Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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Murat: Celebrated Crimes, book 15
Written by Alexandre Dumas
Narrated by Robert Bethune
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
To paraphrase the note from the translator, The Celebrated Crimes of Alexandre Dumas père was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language—has minced no words—to describe violent scenes of violent times.
In this, the fifteenth of the series, Dumas, the novelist-historian, brings his story-telling skills to a subject famous at the time, but less so now: Joachim Murat, the brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonapart, who established him as King Joachim the First of Naples.
Joachim is nothing if not an attractive, indeed romantic, hero. A man of extraordinary courage, instrumental in at least three of Napoleon's greatest victories; a man loyal to a fault to his friends, tender and loving to his wife and family, yet also a man of boundless ambition. His courage drove him to greatness; his ambition brought about his fall.
Dumas has one focus throughout this series: great crimes. As we progress through this story, we begin to wonder: where's the crime? We have derring-do, we have intrigue, we have hairbreadth escapes, we have great dangers, both from the forces of nature and from the hands of man, but we have no crime. That is, until we reach the very end, and then we have a monstrous act indeed, done by the orders of the highest of royalty.
Of course, Dumas, the dramatist and novelist, cannot help embellishing the work of Dumas, the historian. He gives us words and actions that cannot possibly be part of the historical record from scenes that are as effectively histrionic as they are undocumented. However, all his melodrama is well based on his history, and he certainly makes a wonderful tale out of his materials.
Dumas may have collaborated on this, as he frequently did in his works, with other writers. Nevertheless, it is clearly Dumas who has the final say on this work, as with all the other works in this series.
Enjoy!
In this, the fifteenth of the series, Dumas, the novelist-historian, brings his story-telling skills to a subject famous at the time, but less so now: Joachim Murat, the brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonapart, who established him as King Joachim the First of Naples.
Joachim is nothing if not an attractive, indeed romantic, hero. A man of extraordinary courage, instrumental in at least three of Napoleon's greatest victories; a man loyal to a fault to his friends, tender and loving to his wife and family, yet also a man of boundless ambition. His courage drove him to greatness; his ambition brought about his fall.
Dumas has one focus throughout this series: great crimes. As we progress through this story, we begin to wonder: where's the crime? We have derring-do, we have intrigue, we have hairbreadth escapes, we have great dangers, both from the forces of nature and from the hands of man, but we have no crime. That is, until we reach the very end, and then we have a monstrous act indeed, done by the orders of the highest of royalty.
Of course, Dumas, the dramatist and novelist, cannot help embellishing the work of Dumas, the historian. He gives us words and actions that cannot possibly be part of the historical record from scenes that are as effectively histrionic as they are undocumented. However, all his melodrama is well based on his history, and he certainly makes a wonderful tale out of his materials.
Dumas may have collaborated on this, as he frequently did in his works, with other writers. Nevertheless, it is clearly Dumas who has the final say on this work, as with all the other works in this series.
Enjoy!
Author
Alexandre Dumas
Frequently imitated but rarely surpassed, Dumas is one of the best known French writers and a master of ripping yarns full of fearless heroes, poisonous ladies and swashbuckling adventurers. his other novels include The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask, which have sold millions of copies and been made into countless TV and film adaptions.
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Titles in the series (17)
Joan of Naples: Celebrated Crimes, book 10 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man in the Iron Mask: Celebrated Crimes, book 11 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Martin Guerre: Celebrated Crimes, book 12 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Marquise de Brinvilliers: Celebrated Crimes, Book 16 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marquise de Ganges: Celebrated Crimes, Book 18 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ali Pasha: Celebrated Crimes book 13 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Countess of Saint-Geran: Celebrated Crimes, book 14 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vaninka: Celebrated Crimes, Book 17 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murat: Celebrated Crimes, book 15 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Antonin Derues: Celebrated Crimes, book 8 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Borgias: Celebrated Crimes, Book 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Urbain Grandier: Celebrated Crimes, Book 6 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Massacres of the South: Celebrated Crimes, Book 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNisida: Celebrated Crimes, Book 7 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Karl-Ludwig Sand: Celebrated Crimes, Book 5 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cenci: Celebrated Crimes, Book 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMary Stuart: Celebrated Crimes: Book 4 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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