-
The Comedians
- Narrated by: Joseph Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $20.97
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The End of the Affair
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Colin Firth
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Graham Greene’s evocative analysis of the love of self, the love of another, and the love of God is an English classic that has been translated for the stage, the screen, and even the opera house. Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, A Single Man) turns in an authentic and stirring performance for this distinguished audio release.
-
-
Excellent performance of Graham Greene classic
- By Doggy Bird on 04-14-13
By: Graham Greene
-
The Quiet American
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Joseph Porter
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alden Pyle, an idealistic young American, is sent to Vietnam to promote democracy amidst the intrigue and violence of the French war with the Vietminh, while his friend, Fowler, a cynical foreign correspondent, looks on.
-
-
Terrible narrator nearly derails Greene novel.
- By Richard on 07-12-12
By: Graham Greene
-
The Human Factor
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Tim Pigott-Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a leak is traced back to a small sub-section of SIS, it sparks off security checks, tensions and suspicions - the sort of atmosphere where mistakes could be made. This novel opens up the lonely, isolated, neurotic world of the Secret Service.
-
-
A book is like a sandy path which keeps the indent
- By Megasaurus on 11-12-12
By: Graham Greene
-
The Heart of the Matter
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Michael Kitchen
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scobie, a police officer in a West African colony, is a good and honest man. But when he falls in love, he is forced into a betrayal of everything that he has ever believed in, and his struggle to maintain the happiness of two women destroys him.
-
-
Starts Very Slowly then Boom!
- By Michael on 05-21-17
By: Graham Greene
-
The Confidential Agent
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trusted by no one, trusting nobody, the Confidential Agent is sent to England. But before his mission has barely begun, he comes face to face with an agent from the other side. As the car he is driving is run down in the fog, a thought strikes him: "It isn't probable - not in England, but it seems to be true, nonetheless - they're going to kill me."
-
-
approach it as a fable
- By connie on 10-18-08
By: Graham Greene
-
The Serpent and the Rainbow
- A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic
- By: Wade Davis
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 1982, ethnobotanist Wade Davis arrived in Haiti to investigate two documented cases of zombies - people who had reappeared in Haitian society years after they had been officially declared dead and had been buried. Drawn into a netherworld of rituals and celebrations, Davis penetrated the vodoun mystique deeply enough to place zombification in its proper context within vodoun culture. In the course of his investigation, Davis came to realize that the story of vodoun is the history of Haiti.
-
-
Beautiful book
- By Jon on 03-22-21
By: Wade Davis
-
The End of the Affair
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Colin Firth
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Graham Greene’s evocative analysis of the love of self, the love of another, and the love of God is an English classic that has been translated for the stage, the screen, and even the opera house. Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, A Single Man) turns in an authentic and stirring performance for this distinguished audio release.
-
-
Excellent performance of Graham Greene classic
- By Doggy Bird on 04-14-13
By: Graham Greene
-
The Quiet American
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Joseph Porter
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alden Pyle, an idealistic young American, is sent to Vietnam to promote democracy amidst the intrigue and violence of the French war with the Vietminh, while his friend, Fowler, a cynical foreign correspondent, looks on.
-
-
Terrible narrator nearly derails Greene novel.
- By Richard on 07-12-12
By: Graham Greene
-
The Human Factor
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Tim Pigott-Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a leak is traced back to a small sub-section of SIS, it sparks off security checks, tensions and suspicions - the sort of atmosphere where mistakes could be made. This novel opens up the lonely, isolated, neurotic world of the Secret Service.
-
-
A book is like a sandy path which keeps the indent
- By Megasaurus on 11-12-12
By: Graham Greene
-
The Heart of the Matter
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Michael Kitchen
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scobie, a police officer in a West African colony, is a good and honest man. But when he falls in love, he is forced into a betrayal of everything that he has ever believed in, and his struggle to maintain the happiness of two women destroys him.
-
-
Starts Very Slowly then Boom!
- By Michael on 05-21-17
By: Graham Greene
-
The Confidential Agent
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trusted by no one, trusting nobody, the Confidential Agent is sent to England. But before his mission has barely begun, he comes face to face with an agent from the other side. As the car he is driving is run down in the fog, a thought strikes him: "It isn't probable - not in England, but it seems to be true, nonetheless - they're going to kill me."
