The Temporary Gentleman
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The Temporary Gentleman
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Narrated by:
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Frank Grimes
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By:
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Sebastian Barry
About this listen
Jack McNulty is a 'temporary gentleman', an Irishman whose commission in the British army in the Second World War was never made permanent. In 1957, in his lodgings in Accra, he sets out to write his story. He is an ordinary man, both petty and heroic, but he has seen extraordinary things. He has wandered the world - as a soldier, an engineer, a UN observer - following his childhood ambition to better himself.
©2014 Sebastian Barry (P)2014 W F Howes LtdListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
What listeners say about The Temporary Gentleman
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ambientes Exclusivas SL
- 05-10-24
Sebastian Barry’s command of language is as ever, at the highest level
He can write the football results and make them dramatic and interesting in my opinion
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Kaggy
- 20-06-15
Poetic and melancholy
I have heard that this author is known for his dense literary style of writing and this is certainly a true example. I get the sense that every sentence has been worked on over and over again until it is honed to perfection. By and large this works as a masterwork but I did think the result was a little too self conscious to draw me into the story. This is probably fortunate as this is a grim tale of lives destroyed by alcoholism and gambling and a woman's descent into misery and self destruction.
I have heard Sebastian Barry's books are very good so I am a little sorry I started with this one. Overall this was not for me but I can understand why he is so widely admired.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mary Carnegie
- 19-09-20
Hope and love blighted
Yo don’t read Barry expecting a happy ending! It is the evocative prose and extraordinary lives of ordinary people which attract. He can recount life as an officer in bomb disposal without recourse to melodrama and the horror of it is the more meaningful and (in the original sense) awful. The marriage of Jack and Mai starts propitiously (mostly) and its mutually destructive progress till death parts them is gradual.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sennichi
- 18-06-14
Beautiful prose wonderfully narrated
Would you consider the audio edition of The Temporary Gentleman to be better than the print version?
I haven't read the print version but audio is so good I would heartily recommend
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Temporary Gentleman?
When he meets May first.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
When he meets May's family
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
No
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- MRS E M O'HAGAN
- 26-01-16
Very enjoyable story and narration
Loved it, would highly recommend it. Excellent story telling again my Sebastian Barry, narrator was spot on also with tone and dialect.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- C. A. Harfleet
- 15-02-23
Utterly brilliant
This is a work of pure genius. Sebastian Barry is a wonderful poetic novelist. Sometimes the beauty. Of a phrase or sentence takes my breath away. The story plumbs the depth of tragedy. I identified deeply with Jack and Mae . I think this is the best of all of his novels as it does not have the dreadful violence that his war books have. I'm Squeamish . Beautifully and perfectly narrated. If only I could find more books of this calibre I would be so happy
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1 person found this helpful