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The Spire

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The Spire

By: William Golding
Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
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About this listen

Dean Jocelin has a vision: that God has chosen him to erect a great spire on his cathedral. His mason anxiously advises against it, for the old cathedral was built without foundations. Nevertheless, the spire rises octagon upon octagon, pinnacle by pinnacle, until the stone pillars shriek and the ground beneath it swims. Its shadow falls ever darker on the world below, and on Dean Jocelin in particular.
From the author of Lord of the Flies, The Spire is a dark and powerful portrait of one man's will, and the folly that he creates.

©1964 William Golding (P)2014 Faber & Faber Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Thought-Provoking

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All stars
Most relevant  
I struggled with it the narrator and was good that is why I finished the story

Could not gets to grips with story

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I doubt I could have managed this book in print alone; but I might buy it for further study now having understood and enjoyed much of the text due to the spectacular narrration.

Spectacular narration

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Brilliantly acted by Dominic Cumberbatch, this is a story of one man's descent into madness. Not the easiest of listens, nor the most entertaining, it is nevertheless an interesting example of William Golding's work.

A story of obsession, faith and madness

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Really enjoyed this,being a Salisbury boy .Ben does the voices really well .going to listen again

Great

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This may be a classic; certainly Golding got the Nobel prize but this work could and should have been abridged. The text is an open invitation not just to hamming up but to caricature.

The theme and symbolism are clear enough but the disintegration of the egregious Jocelyn went on too long although Adam’s flaying of his over-ambitious former novice is well done and to the point: plenty like him still around!

BC’s exaggeration subsists in his use of sub-stage whispering which producers should have monitored: Jicelyn’s clerical delivery is even worse than the vicar’s in the BBC’s comedy series ‘The navy lark,’ although, in fairness, the master-builder is well done given the occasional very uncharacteristic lines he gets.

Just because a work comes from someone celebrated as a great author it doesn’t mean we have to swallow it whole and assume it!s our failure if we don’t ‘get it:’ many great writers produced some forgettable stuff. I wouldn’t quite consign such a novel to the dust bin but feel very sorry to have had to stagger through this reading only to discover that obsessive spiritual pride damages and contaminates everyone and everything around, and that could have been dealt with in half the verbiage and less than half the melodrama.

Got the hamming up it deserves

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Loved the novel.
Reconstructed here with a master-builder of a narrator: all the power and pathos and light and shade. A masterclass in worship, an expose of hubris and a treat for the ears.

Treat yourself...an audio masterpiece

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A really well read and write book however as a stonemasonry I just didn't buy into the characters. The Dean and the master builder would have been the very best of the best in this book they both came across as rather dim. some of the terminology is odd too. The authors talks about the stair wells or spiral stairs as corkscrew stairs case. it doesn't take a historian to understand that corkscrews were not invented until much later than 14th century.
Not really what I hoped for I wouldn't recommend it.

as a stonemasonry I was unconvinced

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Beautifully read. Stunning complex story of folly and pride. Highly recommend it though it requires some concentration!

Stunning

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a tale of hopeful despair. well written. .. if you like that sort of thing!

a tale of hopeful despair. well written. .. if yo

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It wasn't easy to access in a way but it was worth sticking with it. The performance was wonderful and the story, however tragic, was deeply symbolic and stimulated lots of reflection for me.

Not easy but worth it.

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