Man and Wife
Wilkie Collins
Lu par LibriVox Volunteers
This 1870 novel by Wilkie Collins centers around a peculiarity of Scottish law of that time, according to which any man and woman 'who were legally entitled to marry and who asserted that they were married before witnesses, or in writing, were regarded in Scotland as being married in law.' This strange law causes the characters Arnold and Geoffrey both possibly accidentally marrying Anne, though one is engaged to another woman and the other is searching for a more wealthy wife to accommodate his lifestyle. In these circumstances, Anne needs to catch an actual husband in order to save her reputation... - Summary by Carolin and Wikipedia (24 hr 18 min)
Chapitres
Critiques
READER IMPROVEMENT
Exasperated
Please can I recommend that SanaGadani does not continue to read these audio books unless she takes lessons in diction and how to phrase and pause so as to make the story intelligible. A little humility in learning the art of speaking out loud in readings in a foreign language, in this case English, must surely benefit the reader/listener and herself as she seems to know the language well but pronounces it with unclear diction and occasional mispronunciation, and phrases her reading like a running stream without the necessary pauses between clauses and at full stops. As she reads now it is distressing to the reader who loses the meaning therefore the subtle twists and turns of Wilkie Collins narrative which so relies on language. She has two chapters which are crucial to the plot and in both cases her indistinct speech and lack of phrasing has caused confusion and irritation. I would like to thank her for her efforts and dedication to these books but also encourage her to make some improvements before reading again.
agree with review—Reader improvement
captivating
I love the book but the reader as pointed out by others takes away from the flow of the book. When she reads I’m at a total loss of the story line. I find myself zoning out and praying for her to finish. Again I love all of Wilkie Collins books
SPOILERS
Nev
I absolutely judged the book by it's cover & thought I was reaching to a light & enjoyable read. THE MISTAKES WE MAKE DAILY.... This book is slow, dreadful and unnecessary detailed. I assume this was normal back in the day, but I was exhausted listening to the damn thing. The story is beautiful, of course we get the happy ending but, OMG! Every step has a massive divination of the main plot, we listen to what it felt like 20 readers. Most of them can't say the bad guys name. Or use voices so completely dissimilar to their "colleagues" that it's was a trial. I have myself to blame for the 2 days headache, but I can't drop a book, I gotta know the end & at some point I was too invested. But seriously EVERYTHING that could or couldn't go wrong went above & beyond wrong. The claimed marriage of two people who had no inclination to marry. The inability of the lover to let his lady know the truth. The uncle who'd seen how this will affect everyone but kept quiet. Too many things to mention.... Exhausting.
Beautiful sisterhood!
mamacheetah
The Scottish marriage of law makes this story so intricately interesting. Ann Silvester sacrificed her life for her beloved friend. Declaring her secret and accidental by law marriage (which used to be something she always dreamed of) to the man who turned out to be a liar and opportunist. She declared the marriage in a court, to safe her bestfriend's marriage. She then lived her horrible marriage life, and almost got murdered by her husband. It's a good thing that this story has a happy ending. I always love Wilkie Collins.
Loved It
SMM
Loved it as with WK’s other books. But I’m inclined to agree with the other listeners. While I do appreciate them, some are hard to understand and therefore interrupt the flow. One reader in particular needs to slow down. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
BRAVO BRAVO
Avid Listener
WK strikes again. He always weaves a convoluted web and makes the reader agonize to the very end before resolving the drama. Never has he made us wait so long as on this occasion. And never has the ending been sweeter--two words.
readers distracting
BB
I don't like the changing readers. I realize they are volunteers but some are poor readers . I was good until Chapter 3, from there on, it was bad, so I gave up.
agree on reader
arwei
Please apply higher standards to the readers. One was so unintelligible that I had to skip her chapters. The novel was unusual and interesting- makes you appreciate the laws today!