Been listening to the well performed youtube audiobooks of #ShortStories that are collected in #WSomersetMaugham's #TheCasuarinaTree (1926).
Four stories listened to so far, not quite in order, and it looks clear that the violence of, and corrosive effects of, #Colonialism was common knowledge in Britain.
Before the Party
P. & O.
The Outstation
The Force of Circumstance
The Yellow Streak
The Letter
A novel #TheHouseOfDoors and #TheLetter are both based on a real event.
a moth
"Don't harm it", he said, "They're the souls of the people we once loved come to visit us, to watch over us."
- Arthur (a character in #TheHouseOfDoors by #TanTwangEng)
1/?We're listening to the #Audiobook of #TheHouseOfDoors again.
The Prologue specifically.
The reader/performer is doing different voices for each character.
The prologue is in the first person.
Lesley appears to find the postman highly sexually desirable.
She "followed him with my EYES", and "he dismounted from his bicycle (underlined) and PROPPED IT against its kickstand".
The postman going from the accent performed is a Jamaican-Irishman. Called Johan.
Continued ...
#ElderlyRelative is listening to #AudioBook #TheHouseOfDoors by #TanTwanEng.
Hmmm.
Why would the reader/performer of the prologue say "Droenfontein".
Isn't it #Doornfontein?
So now I've got ongoing doubts about the performer's faithfulness to the book and the accuracy of any emphasis they make in their speech.
Don't know how much audiobook performers get paid. Maybe it isn't enough to get correct pronounciation happening for unfamilar words?
And where is their editor?
Commencing the marathon of reading the #Booker long list this year with #TanTwanEng's #TheHouseOfDoors. I was unsure about this seemingly traditional historical novel but was beguiled and left totally satisfied by the end. It's poetic pages hold multiple layers of reflection on love, marriage, betrayal and the nature of writing. @bookstodon
Read the Booker Prize 2023 longlist: an extract from The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng | The Booker Prizes
https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/read-the-booker-prize-2023-longlist-an-extract-from-the-house-of-doors
