Henry & June

By: Anais Nin

Narrated by: Cherie Lunghi

Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Anais Nin wrote her diary at the end of 1931, at the close of a sexually tumultuous and emotional year as part of a ménage a trois with fellow writer Henry Miller and his beautiful wife June Mansfield.

'I really believe that if I were not a writer, not a creator, not an experimenter, I might have been a very faithful wife.' Nin's passionate and consuming relationship with Henry & June transformed a previously monogamous wife into an uninhibited and sexually liberated woman. Henry & June is a forthright and riveting account of a woman discovering her sensuality.

Our production is read by Cherie Lunghi. As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company she has appeared in London and Stratford in many of its productions. Amongst her many film appearances have been Roland Joffe's 'The Mission', John Boorman's 'Excalibur' and Kenneth Branagh's 'Frankenstein'.

©2008 Copyright Group Ltd (P)2008 Allure Audio

Excellent reader

Great book. The reader’s tone is appropriate to the material. Lovely and excellent pace. The overall good recording with musical interludes.

Strange background noise in the recording

Strange background noise in the recording, a low voice. Lovely story but It’s maddening to listen to it. Couldn’t finish it.

Self-awareness explodes

Senseual ,sexual, gentle, brutal, piercing and defensive stream off the page and touches every place in fact that most of us have o ony thought. I loved her, it and the relationships she describes. I also hate and fear some of them.

Good but...

I didn't realize this wasn't the full book. That was my fault. Overall it was good and I felt like the reader did well.

entertaining

I am glad I started my nin discovery with.this book!! I am going ahead with more of her works.

I’ve been kind because Nin was young

Trigger warning: In her late twenties at the time this was written, Nin was self-centered, selfish and full of naive ideas. To her credit she was aware of these attitudes to a good degree and since these were journal entries, knew she would not be shamed or censored, and was possibly, largely honest. But there is much aggrandizement and excessive desire boasted about which sounds pushed and false, as though she was attempting to make herself believe she was more reckless than she actually was. I didn’t fall for it. Nin even mentioned that Miller and her therapist noticed similar shades in her personality and then clearly took advantage; she also of them. Her put-on sexuality was vengeful, but she knew that; it was also an awakening and a reckoning. Ultimately she wrote about a plan to lure her father (who sexually abused her) to bed, which she did do when she was thirty. This isn’t really about Henry and June as much as it is about how she worked through her own sexual abuse wounds, inadequacies and fears by having sex with all those closest to her. In that way she faced full-force what initially made her feel repressed. Her activities seem to have strengthened her, made her feel powerful and confident enough to take her ultimate revenge and control over her father, probably laugh to herself afterward and walk away, completely flipping the tables on him. I’m certainly not saying that’s the road to take, just that she did. I’ve not read the remainder of her journals, and question much of what she says. She was a notorious liar. Keep in mind, this book is part of the entirety of her journals. For myself I’m glad this book is relatively short. I found her endless ramblings about her ‘passions’ and detailed descriptions of her sexual escapades tiresome very early on in the book. Her character reminds me somewhat, in attitude, of Leslie in William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice, with the exception of course that she actually did just about everything she described; or did she? Still, she had great insight into her own mind and found a path, albeit a dangerous one, through her pain. I’ll be reading more of her journals, so am anxious to know more about her as she matured.

Not Just These Days

To me the story is very telling of the kind of being man (and woman) really are. The story coming from 1931, my generation has been told that the 1970s were the years of the sexual revolution. To the contrary of this story, it may have happened way before then and before this writing. While most people will never go to the depths that are told in this book, the sexual mind will take them there time and time again regardless of your public portrayal. You know it's true.

Confusing Narrator

The narrator's voice is a low, breathy contralto. Very low. Although she is an excellent reader, the deep quality of her voice makes this already melodramatic text a caricature of itself. It flattens the quality of the listening experience, and makes it hard to take the content seriously.

Disappointing

Please do not waist your money on this reading. It is only 2 hours long and has been edited to a point beyond recognition of the original.
Anais Nin, born in Paris in 1903. A true feminist. Do find an original copy of the book “Henry and June”, 274 pages.
A beautiful erotic book.