Martin Chuzzlewit

Martin Chuzzlewit

Product Description We add to our acclaimed, unabridged Dickens collection with Martin Chuzzlewit Dickenspersonal favourite from among his own novels. Greed, suspicion and hypocrisy flourish as family and other hangers-on compete to be shown preference in the inheritance of the aging Martin Chuzzlewit. Dickens explores the theme of selfishness, but also its converse generosity, friendship and loyalty in this funny and richly-plotted novel. It features some of the most notorious Dickens villains, Seth Pecksniff and Jonas Chuzzlewit, as well as one of his most endearing characters, Tom Pinch. This captivating reading is by Sean Barrett, who was last heard in Bleak House. From AudioFile Neither Dickens's funniest work nor his most memorable, MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT is still a treasure trove of shameless scoundrels and delicious melodrama. The subject is hypocrisy, and Pecksniff is its avatar, though the drunk nurse Sairy Gamp isn't far behind him. Sean Barrett's Pecksniff is the epitome of smarm, hilariously unrepentant even when cornered. There are some production flaws--some levels inaudibly low and some edits too obvious--but nothing mars the pleasure of Barrett's performance, not least of crafty, old Martin Chuzzlewit himself. Chuzzlewit plays the gullible invalid for much of the story, querulous and difficult. The deep, full-throated virile-old-man voice Barrett switches to when he reveals his true nature is marvelous, like the tearing away of a curtain. B.G. AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine