The Overcoat cover art

The Overcoat

A Nikolai Gogol Story

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The Overcoat

By: Nikolai Gogol
Narrated by: Deaver Brown
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About this listen

Fyodor Dostoevsky, the author of Crime and Punishment, once said, “We all come out from Gogol's 'The Overcoat.'" The story centers on an impoverished clerk who is dedicated to his job as a routine copyist but not recognized for his hard work. Younger clerks mock him for his dedication. His threadbare overcoat is mocked as well. He saves up to buy a new one and wears it for one glorious evening, only to have it stolen that night. He dies soon after from his great loss. Thereafter, his ghost is reported to haunt that part of St. Petersburg where the coat was stolen.

Public Domain (P)2010 Christina Brown Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Haunted Russia

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All stars
Most relevant  

What made the experience of listening to The Overcoat the most enjoyable?

The many faceted narrative

What other book might you compare The Overcoat to, and why?

Kafka,s trial

What about Deaver Brown’s performance did you like?

The emphasis in various places

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Is ambition a grievous thing?

Any additional comments?

Very thought provoking

superb short story very well read.

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The reading is not great but the story and the narrator’s explanation of it overcome this. A useful introduction to Gogol.

An enthusiast reads Gogol

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This is a classic story about Russian poverty, written with homour and irony. The reader lumbers through either reading too quickly or stumbling over the words & the intonation is so inappropriate in places that it is really hard to follow some of the complex sentences. It sounds seriously under-rehearsed and the humour and subtlety is lost in the clumsy, heavy-handed rendition. The most annoying thing is that he gets the main character's name wrong every single time (it's Akaky Akakievich, not Aky Akievich).Did nobody listen to this before accepting it? Awful!

Wonderful story, very badly read

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