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Under Western Eyes

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Under Western Eyes

By: Joseph Conrad
Narrated by: David Horovitch
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About this listen

A gripping tale of espionage that influenced Graham Greene, Somerset Maugham and John le Carré, Under Western Eyes follows the story of Kyrilo Sidorovitch Razumov, an apolitical student who becomes a Czarist spy. Following a political assassination, he returns to his room to discover the culprit, Victor Haldin, who asks for help in making his escape. Fearing the authorities, Razumov betrays Haldin to the police, who then dispatch Razumov to Switzerland to spy on a group of Russian revolutionaries. While there, he meets Haldin’s sister, Natalia, with whom he falls in love, leading to feelings of loss and torment.

Considered to be one of Conrad’s major works, Under Western Eyes is a cynical take on revolutionary movements and ideals that explores similar territory to The Secret Agent. Its feelings of menace and guilt are reminiscent of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, to which Under Western Eyes is widely seen as a response.

Public Domain (P)2025 Naxos AudioBooks UK Ltd. Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Espionage
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Wonderful voice actor/narrator, but not the right choice for this book. The characters are mainly in their 20’s, but it’s hard to get to their characters, moods, reactions and interactions when they sound like they’re in their 70’s. The story is dynamic, and tells of youths thrust into a world of intrigue beyond their years. However that narrator’s mature voice makes the dialogues drab, and overly subdues the emotions, etc of the characters. It’s impossible to separate the characters’ maturity and positions, making it hard to follow the story.
A shame as it’s a mismatch that does neither the story nor the narrator credit.

Wrong voice for this book

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