Oh dear, oh dear oh Dear!!!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

English voices and proper pronounciation

What did you like best about this story?

only the author, I have just read this in book form - totally preferable

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?

Not if they are attempting English accents

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No, apart from the male narrator, even the actors had different american regional accents which really grate - some try to sound a little English, in patches, but without much success.

Any additional comments?

The pronunciation is dire Main Wairing for the anglicised Mannering. Churchill for ChurchHIll.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Early Austen Gem, worth enduring the dreadful choice of narrator

Jane Austen's genius for character development is clearly evident in this early work. How she inspires disgust of the odious Lady Susan and her poisonous correspondent and sympathy for her put upon daughter... Genius.
Why on EARTH the story is narrated in heavily accented American, I simply can't imagine. The de Courcy father put me strongly in mind of Dick van Dyke's more woeful cockney homages in Mary Poppins. And for the love of God, it's Mainwaring, pronounced Mannering!
Are the pages of Austen to be thus polluted?!
Egads!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Unfortunate choice of narrators

As a British listener hearing this read with American accents was very off putting! The quality of some of the characterisation was also disappointing.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

An enjoyable interlude.

I didn't think I had heard of this Jane Austin book but on listening to it realised that it had been made into a film in 2016 called Love and Friendship with Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan. I loved this book and narration, with its letters read by the writers of them. It might have been her first book but you could definitely tell it was her work. At only 2 hrs and some long, it is an enjoyable interlude.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Aargh! Jarring American accent.

I really tried to get into this book. But was ever put off by the irritating American accent. At times I could forget it, then the reader would say something like ‘Mart’n’ for Martin, it’s got an i in it! American narrators for American literature perfect. But native English narrators for British classics at least.
Trying to get past that it’s amazing that this was written by a 16 year old Jane Austin, very imaginative. I wonder how much was taken from her life experiences

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Dreadful narration

I love Jane Austen's writing and the story is entertaining and easy. Interesting format of telling a story - all in letter correspondence. Sadly, narration was dreadful. Ladies were voiced with very strong American accent (nothing against Americans, just doesn't suit Jane Austen's story). It was as though it was read by Ruby Wax (I love Ruby Wax, just, again, not in a middle of Jane Austen's book). Audiobook was so irritating I nearly gave up on it.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I have never known so many of the English gentry to have American accents

The story is classic Austen (albeit in an epistolary form) and is very enjoyable. I would, however, suggest finding a different recording as all of the characters in this one have a mid-Atlantic drawl which is most offputting.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

American accents ruin an average story

This is the writing of Jane Austin aged 20, and it lacks the depth and breadth of her later writing, though there are some glimpses of later characterisations. I could enjoy the story more if it were not for the affectations of the readers. I could forgive the American accents had they not tried so hard to caricature the dramatis personae. Add to that mispronunciations of some of the names: Main-warning for Mainwaring for example: it should be Mannering, and everything just grates, I’m afraid. This Title is free, and as such it serves its purpose: to read the book for people to listen to; but I shall be looking out for a better, English, version for any repeated listening.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

American accent doesn't work with regency novels

I liked the story, but the American accent sounded so out of place, and the overly juicy intonation was quite annoying.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Americans? Why?

Were there no actors who could do a British accent available? it's Austen! Come on.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!