-
-
approach it as a fable
- By connie on 10-18-08
By: Graham Greene
-
The Serpent and the Rainbow
- A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic
- By: Wade Davis
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 1982, ethnobotanist Wade Davis arrived in Haiti to investigate two documented cases of zombies - people who had reappeared in Haitian society years after they had been officially declared dead and had been buried. Drawn into a netherworld of rituals and celebrations, Davis penetrated the vodoun mystique deeply enough to place zombification in its proper context within vodoun culture. In the course of his investigation, Davis came to realize that the story of vodoun is the history of Haiti.
-
-
Beautiful book
- By Jon on 03-22-21
By: Wade Davis
-
Our Man Down in Havana
- The Story Behind Graham Greene's Cold War Spy Novel
- By: Christopher Hull
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Combining biography, history, and politics, Our Man Down in Havana investigates the real story behind Greene's fictional one. This includes his many visits to a pleasure island that became a revolutionary island, turning his chance involvement into a political commitment. Exploiting a wealth of archival material and interviews with key protagonists, Our Man Down in Havana delves into the story behind and beyond the author's prophetic Cuban tale, focusing on one slice of Greene's manic life: a single novel and its complex history.
-
-
Manages to make Cuba boring
- By Buretto on 09-19-20
By: Christopher Hull
-
Call for the Dead
- A George Smiley Novel
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
George Smiley is no one's idea of a spy - which is perhaps why he's such a natural. But Smiley apparently made a mistake. After a routine security interview, he concluded that the affable Samuel Fennan had nothing to hide. Why, then, did the man from the Foreign Office shoot himself in the head only hours later? Or did he? The heart-stopping tale of intrigue that launched both novelist and spy, Call for the Dead is an essential introduction to le Carre's chillingly amoral universe.
-
-
Smiley is the spies' spy.
- By Little Buffalo on 10-16-17
By: John le Carré
-
Zorba the Greek
- By: Nikos Kazantzakis
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A wonderful tale of a young man’s coming of age, Zorba the Greek has been a classic of world literature since it was first translated into English in 1952 and made into an unforgettable movie with Anthony Quinn. Zorba, an irrepressible, earthy hedonist, sweeps his young disciple along as he wines, dines, and loves his way through a life dedicated to fulfilling his copious appetites. Zorba is irresistible in this charming audio production by veteran narrator George Guidall.
-
-
Drink life to the lees
- By Scot Potts on 04-25-13
-
It
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Steven Weber
- Length: 44 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Derry, Maine. It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real. They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made 28 years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children.
-
-
You’ll go deaf
- By Laurie on 07-25-20
By: Stephen King
-
The Handmaid's Tale
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Claire Danes
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a staged terrorist attack kills the President and most of Congress, the government is deposed and taken over by the oppressive and all-controlling Republic of Gilead. Offred is a Handmaid serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife. She can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name.
-
-
Ridiculously stupid & gloomy
- By CW in ATX on 02-20-20
By: Margaret Atwood
-
Fall of Giants
- Book One of the Century Trilogy
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 30 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ken Follett's World Without End was a global phenomenon, a work of grand historical sweep beloved by millions of readers and acclaimed by critics. Fall of Giants is his magnificent new historical epic. The first novel in The Century Trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families - American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh - as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage.
-
-
Loved it and learned alot.
- By Louis on 10-19-10
By: Ken Follett
-
Slaughterhouse-Five
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence).
-
-
Please God, no more James Franco.
- By Rhiannon on 04-20-18
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Shogun
- The Epic Novel of Japan: The Asian Saga, Book 1
- By: James Clavell
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 53 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bold English adventurer; an invincible Japanese warlord; a beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love - all brought together in an extraordinary saga of a time and a place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust, and the struggle for power.
-
-
amazingly well done!
- By Ruby Dickson on 04-24-15
By: James Clavell
-
A Small Town in Germany
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times best-selling author of A Legacy of Spies. "Haven't you realized that only appearances matter"? The British Embassy in Bonn is up in arms. Her Majesty's financially troubled government is seeking admission to Europe's Common Market just as anti-British factions are rising to power in Germany. Rioters are demanding reunification, and the last thing the Crown can afford is a scandal. Then Leo Harting - an embassy nobody - goes missing with a case full of confidential files.
