HARD TIMES

Anton Lesser finds the emotive force behind Dickens’s bleak social commentary, HARD TIMES, and gives it a unique reading. Dickens’s stock characters are fleshed out by Lesser’s quavering voice and given outward emotions, making these Victorian-era personas more accessible to contemporary listeners. Atypical for a Dickens story, HARD TIMES lacks any comic relief and reads like a case study of the industrial and utilitarian culture and how the inhabitants of a town built around those ideals are beaten down by it. By reading with a voice more suited to a period romance, Lesser places the emphasis on the feelings of the characters, effectively softening the edges of HARD TIMES. F.T. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2012]