Laugh Out Loud Funny!

If you haven't disovered Nicholas Nickleby, then you're in for a huge treat. This is one of Charles Dickens's finest and funniest novels - a hugely entertaining account of the trials and adventures of Nicholas and his impoverished family and their treatment at the hands of their unscrupulous and wicked Uncle Ralph. It has everything! Idiotic characters (check out the Infant Phenomenon and Miss la Ceevey, the miniaturist); dastardly villains (Wackforth Squeers is the worst headmaster in the world) and poor Smike, whose faithful devotion to Nicholas will surely move the hardest heart to sympathy and maybe a few tears. Reading the book many years ago was a revelation to me, but hearing it is something else! A brilliant performance throughout and characters who live in your imagination. Buy it - you won't be disappointed.

18 people found this helpful

Old warhorse fighting fit

What a joy it was to revisit this old favourite in the hands of such a consumate artist as the reader Alex Jennings.
His characterisations are without peer and I would tentatively suggest could not have been bettered by The Great Man himself in his famous readings - just listen to his delivery of
Ralph Nickelby's death as an example - chilling.
Anyone who feels they aught to read Dickens but have been reluctant to try should give this one a try.
Superb.

17 people found this helpful

From a Dickens 'virgin': a perfect five stars

I was put off CD because I imagined the stories would be dull and difficult. I was wrong. At least so far, NN is my first but it will not be the last.



To my slight shame, I had no idea that Dickens was so funny - and also so moving in so much of his writing. This tale, which is long and populated by dozens of amazing characters, is not, despite that, complex, it just slowly unfurls.



Pathos, even tragedy do take their parts, but the humour is always threaded through the story, often with pleasant little diversions away from the main plot simply, I assume, for the enjoyment of the writer and reader.



Alex Jennings is one of my favourite readers. His voice is perfect when he's just reading but when he gives each character its own 'voice' it's very hard to imagine they are all being read by the same person. He brings out the life and the humour. Another reviewer said that he reads the twin brothers as a Tony Benn impression - it's true! I would like to add that he reads the Squeers family as various Les Dawson incarnations - hilarious.



If, as I was, you are a Charles Dickens virgin (and at my stage of life, I really had no excuse, Lord knows how I avoided it at school), I urge you to try this download and persist beyond the first 45 minutes or so, because after that, I believe you will be hooked.

13 people found this helpful

Perfect reading

The book of course needs no review. It is a masterpiece. However, I cannot praise Alex Jenning's reading highly enough. A witty, insightful, intelligent and moving reading that puts him, along with Martin Jarvis, amongst the very best of readers.

10 people found this helpful

One of the best audiobooks I've ever heard

It is with reluctance that I have put this audiobook aside but I know it will only be temporary as it has been such a pleasure to well, inhabit; and this is due to the brilliant reading by Alex Jennings of this novel about the true goal of life.

Dickens on the page can be almost over-florid for me, but the sensitivity of Jennings reading gave life and a humane perspective to this well-loved author and his characters became much more alive for me. The proposal 'a comfortable couple' and the doctor's dandling the baby are just two highlights. Definitely one of my alltime favourites.

8 people found this helpful

Incredibly entertaining

This book really comes to life in the reading by Alex Jennings. The characterisations are really well done and make this a really gripping story. Just right for a long commute.

7 people found this helpful

Best reader & perfect for Dickens

What a great reader Alex Jennings is. I wish he'd read more Dickens titles. Nickleby isn't my favourite from the great master, but I don't see how anyone could better Jennings' masterful interpretation. Highly recommended.

5 people found this helpful

Expert and enjoyable narration of a classic

I have wanted to listen to NN for years, partly because it's a classic and partly because I so enjoyed the award-winning 80's RSC stage production. But I always put it off because the book is so long and the Victorian style of dialogue and descriptive writing sounds so overblown to modern ears. I needn't have worried - Alex Jennings' narration is so beautifully judged that I found that I "tuned in" to the period quickly. The characters were brought to life with energy and credibility. In fact, he reads so expertly that I will now check out which other books he has narrated. In summary, a truly great book, wonderfully read.

4 people found this helpful

Superb

If you could sum up Nicholas Nickleby in three words, what would they be?

Classic wonderfully narrated

What did you like best about this story?

Written so long ago about an England which is like a foreign country yet deals with so many contemporary themes. Dickens makes you laugh out loud one minute and has you on the point of tears in the next. The narration by Alex Jennings is the best I have heard in any audiobook. He brings the book alive and "interprets" the somewhat archaic language in a way which makes it intelligible to a modern audience.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both in alternation.

Any additional comments?

I think most people would regard me as well educated but I have always struggled when I have tried to read Dickens. The narration by Alex Jennings was wonderful and reminded me that Dickens wrote not only with a view to his books being published by instalments but also with a view to his works being the subject of public readings. I would highly recommend this audiobook.

4 people found this helpful

Top of My List

Magnificent novel read with such excellent characterisations by Alex Jennings. His accents were spot on and I loved the way he used an Anthony Wedgewood Benn style of voice for the brothers Cheeryble. Alex almost seemed to raise Dickens' splendid prose to Shakespearian levels.

4 people found this helpful