-
-
very good spy/mystery
- By Darryl on 04-28-13
By: John le Carré
-
For Whom the Bell Tolls
- By: Ernest Hemingway
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1937, Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight", For Whom the Bell Tolls.
-
-
Incorrect charges of censorship.
- By arye orona on 07-27-14
By: Ernest Hemingway
-
The Professor and the Madman
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part history, part true-crime, and entirely entertaining, listen to the story of how the behemoth Oxford English Dictionary was made. You'll hang on every word as you discover that the dictionary's greatest contributor was also an insane murderer working from the confines of an asylum.
-
-
Perfect example of a quality audible book.
- By Jerry on 07-07-03
By: Simon Winchester
-
Scoop
- By: Evelyn Waugh
- Narrated by: Simon Cadell
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Scoop, surreptitiously dubbed "a newspaper adventure", Waugh flays Fleet Street and the social pastimes of its war correspondants as he tells how William Boot became the star of British super-journalism and how, leaving part of his shirt in the claws of the lovely Katchen, he returned from Ishmaelia to London as the "Daily's Beast's" more accoladed overseas reporter.
-
-
Love this story, easy listen.
- By JMED on 08-24-15
By: Evelyn Waugh
Publisher's Summary
Three men meet on a ship bound for Haiti, where corruption and terror reign. Disillusioned and noncommittal, they are the “comedians” of Greene’s title, hiding from life’s pain and love behind their chosen masks.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about The Comedians
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Darwin8u
- 11-20-12
We are bad comedians, we aren't bad men
"We mustn't complain too much of being comedians—it's an honourable profession. If only we could be good ones the world might gain at least a sense of style. We have failed—that's all. We are bad comedians, we aren't bad men."
I started out thinking I was going to just listen to a 'minor' Greene, and finished the novel once again shocked by my ability to completely underestimate Greene once again. The Comedians is a dark tragedy set in a Haitian Hell ruled by Papa Doc and his Tonton Macoute. Into this tortured hell floats Brown, the Smiths and Jones. This sad troupe each struggles with overcoming fear, death, love and apathy while dancing on the edge of the abyss. It reminded me a little of Under the Volcano, but instead of one man's struggle with mescal, it is humanity's struggle with apathy and fear.
29 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Verl
- 04-05-16
Dare you. Terrible performance.
The narrator's nasal and snotty English accent is sleep inducing. Almost indecipherable. Tried to focus on the story twice. Gave up. Skip this one!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Seth
- 10-22-14
Worst reader ever
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
It is a wonderful, disturbing story. I would not recommend this version because the reader preforms his task so poorly. I have listened to dozens of recorded books. This was the worst performance I have heard.
What other book might you compare The Comedians to and why?
The End of the Affair, of course.
How could the performance have been better?
I was astounded at how badly the book was read. The reader's attempts at accents were...I don't know what to say...a little like a stew made by a drunken house-painter. Beyond that, the reader betrayed no understanding of timing, inflection, or the intent of the author. He almost manages to ruin the story itself...but not quite.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Perry Carrison
- 01-06-15
A Good Passtime...but not great.
I went to Haiti in 1986, two days after Baby Doc left. I was immersed in the foreknowledge of VooDoo thanks to an excellent book (later a horrible movie) titled "Serpent & The Rainbow". I was able to see a whole different layer of complexity thanks to the author's experience recorded in the book.
So I read "The Comedians" with vested interest. I wanted historical facts as much as anything. And I got that.
What was missing was story. Though full of color, it was thin in meaning. I didn't care about the people. Ever.
And the reader's voice didn't help.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David
- 09-10-14
A Contemporary Classic
Would you listen to The Comedians again? Why?
I would, if only to get a sense of Haiti during the Duvalier regime.
What did you like best about this story?
The details Greene poured into this world. You got a strong sense he had seen at least some of the events that occurred in this world.
