Pale Sister

By: Colm Tóibín

Narrated by: Lisa Dwan

Length: 1 hr and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Antigone stood defiant in the face of tyranny.

Best-selling and award winning author Colm Tóibín wrote this new dramatisation of the Greek tragedy especially to be performed by Irish actor Lisa Dwan.

Pale Sister gives voice to Antigone’s sister, Ismene, who recounts her sister’s defiance of the king as pressures mount on her to act to vindicate her sister, or even follow her example.

Pale Sister tells Antigone’s story through Ismene: the quiet person in the corner, bearing witness to everything.

Dwan’s skilled theatrical performance delivers words that give power to those without, and a message that resonates deeply in today’s world.

With sound design by Sinead Diskin.

The stage performance was produced by Audible and The Gate Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, 2019.

©2020 Colm Tóibín (P)2020 Audible, Ltd

Wow! Absolutely brilliant!

I honestly can’t understand the poor ratings for this title. Colm Toibin’s beautiful writing, and Lisa Dwan’s spellbinding performance, equaled a great listen. I did use headphones, because I took into consideration what another reviewer had said. Although some parts were quiet, I had no trouble hearing them with the use of my headphones. I am always amazed at Colm Toibin’s ability to fill each line with emotion and beauty, no matter how Munding or horrific the subject matter might be.
I love his reworking of Greek tales, and hope that he will continue to write more like this in the future.
If you haven’t yet listen to his book, House of Names, it is well worth the credit. I’ve listen to it a couple of times now.
As for the performance, it was phenomenal.
I can see why he chose to write this piece for Lisa Dwan.
She was the perfect actress to convey all of the pain, heartbreak, and despair of this tragic tale.

Timeless

Deeply moving, requires a careful listen. An amazing adaptation of Sophocles tale. both the writing and the oral presentation are top notch.

Creepy

I absolutely loved this story. The performance was great and so well written. I am going to get more from this author.

Outstanding performance

Don’t plan on doing anything but listening because you will be swept away by the depth of the entire hour. Unbelievable. Thank you

Horrible reading

The story was amazing. The reading of it killed the story. The over acting was extremely hard to listen to, it really took away from the beauty of the words.

Amazing

The language transports the listener to the heights of poetic narrative. The narration is perhaps a little over the top at times but very moving.

Antigone retold

Interesting stage play about the only surviving child of Oedipus, channeling her martyred sister against the king. pretty good.

not really an audio book - think of it as a play

Didn't care for this, mainly because of the narration style which I didn'tfeel worked well for an audiobook. I'm sure Lisa Dwan is a wonderful stage actress but the style of narration made it difficult to understand at times due to big fluctuations in volume. also there was a stylized way in which she would hold out some of her "s" sounds turning them into a hiss which wasn't pleasant to the ear if turning up the volume to hear after she just went down to a quiet whisper. I did enjoy the story though and listened to the entire thing to get the full story and see how this classic Greek tragedywas handled. I got this at no cost and would likely have requested a refund due to the audio issue had I paid for it. I can't recommend this audiobook but everyone has their own taste and some might enjoy this more "over dramatized" style. I did not. Will look for another book by the author to try it out since I enjoyed the writing style.

Couldn’t understand a single word. The reader whispered, grunted and groaned and garbled the text. Too much acting.

Yes I’m hard of hearing but goodness, don’t even try this one if you are too. I really like Co Toibin’s writing, but this reader did harm.

so boring

so mind numbingly boring. it was almost painful to sit through. overly dramatic and way over acted.