Superb - Review of Both Volume I & Volume II

I am writing this review for both volumes and putting it in both places. This is a well narrated story written by what has been described as the best biographer of the 20th Century about a man who was perhaps the greatest man to live in the 20th Century. What's not to like?
Both volumes have advantages over the other (listed below), but bottom line is that both are marvelous works. I doubt too many will be able to read Volume I without soon proceeding to Volume II. Volume I pluses include a better narrator (***** vs ****) (I was impressed with his mature Churchill voice and amazed that he started with a good child Churchill and gradually aged him into the famous voice we all love!), a more narrative/chronological layout as opposed to more topical, and illumination of the transition of the Victorian age through WWI and up to the Depression. This is a time of which I knew little relative to what came before and after. Volume II has the obvious advantage of fleshing out the rise of Hitler and explaining how the Appeasers were a product of their times.
I know it will take close to 80 hours to listen to both, but the time will fly and you will wish you could listen to Volume III, which was unfortunately never written. Both books are great though I slightly preferred the first volume.

27 people found this helpful

Poor narration, but excellent book

Were it not for the poor narration, I would definitely rate this book higher than Manchester's first volume. It certainly is a wonderful effort by Manchester to make sense of his time outside of the British government. You will share with Winston the frustration of being alone in a time of appeasement at any price. Nevertheless, the book treats Chamberlain rather fairly, despite his obvious blindness in judging Hitler.

15 people found this helpful

Senseless change of narrators

Volume 1 of The Last Lion is one of the top five Audible books among the hundreds I have experienced. Manchester's scholarship is astounding, and the story of this great man's life and times is endlessly fascinating. That much remains true in Volume 2, but the book is tragically diminished by the narration of Richard Brown.

Frederick Davidson, the narrator of Volume I, was absolutely perfect. When Manchester quoted Churchill, Davidson spoke in Churchill's own voice. It was as if someone had recorded Churchill, himself, for each statement. Churchill's humor and emotion come through as if he were speaking directly to the listener. Brown, on the other hand, cannot even begin to imitate Churchill's intonation and cadence, much less the subtler meanings behind the words. As a matter of fact, Brown would have been better off, as would the listener, if he had not even tried. If he had just read Manchester's words, it would not have come off as so, well, amateurish. The only thing Brown's rendition of Churchill and Churchill himself have in common is an English accent.

It is deeply disappointing. I am hoping that I can convince myself to finish this volume, simply for the historical information it can provide. However, that's a far cry from the way I felt about Volume I, when I could scarcely force myself to turn off my Nano early enough to get a decent night's sleep. I feel like a kid who got stiffed by Santa. I just don't get it. Whoever decided that ANYONE other than Frederick Davidson should render this work needs his (her?) head examined.

61 people found this helpful

Incredible life and writing, narration not for me

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Richard Brown?

I may be able to listen to other Richard Brown narrations, but not when it requires quoting a distinctive person from history. In volume I Frederick Davidson did a masterful job of channeling Churchill. It was as if all of Churchill's early life was "on the mic". I believed I was listening to Churchill himself. Unfortunately Brown cannot pull it off, and it is a let down. As great as Manchester's writing is I don't think I can put myself through Volume II wishing I was listening to Davidson every time WSC is quoted. If you like Richard Brown's voice then get this Book. It's incredible history.

9 people found this helpful

Worth it

Manchester does such a good job of bringing this period to life it is an excellent listen.

And surprisingly you will also find a few wry smiles in his work.

I enjoyed it better than the first volume, which dealt WSC's younger life. It too is good but not a period I'm truly interested in.

This takes us to up to WSC becoming PM. I don't believe Manchester wrote the 3rd volume where Winston is actually war Prime Minister.

18 people found this helpful

Good book, poorly read.

The last, unfortunately, of William Manchester's planned multi-volume biography of WSC. I purchased and read the book many years ago. As I had some driving time ahead this summer I thought it would be fun to re-visit it by istening to it in the car. Mistake!
The narrator makes the book very difficult to listen to. He has an odd tendency to swallow final syllables of words making it hard at times to understand the meaning. Also, he cannot resist the dreadful temptation to "imitate" Churchill when his words are quoted; which is very often of course.
This is a pet peeve of mine and, in my opinion, as his imitation is bad it makes the listening tedious in the extreme: "an outrage up with which I will not put". ;-)

8 people found this helpful

Terrible narrator

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I could not understand two thirds of what Richard Brown was saying. This destroyed the value of the book.

What other book might you compare The Last Lion to and why?

I never had a book with such a bad narrator

How could the performance have been better?

Get somebody else to read the book

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The content is fascinating whenever I could understand what the narrator was saying.

Any additional comments?

This will be 36 hours of torture. can I return the book?

11 people found this helpful

Great book -- poor narration

If you could sum up The Last Lion in three words, what would they be?

Compromised by narrator.

What other book might you compare The Last Lion to and why?

Volume one

What didn’t you like about Richard Brown’s performance?

It is lame. Frederick Davidson's narration of Volume One is the sine qua non of great narration. Brown's ambiguous accent and his inadequate impersonations, not to mention horrible, tuneless singing, are a travesty when compared to Frederick Davidson's work. What a missed opportunity.

Any additional comments?

Very disappointed that Davidson did not complete the series.

4 people found this helpful

Great story, bad narration

Story is great and full or detail, this book would've been 5 stars if not for the narration, when listening to this in the car I have to turn up the volume to hear but the narrator occasionally says something shrill which is a bit piercing.

3 people found this helpful

best book on Churchill

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

yes! for anyone who could appreciate good story-telling and good prose

What did you like best about this story?

1. a balanced mix of history and drama
2. Churchill's charm

What aspect of Richard Brown’s performance would you have changed?

I do not like the narrator's style..V1 and V3 are both good!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

as a churchillian buff..I just listen to everything...had finished the book long before..just try ears

3 people found this helpful