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Barney's Version

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Barney's Version

Written by: Mordecai Richler
Narrated by: Graham Abbey
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About this listen

Barney Panofsky - Canadian expat, wily lover of women, writer, television producer, raconteur - is finally putting pen to paper so he can rebut the charges about him made in his rival’s autobiography. Whether it’s ranting about his bohemian misadventures during the 1950s in Paris, his tumultuous three marriages, or his successful trashy TV company, Totally Unnecessary Productions, he quickly proves that his memory may be slipping, but his bile isn’t. But when he’s charged with the murder of his own best friend - caught in bed with the second Mrs. Panofsky - Barney’s version of things might not be enough to keep him out of trouble.

©1997 Mordecai Richler (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
Biographical Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction World Literature Funny
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What listeners say about Barney's Version

Average Customer Ratings
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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Really great

Performance & story were excellent- I highly recommend listening to this audiobook, I am going to buy the actual book & read it, I loved it so much

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

AmaZing story

Great listen I love Barney’s character. Performance is very good as well. Gggg ghgg gbv

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Vintage Richler

An aging man recounts his life, regrets and all. Often very funny. Not politically correct!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

amazing book, bland diction

I loved reading this in hard copy. Narrator clearly did not.

Either he didn't understand it, or he just didn't like it, but his rendition is dispassionate and utterly without character. A real shame, given the brilliance of the text, especially since it's structured as a memoir.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A breath of rich language and cigar smoke.

I loved every minute. The wry humour and sardonic voice, comforted me with delicious crassness from this age of sensitivity training.

Great story, fresh complex characters and a fun period of time to let my imagination run through Montreal and Paris.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, poor narration

This is a classic, and supremely important book in Canadian literature. And it’s entertaining and bitingly funny! One criticism - you really need a narrator who can pronounce Yiddish and Hebrew words. This narrator couldn’t, and it was jarring at times. Even common words like yarmulke was mispronounced. Poor direction!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Suffers from narration

This is the first book by Richler that I have read. I very much enjoyed the story, the writing was excellent, but the lack of distinguishable voices from the narrator made the story harder to follow than it needed to be. I think if the voices were more clearly distinguishable, the story would’ve been more enjoyable.

That said, although the story is about a superficially unlikeable character, he does grow on you. I also enjoy stories where the timelines jump back-and-forth, making you wonder what you missed, then going back and filling in the gaps. By the end I liked Barney enough to be sad, and the final reveal was rewarding.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Close, but no cigar!

I loved this book, and the reader's performance was superb. My one complaint is that his yiddish/hebrew needs work (the French is forgivable since it makes sense with the character). The poor pronunciation reads as someone who isn't Jewish playing a distinctly Jewish character who would absolutely know how to pronounce those words easily, since they're common lingo and phrases within the community.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

my first audiobook by this author but not my last

It is so very Canadian. A man looking back upon his life, honestly assessing his own failings. It is a real-life love story, a murder mystery, a character expose. The main character is looking back on his life, his three wives, his children and his mistakes
I had some issue with some of the mispronounciations of the narrator, but he created a passionate and believable character.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Laughed Out Loud

I loved this book; the cantankerous Barney made me laugh out loud. The narrator really did him justice. The only reason i didn't give it 5 stars is because of the terrible pronunciation of French words. Oy.

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