Product Description
Eye-catching 2009 film tie-in artwork graces the cover of this classic audiobook - read with the right balance of wonder and edginess by Rupert Graves, who lists "The Forsyte Saga" television series as one of his many stage and screen credits. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is a timeless classic about a man who is also timeless - literally. Despising ugliness and the aging process, he yearns for an alternative to growing old, and in the artist Basil Hallward finds his life-changing answer. Dorian follows a hedonistic and objectified path and makes a listener question their own dreams of eternal youth - is it a blessing or a curse? This title is abridged. It includes 3CDs/3Hrs/ISBN: 9781906147501/ Cat Number: TT3CD 114. ... Read more

Product Description
The wish spoken by Dorian Gray as he looks at his portrait forms the basis of the plot of this story of a gilded and spoilt hedonist who is willing to sell his soul for his beauty. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
The sensitive and poetic Richard II is undoubtedly the rightful king of England, but he is unscrupulous and weak. When his cousin Henry Bolingbroke returns from banishment to usurp the crown, Richard's right to the throne proves of little help to him. Richard is forced to abdicate, but as his power is stripped away, he gains dignity and self-awareness, and he meets his death heroically. Performed by Rupert Graves, Julian Glover, and the Arkangel cast. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Marred by weak performance in the title role
This is typical of many of the Arkangel series of Shakespeare productions: an atmospheric and overall fine rendition of the play marred by a weak performance in the major role. Unfortunately, Rupert Graves gives a bloodless reading of the Richard II part, with a generally flat and arhythmical delivery of the glorious lines. It sounds as if he doesn't understand what he's saying and so he tries to kick the lines into life with melodramatic emphases but these sound forced and unconvincing. However, the supporting cast is far superior on the whole, the sound-effects and pacing are arresting, and Dominique Le Gendre's music is, as usual in this series, ravishing.

Spellbinding production of this grim masterpiece
Arkangel have produced a highly listenable edition of 'Richard II', which (along with the Roman plays like 'Coriolanus') contains some of Shakespeare's most powerful political insights.

Arkangel's production never allows the listener to forget the subtle complexities at work. The actors do a marvellous job wringing meaning out of lines which might never have been gleaned from the written text, and the unspoken nuances, for instance, when Mowbray is told of his banishment, are palpable. The opening scene is intensely acted, with Bolingbroke and Norfolk spitting venom at each other before a king whose decadent boredom is obvious. Rupert Graves is excellent as Richard II, with highly expressive delivery (amused condescension, anger etc.) changing as his character's situation changes.

Also worth mentioning (in a play that completely lacks humour) is John Nettleton as the Duke of York, coming across as such a pompous old duffer that I almost laughed out loud each time he opened his mouth. The play's music is highly memorable, too, and was stuck in my head for days.

A Wonderful Audio Production
I recently purchased this Richard II audio play. It is superb and one of the best Arkangel productions, and I have many. The cast and crew did such a fine job, this history rose to be one of my favorite Shakespeare works. You will be enthralled by the drama of one all-powerful monarch being swept away by another. A wonderful Rupert Graves as Richard brings the king's complex character to life. He will move you from early detest of King Richard's selfish and petty evils and arrogance, to pity as Richard tumbles from the heights of power and glory to a lonely and violent end. The production quality is so high one feels like an eavesdropper on the real historical events as they are happening. You will not be disappointed with this purchase. ... Read more

Product Description
The wish spoken by Dorian Gray as he looks at his portrait forms the basis of the plot of this story of a gilded and spoilt hedonist who is willing to sell his soul for his beauty.Amazon.com Review
A lush, cautionary tale of a life of vileness and deception ora loving portrait of the aesthetic impulse run rampant? Why not both?After Basil Hallward paints a beautiful, young man's portrait, hissubject's frivolous wish that the picture change and he remain thesame comes true. Dorian Gray's picture grows aged and corrupt while hecontinues to appear fresh and innocent. After he kills a young woman,"as surely as if I had cut her little throat with a knife,"Dorian Gray is surprised to find no difference in his vision orsurroundings. "The roses are not less lovely for all that. Thebirds sing just as happily in my garden."

