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The Manchurian Candidate

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The Manchurian Candidate

Written by: Richard Condon
Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
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About this listen

 Buried deep within the consciousness of Sergeant Raymond Shaw is the mechanism of an assassin, a time bomb ticking toward explosion, controlled by the delicate skill of its Communist masters. Shaw returns from the Korean War to an idolizing and unsuspecting country. In a farcical, uproarious scene, he is greeted amid flashbulbs and frock coats by his power-hungry, domineering mother and her politician husband, who have decided to use Shaw's fame to further their own unscrupulous ambitions. What follows is at once a spy story, a love story, and a sobering, yet outrageously funny satire on demagoguery in American politics. Two tender love stories provide an undercurrent theme: the powers of light against the powers of dark. Shaw, the pawn, the brainwashed, is caught between the forces struggling for his soul.©1959 by Richard Condon (P)1995 by Blackstone Audiobooks Espionage Genre Fiction Tie-in Fiction Witty Romance

What the critics say

"A psychoanalytic horror tale...and an irate sociopolitical satire." (The New York Times)
"Filled with that 'un-put-downable' element which makes this sort of [listening] a great deal of fun indeed." (San Francisco Chronicle)

What listeners say about The Manchurian Candidate

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Profile Image for Jim

Unexpectedly and refreshingly funny

As part of the broader culture, The Manchurian Candidate has a reputation as a taut political thriller — and it’s well earned! — but this book is just as much satire as it is subterfuge. Totally surprised me how wry and biting this was throughout. Great listen!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Profile Image for Langer MD

A Must Read

This Richard Condon novel - ostensibly a Political Thriller about an American GI captured in Korea and programmed to become an unwitting assassin for communist forces when triggered subliminally - is a captivating book. The book is loaded with imagery and allegory, clever satirical observations, and revelations dropped with the perfect timing for keeping the plot flowing. It almost flawlessly dances among the various themes.
Less fortunately, the book oddly emphasizes sexual themes, includes enough obscure references and pithy French/Latin/German phrases to make it almost pretentious, and has a surprisingly tongue-in-cheek cynical mood that threatens its impact.

As to presentation: Narrator Christopher Hurt is above-average overall, but has a reading cadence that includes poorly placed/noisy deep inspirations that Blackstone Audio Inc. sound engineers struggle to manage.

Altogether, this recording of 'The Manchurian Candidate' merits 8 stars out of 10. You might do better getting a text or eBook version of the book - Condon's vocabulary is so extensive that you may need to hilite or keep a Thesaurus handy. As an audiobook, however, I enjoyed this production - especially as a 'Plus' option. Your Credit might be spent better elsewhere, but I would recommend spending it.

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