and wood' - like all towns at that time - but there is none of the wonder and strangeness that one would expect from a contemporary observer. All locations and all characters feel essentially the same, and after listening for a good ten hours in hopes of conflict, drama or interest, I gave up.
4 people found this helpful
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- Mark
- 12-01-19
profound and authentic fictional history
A master novelist retelling the impossibly ironic tale of Julian the Apostate. This is an absorbing fictional history , told to us as from the intimate correspondence of three key witnesses to one of the greatest moments in the history of civilisation,. This is the last gasp of paganism as it is swallowed by the encroaching dark age in which christianity took hold. It is brought to vivid reality through the written interpretations of these epoch shifting moments by the three most eloquent players on this grand stage.
Moving and thought provoking in so many subtle and satisfying ways and particularly if you know anything
of the time of Julian, into the convulsing death throws of the late Western Roman Empire, the prose is hugely satisfying.
The narration is also flawless to my ear, with the three narrators all having their own highly believable characters. It is told so well as to be gently immersive, no less than the content deserves.
It is indeed a true classic and is possibly even better as an audiobook than an actual book...
3 people found this helpful
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- Sam
- 09-08-19
Hail Julian
Very well read version of a wonderful novel. Julian was the last Roman, and perhaps the most thoughtful man to hold the imperial office. With him, the genius of classical antiquity ended and the empire was henceforth ruled by a succession of pious, cruel no nothings.
3 people found this helpful
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- John M
- 09-26-21
Great book, good narration
One of the best historical novels I’ve even written. Multiple actors narrating the different characters’ parts give it a cinematic feel.
But the actor that read Julian’s part really couldn’t say Ctesiphon (at best it sounded something like Cetestiphon).
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- Jagungal
- 04-06-21
Great performance but writing style is cold
The author has used an unusual structure piecing together fictional correspondence between friends of Julian as well as fictional memoir to construct the novel. This is an interesting way to approach things and highlights some of the ambiguity around Julian's life and actions, but ultimately ends up feeling feeling cold and analytical. The audiobook is somewhat rescued by the extremely high quality of production, including the readers of Julian and his two biographers.