Audiobook4 hours
Antonin Derues: Celebrated Crimes, book 8
Written by Alexandre Dumas
Narrated by Robert Bethune
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
To paraphrase the note from the translator, The Celebrated Crimes of Alexandre Dumas père was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language—has minced no words—to describe violent scenes of violent times.
In this, the eighth of the series, Dumas explores the depths of a soul, that of Antonin Derues, a man capable of the most amazing hypocrisy, perfidy, and cruelty. He was what we would know today as an extreme sociopath, a man willing to lie, cheat, steal and kill out of overwhelming avarice, with little or not compassion for his victims, or even understanding of what he forced upon them.
The place is Paris; the time is just before the Revolution. Dumas has no love for his subject; in several passages he lashes out at him with downright fury, and everywhere spares no pains to show us the worst of him. As is typical of his approach, he bases his story on the facts of the case, but does not hesitate to supply thoughts, words, and actions of his characters out of his imagination, in circumstances where no record of them can possibly exist.
Although he lays no stress upon it, his story of the hideous carrier of this infamous criminal also indicts the society of the time; a society in which a man who created a thorough appearance of the forms of religious feeling diverted all attention from his true nature--as shown by his actions.
If ever there was a story in which we are happy to see the bad guy get his comeuppance, it is certainly this one.
Enjoy!
In this, the eighth of the series, Dumas explores the depths of a soul, that of Antonin Derues, a man capable of the most amazing hypocrisy, perfidy, and cruelty. He was what we would know today as an extreme sociopath, a man willing to lie, cheat, steal and kill out of overwhelming avarice, with little or not compassion for his victims, or even understanding of what he forced upon them.
The place is Paris; the time is just before the Revolution. Dumas has no love for his subject; in several passages he lashes out at him with downright fury, and everywhere spares no pains to show us the worst of him. As is typical of his approach, he bases his story on the facts of the case, but does not hesitate to supply thoughts, words, and actions of his characters out of his imagination, in circumstances where no record of them can possibly exist.
Although he lays no stress upon it, his story of the hideous carrier of this infamous criminal also indicts the society of the time; a society in which a man who created a thorough appearance of the forms of religious feeling diverted all attention from his true nature--as shown by his actions.
If ever there was a story in which we are happy to see the bad guy get his comeuppance, it is certainly this one.
Enjoy!
Author
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was one of the literary lights of France during the Romantic Revolution, his complete works eventually filling over three hundred volumes. George Bernard Shaw described him as "one of the best storytellers…that ever lived." The Man in the Iron Mask and The Three Musketeers are available from Brilliance Audio.
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Titles in the series (17)
The Man in the Iron Mask: Celebrated Crimes, book 11 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Marquise de Ganges: Celebrated Crimes, Book 18 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joan of Naples: Celebrated Crimes, book 10 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Martin Guerre: Celebrated Crimes, book 12 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Antonin Derues: Celebrated Crimes, book 8 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Marquise de Brinvilliers: Celebrated Crimes, Book 16 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Countess of Saint-Geran: Celebrated Crimes, book 14 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ali Pasha: Celebrated Crimes book 13 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Murat: Celebrated Crimes, book 15 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Borgias: Celebrated Crimes, Book 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vaninka: Celebrated Crimes, Book 17 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Massacres of the South: Celebrated Crimes, Book 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUrbain Grandier: Celebrated Crimes, Book 6 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Karl-Ludwig Sand: Celebrated Crimes, Book 5 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nisida: Celebrated Crimes, Book 7 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Stuart: Celebrated Crimes: Book 4 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cenci: Celebrated Crimes, Book 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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