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Barney's Version cover art

Barney's Version

Written by: Mordecai Richler
Narrated by: Graham Abbey
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Publisher's Summary

Barney Panofsky - Canadian expat, wily lover of women, writer, television producer, raconteur - is finally putting pen to paper so he can rebut the charges about him made in his rival’s autobiography. Whether it’s ranting about his bohemian misadventures during the 1950s in Paris, his tumultuous three marriages, or his successful trashy TV company, Totally Unnecessary Productions, he quickly proves that his memory may be slipping, but his bile isn’t. But when he’s charged with the murder of his own best friend - caught in bed with the second Mrs. Panofsky - Barney’s version of things might not be enough to keep him out of trouble.

©1997 Mordecai Richler (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Barney's Version

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
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No Thanks

I stopped after Chapter 1. Didn't seem like there was much more then the Narrator reading the diary of a grumpy old man. :(

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Really great

Performance & story were excellent- I highly recommend listening to this audiobook, I am going to buy the actual book & read it, I loved it so much

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • YLP
  • 2022-07-10

Great reading except foreign languages

The performance was great and I really enjoyed listening to the book, which is excellent. But there’s a good amount of quotes in French and sometimes other languages that are really painful to listen to - I could barely recognize the words in French. For me, that took away some of the pleasure of listening.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book but painful pronunciation

I would have given it five stars, but the narrator managed to painfully mispronounce almost every French, Yiddish, and Latin word, as well as almost every Montreal place name, which the book is full of.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, poor narration

This is a classic, and supremely important book in Canadian literature. And it’s entertaining and bitingly funny! One criticism - you really need a narrator who can pronounce Yiddish and Hebrew words. This narrator couldn’t, and it was jarring at times. Even common words like yarmulke was mispronounced. Poor direction!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Pervy, cranky, and entertaining

I have no idea what is going on in this rambling story, but I like it! It’s like hanging out with a cranky pervy old boyfriend.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing book, bland diction

I loved reading this in hard copy. Narrator clearly did not.

Either he didn't understand it, or he just didn't like it, but his rendition is dispassionate and utterly without character. A real shame, given the brilliance of the text, especially since it's structured as a memoir.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not worth the listen

I can't get past the 2nd chapter if this book. Its dry, pedantic and the story is hard to follow. The style of writing is rambling and I can't even begin to tell you what has happened in the story so far. Save your time.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Blech

I only made it through the first chapter, so make of that what you will. I was not overly enjoying listening to an old man's maundering, but I figured maybe it will improve. Then the narrator made some rather sloppy pronunciation errors, which I tried to ignore. But when the narrator, speaking in the voice of an old Jew, mind you, pronounced "shtetl", as"shtelt", I'd had enough. Ugh.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

No luck with French words

The performance is a bit tragic. Graham Abbey is such a compelling reader but cannot pronounce french words. If you understand French, it's difficult to follow when he includes French phrases.

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