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Hard Times cover art

Hard Times

By: Charles Dickens
Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
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Summary

Exclusively from Audible

Despite the title, Dickens's portrayal of early industrial society is less relentlessly grim than that in novels by contemporaries such as Elizabeth Gaskell or Charles Kingsley.

Hard Times weaves the tale of Thomas Gradgrind, a hard-headed politician who raises his children Louisa and Tom without love and to have no empathy, their lives completely devoid of beauty, culture, or imagination. Only after a series of crises does their father realise that the manner in which he raised his children has ruined their lives.

Other characters include Sissy, the circus girl with love to spare who is deserted and adopted into the Gradgrind family, as well as the honest mill worker Stephen Blackpool and the bombastic mill owner Josiah Bounderby.

The story is a vehement condemnation of industrialisation and its dehumanising effects on its workers and communities in mid-19th-century England. George Orwell praised Dickens and the novel for its 'generous anger.'

Concentrated and compressed in its narrative form, Hard Times is at once a fable, an audiobook of ideas, and a social story that seeks to engage directly and analytically with political issues.

It may be one of Dickens's shortest works but it is also one of his triumphs.

One of eight children, Dickens came from a very poor family, with his father eventually being sent to debtor's prison. At the age of 12, Dickens was forced to start work in a blacking factory in order to help clear the family debt. His troublesome childhood likely contributed to some of the novel's ideas and lent him a sympathetic voice for the poor.

Due to his vivid depictions of the poverty-stricken, 'Dickensian' has ingrained itself in the English language, becoming the choice word to describe an unacceptable level of poverty.

Narrator Biography

Martin Jarvis is one of Britain's most admired actors. His audiobook output is legendary. He is described in Vanity Fair as 'the Olivier of audiobooks' and 'genius of the Spoken Word' in the LA Times. Award-winning recordings range from titles by Charles Dickens, P.G. Wodehouse, and Michael Frayn to thrillers by Jeffrey Archer, Wilbur Smith, Ian Fleming, and Dick Francis.

Martin Jarvis has starred in many acclaimed West End and National Theatre productions and received the Theatre World Award as Jeeves on Broadway. Numerous UK television appearances encompass Law & Order, Doctor Who, Endeavour, Inspector Morse, and The Forsyte Saga. In America: Murder She Wrote, Numb3rs, Cosmos and Walker, Texas Ranger. Films include Titanic, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Wreck-It Ralph. Videogames: 'Alfred' in Batman, 'Finn McMissile' in Cars.

Martin is invested by HM the Queen as Officer of Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Hard Times

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic book - wonderfully read

Martin Jarvis brings this marvellous book to life with his extraordinarily skilful reading. Can't recommend highly enough.

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16 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

I loved it!

This is the 2nd unabridged Dickens that I've bought from Audible. Both have been narrated by the brilliant Martin Jarvis. I'm definitely going to see if there are any more available.

Dickens is a great novelist: in turns both comic and gripping, always humane.
Martin Jarvis brings all the characters alive. If I read Dickens ( or other Victorian novelists) I sometimes get impatient and do them the injustice of skipping descriptive passages. But Martin Jarvis is such a good narrator that those parts are as easy to listen to as moments of action or dialogue, and I can really enjoy Dickens's language.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Martin Jarvis brings Dickens to life

I've tried so hard to like Dickens, but I find I just can't read him.

Now I don't have to. Martin Jarvis does the job wonderfully well. His characterisations are simply superb. He brings the story to life marvellously.

This is a superb way to get into Dickens. I'll definitely be checking the others out.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Another masterpiece

This is another masterpiece from the master storyteller. Although this is not his finest work (it peters out towards the end). Nevertheless the story moves along at a good pace drawing the listener into the lives of this carefully intertwined group of classic Dickens characters.
As ever Martin Jarvis produces a tour de force of characterisation which enhances the story wonderfully.

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12 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Thoroughly brilliant

I read this on a Kindle (which was free on amazon) and listened at the same time. Martin Jarvis's distinct and pertinent voices for all the characters were superb and totally brought the book to life. I've never read Dickens before and chose this one following a recent visit to the Dickens museum in London and also because my son has to study it at school. I never knew how funny Dickens was. Humour abounds. Brilliant turns of phrase. A really enjoyable read and listen! But I am sure it is as good as this due to Martin Jarvis's narration.

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10 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dickens and Jarvis Triumph Again

I may be biased as Coketown is based on my hometown of Preston but I found the story, the characters and the way Martin Jarvis brings those characters to life a triumph. It may not be Dickens' deepest or intense plot but I'm sure any Dickens' fan will enoy this book. I'm looking forward to the next Jarvis narration of Dickens!

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9 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A hard grind saved by the narrator

Attracted by the chance to hear Martin Jarvis narrating I got this book, even though I’m not a fan of Charles Dickens’ writings especially his more humorous books. Martin Jarvis gives a bravura performance enlivening a largely dull book populated by caricatures ranging from the overly bombastic Bounderby to the insipidly meek young heroine, Louisa.

Supposedly a social satire criticising religious hypocrites and the inequities of industrial society the message is buried in too many self-indulgent diversions with wordy, faintly funny dialogue among his larger-than-life characters.

I gave up about half way through.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A wonderful way to absorb Charles Dickens

I find some of Dickens novels can be quite difficult to read and as I had never read Hard Times I was a little apprehensive how easy this novel would be to listen to but Martin Jarvis brings the characters to life and I was very pleased to have downloaded it. I shall be looking at the lists to find other Dickens that I have not read becuase the audio book is a super way of absorbing the story.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fab

I absolutely loved this audiobook. Having never read any Dickens, and having failed to read A Christmas Carol once again, I decided to give Audible a try. I am overwhelmed by Martin Jarvis's wonderful ability to bring a story to life, by Dickens' fantastic storytelling, and by audiobooks in general. I have just downloaded Great Expectations, and hope to soon be brave enough to read Dickens myself.

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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story.......................

Fantastically brought to life by the enigmatic Martin Jarvis. Much of what Dickens wrote is sadly still applicable today. Granted lots has changed....................but there is "nowt as queer as folk" and so the World keeps turning and we continue to make the same mistakes. The rich get richer at the expense of the poor. I wonder what Mr Dickens would make of it all !!!

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3 people found this helpful