Book reviews: fiction from Yann Martel, Ernest Bramah and Charles Dickens
Martel is moving and redeeming once he gets the whimsy out of the way; Bramah, a forgotten bestseller of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, gets the Stephen Fry treatment;
and Richard Armitage relishes the many voices of DickensPUBLISHED : Saturday, 27 February, 2016, 9:00pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 27 February, 2016, 9:00pm
James Kidd
thereview@scmp.comDavid Copperfield
by Charles Dickens (read by Richard Armitage)
Audible Studios (audiobook)
You may have seen Richard Armitage in full-body acting action as Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit, or the serial killer Francis Dolarhyde in Silence of the Lambs spin-off Hannibal. Audiobook fans may have heard him narrating Hamlet (the novel), which won Audible’s 2014 audiobook of the year.
His range of voices – unlike some he doesn’t hold back on accents or characterisation – means it was only a matter of time before he attempted a big Dickens, having read the Christmas story The Chimes last December. And here it is: his David Copperfield is a 36-hour epic which stretches his full range. Armitage narrates Dickens’ own vibrant narration with humour and melody, but you have to tip your hat to the diversity and consistency of his voicing, from the simpering, slippery Uriah Heep to the well-spoken bounder James Steerforth. The exception, of course, is David himself, whom Armitage develops from helpless child to confused, aspiring young man to mature, redeemed adult. Armitage passed my own tests, which were making Mr Murdstone a greater monster than, say, the murderer Magwitch in Great Expectations and presenting Mr Micawber as an infuriating, lovable rogue. If you have a spare day and half, I urge you to clamp headphones over your ears.