A Tale of Two Cities

By: Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Richard Pasco

A Tale of Two Cities, one of Charles Dickens' most popular works, is highly recognized for its opening line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The two cities of the title are Paris and London; the time is the height of the French Revolution. From the gripping opening scene of the coach drive to the heroic climax in the shadow of the guillotine, Dickens creates a vivid picture of social turmoil and the unfolding of a dramatic love story.(P)1983 HNP, Produced by Felix Fisher

Classic still stands the time

Beautiful story! In the best of times and in the worst of times…. Quite literally and figuratively!

Historical Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities seems to me one of the least Dickensian of Dickens' novels. It is my least favorite of his completed later works. Richard Pasco does a good job reading the book, but the female voices are a bit of a problem. The recording is fine.

Great

The reader, Richard Pasco, is one of the best I have ever heard. His performance was outstanding.

THRILLING!

Dicken's deep intuition into human character and thought and the sophistication of his powers of observation are so exciting. The narrator, a Shakespearean actor of wonderful skill, gives a thrilling performance. His characterization of Cruncher is especially delicious! Great listen.

Unbelievable!

What a great story! What an awesome performance by the narrator! I see now why "A Tale of Two Cities" is regarded as a timeless literary classic. Well done!

Incredible reading of this book

The narrator’s voices and telling of this story are impressive and impeccable. He even uses appropriate sighs, gasps, and sounds in his telling. Makes you believe you are in the actual presence of the characters. I am downloading this telling of this audio book even though it is a free selection because of how excellently it is told. It is something I will listen to again and again. Bravo to Richard Pasco the narrator and of course Bravo to Mr. Dickens who so beautifully and eloquently wrote this story.

almost great

To me, this just missed being a great listen. Although others have said they liked the narrator, I found him a touch too melodramatic in many places, highlighting that weaker aspect of the novel. I wish that I had downloaded the F Davidson version instead.

Some of the online "product descriptions" call this Dickens' only "not comic" novel -- I thought 2 Cities contained much excellent ironic humour.

Very good reading of a great book

A Tale of Two Cities has always been a favorite book, the tragedy, the intrigue, the sweep of fate. But I didn't realize how much of the book I was skimming over when reading it until I listened to the audio. The narrator is excellent. His use of different voices is seamless and well done, adding much to the understanding of the book. The portrayed emotion also is excellent. I enjoyed this recording immensely.

Tale of Two Cities

Remarkable book and narrator (Richard Pasco) who brings this book to life. Dickens immerses you in France and England during the time leading up to and then into the French Revolution. His language, phrases and descriptions are so beautifully crafted that many will remain with me forever. His insights, characterizations, understanding of human relationships, class structure, social and political conditions, are both specific to that period as well as being contemporary and relevant. That really surprised me. And, while dealing with very hard, often trajic conditions, there is also irony and humor, suspense and action, and very interesting, complex human beings. Though a few of Dicken's characters are two dimensional, given the depth and humanity of this amazing novel, and that it was originally published, I believe, as a serial! that is to be forgiven. Pasco is an excellent and skillful narrator, making any unfamiliar terms and language nuances "non-issues" as you become so engrossed with listening to him reading this wonderful and moving tale. He even does the female narration credibly (often an issue with male readers of female parts.) This has become one of my favorite books, and I'm grateful that I tried this "classic".

Great performance of a timeless classic

Recorded in 1983, this audio is as clear as yesterday. The reading is dramatic without being excessive and the voices are mostly good. There were a few places where two-party dialog was hard to follow when the voices were similar, and sometimes Lucie and Jerry were almost a whisper. Miss Pross is the best.

The story is a little slow in places during the first two books but if you appreciate Dickens' satirical humor it's still a fun listen. I found the story itself was somewhat predictable because of Dickens' use of foreshadowing and metaphor, but that made it stronger.

In summary, this book is a classic for obvious reasons. It is deep, but not too deep. It is about suffering, but filled with love and life and hope. It was the best couple bucks I've spent at Audible yet.