The Ballad of Peckham Rye
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The Ballad of Peckham Rye
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Narrated by:
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Nadia May
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By:
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Muriel Spark
About this listen
When the firm of Meadows, Meade & Grindley hires Dougal Douglas (a.k.a. Douglas Dougal) to do "human research" into the private lives of its workforce, they are in no way prepared for the mayhem, mutiny, and murder he will stir up. In fact, this Music Man of the thoroughly modern corporation changes the lives of all the eccentric characters he meets, from Miss Merle Coverdale, head of the typing pool, to V.R. Druce, unsuspecting Managing Director.
This is Dame Muriel Spark at her most devilishly piquant.
©1960 Muriel Spark (P)1996 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"Not only funny but startlingly original, the legendary character of Dougal Douglas....may not have been boasting when he referred so blithely to his association with the devil." ( Washington Post)
What listeners say about The Ballad of Peckham Rye
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alice
- 09-09-15
Great performance of a fantastic novel.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Absolutely - this novel is one of my favourites, and the performance certainly did it justice.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- L
- 21-10-16
Dougal Douglas comes to town
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Only to friends who are interested in slower-pace fiction, and ones that have little plot.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
I was very satisfied with it.
What about Nadia May’s performance did you like?
She was lively and told the story well, and I felt like she was connecting me with the characters.
Any additional comments?
This book is a bit bizarre, and therefore is rather hard to actually review. The story is somewhat listless, before making its way to a point, but even that is vague. However, there were fun bits, funny bits, parts where you were waiting to find out what happened next...
It also provided a pretty interesting perspective, and I loved listening to description of Peckham Rye, somewhere I once lived.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- K. Manwaring
- 26-10-18
Sympathy for the Devil
A witty resituating of 'Master and Margarita' in London. A brilliant satire of English life.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- The Fount
- 24-04-21
Puzzling
I have enjoyed several books by this author in the past, but have given up with this one after three chapters. None of the characters seem to have a "character". There does not appear to be an identifiable plotline. If you are searching for an audiobook to send you off to sleep, this one will do admirably.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Louise
- 18-06-22
Did not finish
I wouldn’t usually review a book that I did not finish, but this has so few reviews that it might be helpful to do so.
The narration was quite nice but, as the protagonist was a man, I would have preferred a male narrator.
In terms of the story, I didn’t feel that the characters were well developed by the point at which I abandoned the book. I found that I simply didn’t care. The plot-line was very odd. I didn’t fully understand why Dougal Douglas had been hired or what his purpose was. I didn’t find the humour laugh out loud funny.
I really wanted to like this book, but I simply couldn’t immerse myself in the story and I’m not sure what the story was trying to achieve, or indeed what the theme was.
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