Did Joseph Porter do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
I had a hard time differentiating between some of his voices, especially for Brown and Jones. His attempts at an American accent for Mr. and Mrs. Smith came off as attempts rather than authentic.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Adam Shields
- 05-26-16
Life in the midst of tragedy is still life
I picked up The Comedians when it was on sale at Audible because it was by Graham Greene and I really liked The End of the Affair. I started reading it because Shusaku Endo was frequently compared to Graham Greene (and Greene’s endorsement of Silence is one of the more famous endorsement lines–“Endo, to my mind, is one of the finest living novelists”).
It was really my desire to understand Endo, more than my enjoyment of the book that kept me listening to the audiobook. The reader was intentionally dry. That matched the content, but did not enhance the listening. The book started and ended well, but there was some meandering in the middle that makes sense in the larger context of the books but I got a bored for a good 100 pages.
It really was not until about 1/3 of the way through the book that Greene references the reason for the title. In a public conversation with a woman that Brown (the main character) is having an affair with, he suggests that they are all really comedians. He is using an older meaning of comedian, the idea that Greek actors held different masks. But also (not mentioned, but I think understood) that Greek Comedies were usually poking fun at the powerful of the age. It is not really satire. But there is some hint of that idea.
The book opens with Brown, Smith and Jones all on a boat headed toward Haiti. Brown owns a hotel in Haiti during the oppressive government of Papa Doc Duvalier. Jones is an unknown, but suspected from fairly early on of being a con man. Smith (and his wife) are from the United States. He was a very minor presidential candidate that is a proponent of vegetarianism as a way of life and a method toward world wide peace.
Brown, aware of the political difficulty, knows how ridiculous it is for Smith to be attempting to create a vegetarian propaganda center in the midst of a repressive dictatorship and severe economic recession. Smith seems to be a stand-in for the US as a whole. Naive but well meaning and in the end unable to actually do anything about the larger situation, but still attempting to help in his own way.
Jones is a minor character in the first half of the book when Brown is primarily concerned with Smith. But eventually Smith leaves and the Jones storyline becomes the main one. I am not going to spoil the book, but what is most interesting about the book is the exploration of how important mixed motives are to any story. Brown, Smith, Jones and the other characters are far from perfect. But there is often good intentions mixed up with less honorable intentions.
There is humor in the book, although it is dry humor. Greene is poking fun at Duvalier and how the powerful countries run over small countries and how the cold war propped up dictatorships. This book was published in 1966. And the exact setting is somewhat vague (but may be clear to people more familiar with the history of Haiti.) I do know that it is after the US initially withdrew from Haiti in 1962 and before the US came back to the US (sometime after Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, which Duvalier claimed was the result of him cursing Kennedy.)
I am glad I read this. I did not know much about the history of Haiti. And I think reading about a historical deterioration of society is useful to think about instead of post-apocalyptic future fantasy. The type of deterioration of society that is going on in Syria has happened before on different scales. But this is not a super engaging novel. There were several places that I might have given up if I had not really wanted to finish because of the relationship to Endo. I will pick up another book or two from Greene, because he really is a good writer and I really did love The End of the Affair. But this is not one of my favorite classic novels. (But it really did pick up in the 100 pages or so.)
I can see why so many compare Endo to Greene, even if there was not a known admiration between the two.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Doug Kerfoot
- 10-09-14
Terrible Narrator
What disappointed you about The Comedians?
I somehow missed that Joseph Porter was the narrator. He is a truly awful voice talent. I couldn't get past chapter 2. I don't know if it is a good story - I just can't get past his narration.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Joseph Porter?
Anyone. Really, anyone else.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Christo
- 10-25-15
Good dramatic rendering of a Greene masterpiece
Joseph Porter gives a good rendering of this excellent novel. It would have been more satisfying if he had added more energy to the task. However there is a lovely range of nuances that he uses for the various colourful characters. Greene's brilliant prose underscores the entire experience. I look forward to reading the novel soon.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jim McBride
- 07-15-14
Fine book, misguided performance.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
I don't think he necessarily meant it that way, but his delivery came off snide and condescending instead of ironic and empathic. I don't think Haitians sound as he made them sound, and his American accents were lame caricatures.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- faye brown
- 03-26-16
devoted Greene reader
Greene is a master story teller and always an intense observer of the world in which he places his story. I'm always intrigued as he questions faith and the good and evil which concern the human condition.
1 person found this helpful