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The Chimes

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The Chimes

By: Charles Dickens
Narrated by: Richard Armitage
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About this listen

The magnificent Richard Armitage (Hamlet: King of Denmark: A Novel) performs The Chimes by Charles Dickens.

This classic story is the second in a series of five Christmas books Dickens was commissioned to write - beginning with A Christmas Carol. A haunting tale set on New Year's Eve, The Chimes tells the story of a poor porter named Trotty Veck who has become disheartened by the state of the world - until he is shown a series of fantastical visions that convince him of the good of humanity. Though much different from and certainly a bit darker than A Christmas Carol, the moral message of The Chimes is equally poignant - touting the importance of compassion, goodwill, and the love of friends and family.

The Chimes was followed by The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and finally The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain.

Public Domain (P)2015 Audible, Inc. Classics Christmas Winter Celebration Haunted Thought-Provoking Fiction
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I find Charles Dickens quite difficult because of the old fashioned language but Richard Armitage made this tale much more accessible. I really loved all his characterisations and will make sure I listen to all his other narrations. The story is very thought provoking - the representations of the attitudes of some Victorians were truly shocking in places.

Beautifully read

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Richard Armitage is a magnificent narrator bringing each character to life with his mastery of different accents. He makes the story accessible, I might have struggled with a written version as the old fashioned language is quite challenging at times. It was nice to listen to a lesser known book by Charles Dickens. I enjoyed this strange and ghostly tale. Will definitely be on the look out for other books narrated by Richard Armitage. His performance was outstanding.

Outstanding Performance

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I found the lines between reality and the hypothetical future sometimes difficult to discern and therefore follow. In a positive way, this led to my repeatedly listening to sections to decipher their meaning, and to further immerse myself in the imagery. I’m glad I did, as I really like the character of Toby Veck, and was happily able to imagine his interactions with the chimes more clearly each time I listened. The Chimes is a more interesting and involved look at societal injustice and inequality than Dickens’ other Festive fables, with the power of the human spirit to endure and to hope in ones ability to effect change being the positive story arcs, and the despair, self-doubt, and pity of the poor and downtrodden being the moral considerations. I found the narration to be as compelling as the story, which really helped

VIRTUOUS

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Beautifully narrated by Richard Armitage, as always, but there is a reason you've never heard 'The Chimes' of Dickens; it's rather eerie . Perhaps Dickens had one too many one New Year's Eve when he wrote it!

Beautifully narrated rather eerie, dark little tale

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Set during a New Year period this story was perfect for early January. It’s a 3 hour or so listen so is a great way to try Dickens. However what makes this version stand head and shoulders above any other is Richard Armitage who is surely the greatest performer of Dickens. The colourful cast of characters are all given wonderfully separate identities by him making it seem as though there are a whole host of different performers taking part. It’s a joy to listen him - might have to re-listen to David Copperfield with Richard playing all the characters.

Dickens brought to life

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I had never heard of The Chimes before I saw it in the Audible store. I am well versed with Scrooge and assumed this Christmas novella would be on a similar vein. However, as much as I liked the main character Toby Veck I don't think he should have been the person the be taught a lesson by the goblins, for losing faith in humanity but the awful Alderman Cute. it was definitely worth a listen but is not on par with Scrooge. The performance by Richard Armitage was faultless and brought the whole book to life.

The performance by Richard Armitage was faultless.

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liked it, the narrator is very good I could listen to his voice over and over the way he changes characters and draws you into the stories is an art.

Kathryn

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Richard Armitage excellent as always.
With great alacrity I would’ve bet my vittles Dickens did not write this. Either that or he was in junior school at the time.

Mildly amusing.

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A rarely seen piece which I thoroughly enjoyed . Old world words and strict characters tell tales of old.

Dickens brought to life

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The Chimes was Charles Dickens second Christmas novella following on from the huge success of its predecessor, A Christmas Carol. This story like A Christmas Carol was also written as a vehicle to carry Dickens’ social message.

The Chimes takes place on New Years Eve and concerns Toby "Trotty" Veck, a poor elderly messenger or "ticket-porter,” who comes to believe that he is worthless and
that working-class people are wicked by nature. The working class are only fleetingly shown in A Christmas Carol which mainly concerns a wealthy protagonist in Ebenezer Scrooge. In The Chimes we look through the eyes of those working classes. The Chimes has Dickens’ usual grotesques and in the form of Alderman Cute a man who’s opinions of the poor match those of Scrooge, ‘You see, my friend,’ pursued the Alderman, ‘there’s a great deal of nonsense talked about Want —“hard up,” you know; that’s the phrase, isn’t it? ha! ha! ha! — and I intend to Put it Down. There’s a certain amount of can’t in vogue about Starvation, and I mean to Put it Down. That’s all! Lord bless you,’ said the Alderman, turning to his friends again, ‘you may Put Down anything among this sort of people, if you only know the way to set about it.’

I found The Chimes a more challenging read than A Christmas Carol, it doesn’t flow as easily as Carol, it’s heavier going, pointing the way to Dickens’ later, bigger novels such as Bleak House. It’s also a lot darker than Carol dealing with prostitution, drunkenness, suicide and infanticide. The difficulty in reading Dickens today is that satire requires a knowledge of the people and conditions satirized. This is more so with Chimes (The Chimes is fierce satire). The novel's setting is the 1840s the ‘hungry forties’ which was a period of social and political unrest. The message Dickens is putting out in The Chimes is not a moral one as in Carol but a political one. Because of this The Chimes is a more satisfying read than A Christmas Carol although Carol is the more entertaining.

I have read The Chimes before, and as I have pointed out it is a difficult read. However Richard Armitage’s reading of this on the Audible version is superb, especially his characterization. He brilliantly brings the book to life making it less of a challenge and a lot more entertaining.

A superb reading by Richard Armitage

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