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Vera

by: Elizabeth von Arnim

Publication date: 2010-11-27

Usage: Public Domain Mark 1.0

Topics: llibrivox, audiobooks, fiction, marriage, black comedy

Language: English

LibriVox recording of Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim.
Read by Greg W.

Vera (1921) by Elizabeth von Arnim is a black comedy based on her disastrous second marriage to Earl Russell: a mordant analysis of the romantic delusions through which wives acquiesce in husbands' tyrannies. In outline the story of this utterly unromantic novel anticipates DuMaurier's Rebecca. Naive Lucy Entwhistle is swept into marriage by widower, Everard Wemyss. His mansion "The Willows" is pervaded by the spectre of his dead wife Vera, with whom Lucy becomes obsessed. ... Here the servants are partisan for both wives, and lose no opportunity to disrupt Everard's unctuous, oppressive household routines. An extraordinarily black vision of marriage, also continuously funny, the novel's power lies in the wit and economy of the usually prolix Von Arnim.(Introduction by Wikipedia)

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M4B audio book, part 1 (120mb)
M4B audio book, part 2 (117mb)

Addeddate: 2010-11-28 00:02:06

Boxid: OL100020205

Call number: 4812

External-identifier: urn:storj:bucket:jvrrslrv7u4ubxymktudgzt3hnpq:vera_1011_librivox

External_metadata_update: 2019-04-14T18:15:39Z

Identifier: vera_1011_librivox

Ocr: tesseract 5.0.0-1-g862e: language not currently OCRable

Ocr_autonomous: true

Ocr_module_version: 0.0.14

Ppi: 600

Run time: 8:33:48

Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text

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Reviews

Reviewer: TwinkieToes - - July 12, 2016
Subject: I had to quit listening

I had to stop listening. The previous reviewer nailed it: this is a portrayal of mental/emotional abuse. I've never experienced it, but I kept picturing a man I had briefly dated. His seeming devotion was similar, and I suspect his overbearing manipulation would have been similar, too. Thank God I didn't become a victim to it like Lucy does. I just couldn't take it anymore and had to stop listening.

The reader does an excellent job, and the technical quality is great.

Reviewer: benefitsingers - - September 19, 2012
Subject: A portrait of abuse

I am not really sure how anyone could say this book is a black comedy. Listening to the story all I could think about was my own sister who is in an abusive (mentally) marriage. I would encourage women to listen to this story because it truly portrays how and why women get themselves in these bad situations. The reader, Grew W. was excellent. He has to read and be the voice of a man who is very unlikeable and overbearing, he really is a fantastic reader and does an excellent job. I hope to find other narrations he has done. The story does end rather abruptly which I think in some ways even further adds to the bleakness of what Lucy's life will be.

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