As Hallward tries to make sense of his creation, his epigram-happyfriend Lord Henry Wotton encourages Dorian in his sensual quest withany number of Wildean paradoxes, including the delightful "Whenwe are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are notalways happy." But despite its many languorous pleasures, ThePicture of Dorian Gray is an imperfect work. Compared to the two(voyeuristic) older men, Dorian is a bore, and his search for ever newsensations far less fun than the novel's drawing-roomdiscussions. Even more oddly, the moral message of the novelcontradicts many of Wilde's supposed aims, not least "no artisthas ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is anunpardonable mannerism of style." Nonetheless, the glamour boygets his just deserts. And Wilde, defending Dorian Gray, had it bothways: "All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its ownpunishment." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (391)

Where is the famous preface?
The preface is missing which is a critical to the book! Print it out from some other source if you are going to buy this edition. The story is amazing otherwise!

Re-read
I grew up reading the classics, and as a young child this story terrified me.I re-read it and enjoyed it again!

Read it once, but only once
The most disappointing part of this book is that it read more like a non-fiction philosophy book than a story or novel. I would say 70% of the pages were portrayed as thoughts of a character or a speech of a character contemplating life, women, how we are suppose to live, etc.

The actual story was hidden throughout the book, but you have to drone on through many pages to find it. The story itself is highly predictable and yet still has many missing parts to it. Many years of Dorian Gray's life is missing where it is hinted to that he commit's the most awful sins. I think reading of those sinful actions was to be more entertaining than the rabbit trails that Wilde goes on.

Despite these facts, I am glad that I read the book once. It held my attention enough and was brilliant enough that I did learn something from the book, which is a great accomplishment in itself, to teach a reader a few principals that may slightly help or change on any small level, the readers actions. So I do recommend this book if you have no more pressing serious books on your reading list.

On a side note, I do disagree with all the reviews I have seen on this book where the reader says that they can not relate to Dorian Gray's sins and that his sins are outdated. His chief sins in the book are (SMALL SPOILER ALERT) murder, drug use, pride, treating others harshly and without respect, using women in many ways, etc. are all sins practiced today even if they are not practiced exactly the way they are in the book. If you can relate to none of those sins in any way, then you are a better person than I, or suffer from foolish pride which is the chief sin in the book.

The Picture of Dorian Gray
I am pleased with my shipping and the product is how it was described. Fast shipping.

Well written, but not enjoyable
I read this book as a child (around 11) in Russian. Finally decided to re-read it in English. I was astonished as to how differently I perceived it this time around. Without a question, Wilde is a master of words, but the subject of this book was questionable. It appeared to me, that Wilde was set on pushing his own philosophy and views of life and self onto others, and, as I read it, I found myself rejecting it with every fiber of my being. I was rather surprised to have such a strong reaction to this piece of literature. Would not read again and would not recommend it to others either. Just my two cents. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from National Catholic Reporter, published by Thomson Gale on September 14, 2007. The length of the article is 996 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Documenting the chaos in Iraq: 'No End in Sight' looks at the U.S. occupation of Iraq; 'Death at a Funeral' tries too hard.(MOVIES)(Movie review)
Author: Joseph Cunneen
Publication: National Catholic Reporter (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 14, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 43Issue: 37Page: 17(1)

Article Type: Movie review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
This highly illustrated and action-packed book with 40 pages of photographs and with maps tells the story of a young adventurer's escape froma British internment camp in India during WWII and his dramatic trek through rugged Himalayan passes to sanctuary in the Forbidden City of Lhasa ... Read more

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The Great War now known as World War I was one of the crucial events in the history of the 20th century. The war was unprecedented in scale and intensity, with more men fighting and more casualties in action than any war before. Over 60 million soldiers took part. The war claimed over 40 million casualties, including approximately 20 million civilian and military dead. Many of the events attendant upon the war - blockade, revolution, genocide and disease - increased the misery. For this reason, the war is vividly remembered even today as a historic human tragedy.

Albert Frederick Pollard was a British historian who specialized in political history. Pollard studied and wrote about the history from a political viewpoint. Later in his career, he was a major force in establishing history as an academic subject in Britain.

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