The Man of Property (Forsyte Saga Vol. 1)
John Galsworthy
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
'The Forsyte Saga' is the story of a wealthy London family stretching from the eighteen-eighties until the nineteen-twenties. The Man of Property is the first book in the saga. The 'man of property' of the title is Soames Forsyte, a partner in the family law firm. He is married to Irene but the marriage is not happy and during the book she falls in love with another man.
Another branch of the family is headed by 'Old Jolyon,' estranged from his bohemian artist son 'Young Jolyon' and the story tells of their rapprochement and of Young Jolyon's daughter June who is engaged to an architect Philip Bosinney.
For those familiar with the Forsytes, this book takes us up to the night when Soames exercises his 'rights' and to the death of Bosinney. (Summary by Andy Minter) (0 hr 23 min)
Chapters
Reviews
quality control needed
Ziffy
OK, I can understand there might be a shortage of readers, but I can see no good reason to have a woman with a thick Eastern (?) European accent reading Galsworthy! To her credit, her elocution is fine, I but her accent renders the text almost unintelligible. Also, there needs to be some standard of consistency in pronunciation--is the female protagonist's name Eye-Reen, Eye-Reeny, or Ee-Raynay? (Oh, and the song is La Donna e Moh-be-lay, not Mo-Beel.)
A LibriVox Listener
Two excellent readers and one dreadful one. An Australian sounding accent who misread some words , left pauses in the wrong places thus rendering the text meaningless, a travesty of this fine writing. I agree that such dense and sometimes archaic style of writing should be left to more experienced readers.
Just couldn't handle Eva's accent and way of reading.
A LibriVox Listener
Just started listening first two chapters
dahszil
Galsworthy's wit is superb in his satire of the upper middle-upper class . Andy Minter (1934-2017) is in a better place. i feel Mr. Minters reincarnation is a good one in another time and place. the late great Andy Minter's reading is so good and brings out the hilarity of the first two chapters . laughing every four or five sentences. This has brought me out of a melancholy. ok , so did a Level 42 at Wembly 1986 video earlier this night, in a different way. God bless Andy Minter .....to be continued\ Internet Archive : We are grateful for the reading speed widget . However fast is too fast and slow mode should be somewhere in between normal and the too slow mode you are giving us now. Or just add the two suggested reading speeds to widget...... thank you
Excellent
KAB
This is an excellent, if sad, story. I'll definitely be continuing the series. What I think I appreciate the most about it is that it reveals the real humanity of this group of people who suffer as much as any human, but feel forced to hide it and so receive no comfort. If we could only realize how much alike we all are, there could be so much more compassion in the world! While I admit that one reader does have a strong accent, I didn't find her too difficult to understand. One reviewer's remarks against her were so strong as to sound racist (very ugly). Only one or two readers left something to be desired by way of their monotonous reading style, which deadened the impact is what should have been very poignant scenes. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed & devoured the book!
Wonderful book
Christine Zaf
This is the first of the Forsyte Saga trilogy. It is a wonderful book about family, wealth, old age, change and passion. I agree with the other reviewers of this book. Unfortunately a number of readers did not do justice to the book and was off-putting. Reading out loud while putting in the drama or comedy is a difficult thing to do. I cannot do it and that is a reason I do not volunteer. I began to get annoyed with some of the readings and almost stopped listening. However, Andy and Kirsten's wonderful narration of a number of the chapters was worth my continuing to listen.
Inconsistent
Alison
Sadly, overall, this recording does not do justice to Galsworthy’s lovely novel. I appreciate that the readers are volunteers and I did not expect professional level quality. However, several of the readers’ phrasing and cadence was so off it rendered the prose almost unintelligible. It was the only the excellent readings delivered by two or three of the narrators was what kept me persevering through the to the end, hoping to hear more from them.
Mixed Experience
grateful listener
Some readers are perfect! One reader's accent made the text impossible to understand. These kinds of readers should be directed to less demanding books or those in their native language. I could not finish hearing the book and note that the next book in the series has many chapters by the same reader. It is sad to lose the value of the efforts of readers who make Galsworthy come alive.