The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

We say goodbye to Noel, but also to one of Magdalen's plans.

After Mrs. Lecount placed the signed will and letter in her bag, it is implied that the documents may be inadequate from a legal perspective. Did you spot any "loopholes"?

Why do you think the three servants were staring at Mrs. Lecount?

According to a note in my edition, Charles Dickens suggested that the laudanum bottle be destroyed in front of Noel, saying "Otherwise, while he is impressed with the danger he supposes himself to have escaped, he repeats it, on a smaller scale, by giving Mrs. Lecount an inducement to kill him, and leaving the means at hand." Do you think Collins should have included this twist?

Do you think Magdalen and Louisa's new scheme will work? In what way could it blow up?

What do you think of Admiral Bartram and his household?

Why do you think Old Mazey sleeps in front of the Admiral's door?

Any final predictions before we enter the last section?

I read the whole rest of the book at this point,so I will wait to comment till the end.

Magdalen is like a boxer who repeatedly gets up off the floor to beat the count after being knocked to the ground by a vicious punch. Her sheer determination to carry on is more than admirable even though every knock back must be taking away yet more of her inner strength.

Her wish to receive only the money that was to be inherited from her father shows a complete lack of vindictiveness towards Noel and Lecount, despite the way that both she and Norah have been treated by them. To be accused as a potential murderer was yet another savage blow thrust upon her already battered character.

Magdalen’s devastation upon learning that her sister and Miss Garth have helped Lecount to trace the newlyweds was heartbreaking. Collins described her complete isolation powerfully and he then masterfully described the way that she climbed out of another pit of despair to hatch out such an ingenious plan with her maid.

At the Admiral’s house there seemed to be many elements of the gothic, but nothing horrific has happened (yet.) The gloomy, half dilapidated house, wild dogs, menacing servants and a drunken old sea dog retainer all combine to paint a disquieting picture. All this contrasts sharply with Magdalen’s calm and quiet patience in hunting for a clue to the secret. Collins seems to have built the tension in this scene ready for the arrival of George Bartram. Having become involved with one sister, will he get involved with the other?

I’ve read/listened ahead as with this audiobook the chapters aren’t well-defined. I suppose it’s the same with the printed book. So when in listening I don’t have the weekly assignment memorized. lol also, I really wanted to know what happened next. I stopped at 97% done. I don’t know how he is going to wrap it up as time is short. Magdalen really shows even more determination with her plan. She is like a dog with a bone! She’s the winner of the Miss Tenacity award for outstanding & creative determination.
I think that’s been the case all along but the longer the story goes on, the braver she seems.

Trev wrote: "At the Admiral’s house there seemed to be many elements of the gothic, but nothing horrific has happened (yet.) The gloomy, half dilapidated house, wild dogs, menacing servants and a drunken old sea dog retainer all combine to paint a disquieting picture."

I did really love the description of the house and the inhabitants and the dogs. I also found myself hoping nothing terrible would happen, since the Bertrams seem like decent people, especially in contrast with Noel and his father.

nice

The admirals house gave me the creeps! I couldn’t wait for her to be out of there!

I don’t know what the future holds (I’ve ahead but not finished.
I have a feeling Frank might reappear or we will find out what happened to him.
And why did Collins give the sailor’s (brother of the clergyman’s wife) back story and spend a little time on his character development- I wonder if he will have that dangling?
Anyone else consider that?

I stopped reading when I was so far ahead as this is a LibriVox audiobook and I can keep it as long as I like. But at the same time I was reading ‘It Girl’ by Allison Pataki and I had to renew that one since I was spending so much time on this one! lol

I’m so grateful for all the volunteers who give freely of their time to read these books for us, so I hate to complain, but some of the readers (credits aren’t listed) are so difficult to understand. Their accents are so very heavy and their many mispronunciations so distracting, that if this story hadn’t been so compelling, I’d have quit reading it. And it was read by many different readers, some of whom were a pleasure to listen to. None of my partner libraries had many Collins books, and none had any audiobooks of his.

The other thing is that the way these women with the heavy accents recorded it sounds like they are talking so softly. They might not have been but I have my phone volume up so high - on speaker- I have to hold it close to my ear. I tried with a couple of my Bluetooth speakers, but even when they were at full volume it was still difficult to hear.
I hope to one day be well enough to volunteer as a reader, to give something back- something that can be enjoyed by readers of generations after me.
Often when one recording of a book is less than desirable then another reader will record I again. I don’t know if that’s able to be done just on certain chapters, when a book is already on their site. If anyone hasn’t used this valuable, no charge resource I hope I haven’t discouraged you. Most of the books are wonderful. Some of the readers are professional voice artists who record audiobooks for a living, who donate their time.

Yeah, audiobooks are a mixed bag. I was listening to some books on YouTube at one point read by a woman who had a cat who often purred loudly during the readings, so that was fun.

I used some Librivox in the past but now I am spoiled by professional readers. Many professional books are available free through libraries in the US, though you might have to wait for them. There is a big difference to me between a narrator and a person who is just reading a book, with breathing, background noise, etc. So I am willing to pay different services for them. I listen to a lot of audiobooks because it's a way to get reading in even when driving, doing dishes, exercising, etc.

My brother used to read for Services for the Blind or whatever it was called. I think they were on cassette back then. He was good because he speaks multiple languages and can pronounce things even in languages he doesn't know.

I’d like to amend my previous comment. I mentioned that the reader names weren’t listed and they aren’t on the app I use, but they often are. But I was incorrect about the reader name. The readers announce their name for each track. There were 59 tracks on this one and many readers. Most of them were very enjoyable.
Lori, that was neat to hear the kitty. A book awhile back had an excellent solo reader & there were seagulls faintly from time to time. The book took place on the coast so that was pretty cool.

Lori, I always forget about YouTube as a source of audiobooks. Probably because it stops when my phone goes dark.
If one had that YouTube membership they offer, I think a perk of that is the sound keeps going.

Yes, I agree Robin about the languages. When I hear a mispronunciation in a language I’m familiar with, it does take away from the story. Sometimes it does it’s humorous.
Recently a reader said “dekeased” many times in a paragraph. When the person was deceased.
What a wonderful service your brother did for that organization!
I have library cards at 4 libraries and none of them had this in audiobook format- so there’s that.
And some professional voice artists read/ narrate books on LibriVox, so that’s pretty cool. One of my favorites is Elizabeth Klett. For while there, it seemed like she read everything I listened to.
I’m really grateful for the free service. And for Project Gutenberg which is where the data of LibriVox resides.

I had a paid membership for several years to a legacy company before they were acquired by Audible and I had lots of credits saved up. This was in the first few years of the rare, long-term illness I have and I was very sick, and drs didn’t know why. I’m glad I didn’t know back then I’d still be sick this long. Using the laptop to listen was cumbersome.
They came out with their own listening device shortly before Audible took over, which was pretty cool. But when Audible wouldn’t honor any of the credits I’d paid for, it’s left me with a bad feeling, even today. Especially when I had all my records & account numbers, etc. lol

With being sick and essentially homebound, I spend a lot of time listening to books and it means so much to me.

And I’ve been holding off reading any more of No Name since I was ahead and I don’t want to accidentally share a spoiler.
Being so close to the end, what is going to happen???
Rhetorical question, of course.