The Nose

A Nikolai Gogol Story

By: Nikolai Gogol

Narrated by: Deaver Brown

Length: 1 hr

Publisher's summary

"The Nose" is the second best known story of Gogol, after "The Overcoat". A military major discovers his nose is missing and works to recover it. He finds the nose but it pretends to have a life of its own, as a fellow human. It in fact has a higher rank than the Major himself. The Major is perplexed, goes back to his apartment, and has the nose returned to him. With great joy he recovers his nose, only to find it won't reattach to his face. After much going on, he finds the nose reattached to his face. The fun of the story are the goings on, which have made this a favorite of all readers of Russian literature.

Public Domain (P)2010 Christina Brown

I have to agree

The previous poster is correct that this is a thoroughly amateur reading. In addition, there is a lengthy introduction at the beginning which talks *about* the story, *before* you have heard the story. Very annoying.

WEIRD STORY

Would you consider the audio edition of The Nose to be better than the print version?

NEITHER, I WAS REQUIRED TO READ THIS. IT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT I WOULD HAVE CHOSE TO READ.

Who was your favorite character and why?

DIDNT HAVE ONE

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

NO, IT SOUNDED LIKE THE NARRARATOR HAD SOMETHING IN HIS MOUTH AND HESITATED BETWEEN WORDS ALOT.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

NO REALLY

Any additional comments?

IT WAS BORING TO ME.

Worth it, despite REALLY BAD narration

For me, this story overcame the horrific narration. The story is a farcical tale of a man who loses his nose. The wonderful seriousness the characters take with the situation, I found quite enjoyable. This is not quite the worst narration I have ever heard, but it was close. There were many weird pauses as the narrator lost his place, stumbling, mispronunciations, and more. I had an odd sized cash credit, so I used it on a bunch of very cheap selections that were not worth a real credit (all under $2). This is one of those. So, if you haven’t heard the story, and don’t mind the poor narration, it might be worth the cost.

The cadence and inflection of the narrator is terr

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No, the narrator is horrible.

What didn’t you like about Deaver Brown’s performance?

He is tongue tied at parts. He swallows whole sentences. It is horrible to listen to and hard to follow.

Was The Nose worth the listening time?

No.

Amusing story, held back by mediocre reading.

Amusing story, held back by mediocre reading. Worth it, given I only spent $1 on it ...

Wonderful story, appalling narration

The story itself is a gem; not only is it Russian humor at its very best, it also has a distinct Kafka-esque, "magical realism" vibe, which is impressive given that this was written 50 years before Kafka was born. For this (and this alone) I give it five stars.

And now for the narration: Audible doesn't currently carry any other version of this story, but if they ever do I would say get the other one. This version might have been forgivable as a free librivox recording, but even most librivox books sound more professional than this. The narrator sounds like he can barely follow the text. He is apparently surprised at every line break and needs to pause and gather his wits at odd points in every other sentence. Thankfully, even he isn't able to ruin this truly great story (but he sure tries).

So, in other words: wonderful story, but not worth buying if you can get a different version.

You get what you pay for

i reccomend you to pay some more to get a better narrator. I could finish with this one.

wonderful classic letdown by poor narration

What made the experience of listening to The Nose the most enjoyable?

The story itself, the characters and Nikolai Gogol's fabulous writing. I always like hearing how it is an "absurdist" tale, when he was commenting on the absurdity of the ills in that (and this) society...

What other book might you compare The Nose to and why?

Most comparable to Picasso's faces more than another book. But possibly something like Salman Rushdie's "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" for it's satiric, magical fable quality.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

It sounded like he remembered he had remembered he had to read the book in between having his coffee and possibly watching the football (or similar). It was disappointing, and even though I have bought it, I am not sure I can struggle through "The Overcoat" with the same narrator. The uninterested tone, poor pronounciation were very much a letdown. You should have got the guy who did Bulgakov's "Heart of A Dog"!!!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I always love reading/listening to the section about the barber, who not daring to annoy his wife first thing in the morning, opts only for coffee... forgoing the the onion bread (fresh out of the oven) the thing that he really wants. I love the characters, they are so real...

Terrible narrator!!!!

I am surprised that such an incredibly bad performance is even offered for sale! The narrator is clearly a complete amateur who has no what he's doing. He stumbles over sentences, loses his place, skips and mispronounces words almost as a matter of course. This is a hilarious short story butchered by an abysmal performance. Run away from this recording.

Painful

How could the performance have been better?

Pick a different narrator and put them in a professional recording studio.

Any additional comments?

The recording quality is so bad and the narrator so awful that Audible should be giving this away for free. Be sure to listen to the sample before you purchase.