This is a collection of six short stories by Chekhov in Constance Garnett's translation read aloud by Max Bollinger. I'm not an immense consumer of audiobooks, so I'm not sure that my review of this counts for very much – I was sent this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. With that said: I won't say anything about Chekhov, as everyone knows about Chekhov already. The story selection is fine: six stories isn't very much, as once one starts, one wants more.

I'm a bit concerned about the choice of the Constance Garnett translation: its primary virtue for this production would seem to be that it's out of copyright and thus can be used without paying anyone. I don't hate Garnett by any means, but the problems with it are plainly audible when heard aloud, as is the case with this. Her language is literary (rather than oral) and Edwardian: I wouldn't think twice about this on the page, but when heard aloud one wonders why the stories are being told in a manner that comes off as slightly stilted.

This issue is compounded by Max Bollinger's reading. I'm not familiar with Bollinger's work from elsewhere; he speaks with a pronounced accent which I assume is a mixture of Russian and British. His pronunciation is clipped and precise; the accentuation of stresses in the words is a bit odd. To my American ear, it's hard to get past the accent, though one can acclimate to it. More problematic are Bollinger's affectations: when he attempts to voice the female characters for example, his voice completely gets in the way of the story, and I can't hear anything but his voice. Occasional sound effects appear; to me, they don't add very much & get in the way of the text. The overall effect is a bit precious: it makes me think of the way American actors would pretend to be Russian for comic effect in the movies of the 1930s.

My review I think betrays my prejudices: I'm not a consumer of audiobooks, and listening to this made me want to read it on the page to fully enjoy it. I suspect those more enamored of audiobooks as a form would enjoy this more than I did.

This audio collection of six lesser known short stories by Anton Chekhov made for an entertain hour, but was an oddball introduction to Chekhov's short stories. The stories were captivating in that they packed a lot of cultural observations, emotions, and human dynamics into short little bits. However, they all seemed to end abruptly, without resolution. I have not read enough of Chekhov to know if these are typical of his short stories.

I enjoyed the production. Listening to the stories told in narrator Max Bollinger's Russian accent brought them to life for me the way a flat, anglicized version would not have. There were a few times his accent was obtrusively thick -- mostly with proper names. But his phrasing was good, especially when dealing with both external and internal dialog. The sound effects were annoying. ( )

Short Stories by Anton Chekhov 1. Yes, a book on CD but it's Chekov! hence you know the stories recorded for this project will be good or interesting at least - (he is a master after all). And don't worry: it sounds like Tchekov. The translation by Constance Garnett seems adequate - the style is the Russian's: deceptively simple, sometimes simply terse, always descriptively sparse. The six stories in this volume range from excellent to passable; some display Checkoff's ironic humor, others his critique of class, but all are sociologically probing and psychologically complex. Though these works might be deemed "lesser-known" - (you won't hear The Lady with the Dog, or Gooseberries, for example) - each seems chosen because it lends itself to imagery through sound rather than idea through word play.
They are read by Max Bollinger, a Russian-born English actor whose voice is clear, whose pronunciation is precise. (There are occasional sound effects which neither add nor detract. It is Anton after all, and Anton holds your attention without need of pyrotechnics) It is Bollinger, however, who colors the images. And herein lies the wrong-way-rub (a problem whenever literature is transmuted into another format): if you have read any of these stories, the voice you hear will not be the voice you heard - the tones will be altered, especially where dialogue is concerned - and said voice often seems somehow inaccurate: not a tune played off-key, but one with an abnormal instrumentation. This is probably due in part to a need for vocal clarity, but sometimes it feels like a misreading, because yours is the only precise rendering. What was a shriek in your mind's ear has become a whimper. Lines full of pathos are delivered without affect. (And Bollinger often seems to trip over punctuation, or decides to pause where no such slowdown appears in the original text - you can almost see the commas and semi-colons floating before your eyes.)
If you are not familiar with these stories, there is the potential for a superimposition of Bollinger's voice upon your own if you subsequently choose to take the leap and read them for yourself. His tincture could stain your images; his dialogue could jump from the mouths of your imagined actors. And your images, your voice, your ideas are essential. For Chekov does not supply easy answers, his ambivalence allows the reader to dig in, to think about what is being proposed; yet one does not necessarily draw a definitive conclusion. (Like, I said - a master.)
Literature is a collaboration between reader and writer. What we get with a story being read to us is an interpretation, and here, an interpretation of a translation, which is itself an interpretation. We are, therefore, thrice removed from the original and I can see Plato smiling and nodding. Bollinger emphasizes words you would not, shades characters as you would not. It’s as if there is an interloper in the mix - you’ve bought a used paperback with the wrong passages underlined.
This is not to say there is anything absolutely immoral with a book on CD. It's fine as long as you accept the aforementioned before hitting the remote, and acquiesce to a lesser experience than you would have had if you'd got together with Anton and read the damn stories as intended. ( )

I was looking forward to this audiobook, since I like Chekov's work and am a fan of the audiobook format.

The works selected for this recording are all short pieces, with elegant characterizations to be sure--but little to hold my sustained interest as a listener. More importantly, the production itself is not well suited to the material: the readings are recorded in an overblown style that obscures the quiet subtlety of the pieces chosen: the accent of the reader sounds forced; the frequent sound effects are distracting and sometimes silly.

I think this audiobook might be useful to someone who is looking for exposure to Chekov's style and his general concerns, but spending the time to quietly read a good translation would be far better.

Didn't notice that this was an audio disk, not a book. Call me Mr. Dumnuts. Next time I'm on a long drive somewhere I'll listen to it and comment here.