2008-09-09 First rate traversal of text. If only...

First rate reading of text - 'War and Peace' made digestible, especially during long, daily commutes. Neville Jason conveys the immediacy of the narrative and makes you feel that you're rediscovering the text. Brilliant stuff.

However, I wish that he'd reconsidered his presentation of the female characters. He occasionally gives Natasha a coy intonation which jars with my idea of the character, and poor Princess Mary (as if she didn't have enough to cope with) sounds as if her brain has been injected with Botox. NJ's assumption of the 'foreigners' is generally fantastic, particularly for the French characters, but his anglicised German pronunciation ('Hofekriegsrat' for 'Hofkriegsrat') sets the teeth on edge. I emphasise that these are minor blemishes in what is a magnificent achievement.