GREAT EXPECTATIONS

GREAT EXPECTATIONS is often considered Dickens’s greatest novel, and there can be no better way to revisit it—or experience it for the first time—than through the narration of Martin Jarvis. Recorded in 1984, this rereleased BBC production is stunning in the way Jarvis gives unique voices to each character. He is a one-man full-cast recording, handling men, women, Londoners, country people, and all classes of humanity with remarkable versatility. The lawyer Jaggers is perfectly intimidating, Pip’s friend Herbert is ebullient, and poor Miss Haversham is irresistibly maudlin. At more than 17 hours, not a moment of the narration drags, even during the many chapters that do little to advance the plot. It simply doesn’t get any better than this. D.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 08]