
Waiting for Sunrise
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Robert Ian MacKenzie
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By:
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William Boyd
About this listen
Vienna, 1913: Lysander Rief, a young English actor in town seeking psychotherapy for a troubling ailment of a sexual nature, becomes caught up in a feverish affair with a beautiful, enigmatic woman. When she goes to the police to press charges of rape, however, he is stunned, and his few months of passion come to an abrupt end. Only a carefully plotted escape - with the help of two mysterious British diplomats - saves him from trial.
But the frenzied getaway sets off a chain of events that steadily dismantles Lysander's life as he knows it. He returns to a London on the cusp of war, hoping to win back his onetime fiancée and banish from memory his traumatic ordeals abroad, but Vienna haunts him at every turn. The men who helped coordinate his escape recruit him to carry out the brutal murder of a complete stranger. His lover from Vienna shows up nonchalantly at a party, ready to resume their liaison.
Unable to live an ordinary existence, he is plunged into the dangerous theater of wartime intelligence - a world of sex, scandal, and spies, where lines of truth and deception blur with every waking day. Lysander must now discover the key to a secret code that is threatening Britain's safety, and use all his skills to keep this murky world of suspicion and betrayal from invading every corner of his life.
Moving from Vienna to London's West End, from the battlefields of France to hotel rooms in Geneva, Waiting for Sunrise is a mesmerizing journey into the human psyche, a beautifully observed portrait of wartime Europe, a plot-twisting thriller, and a literary tour de force.
©2012 William Boyd (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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No going wrong with Boyd
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I have another reason for not having given “Waiting for Sunrise” five stars across the board. This reason will probably mean more to women listeners than to men. Early in the story, protagonist Lysander Rief is consulting with a psychoanalyst regarding his problem “of a delicate nature”: anorgasmia (his inability to have orgasms). “Extraordinary!” exclaims the psychoanalyst. “Anorgasmia — You’re the first I’ve seen!” Apparently this psychoanalyst has not had any female clients (although we encounter one in the analyst’s waiting room … hmmm …). Later on in the novel, after Lysander Rief has been “cured,” we get to hear all about his complete satisfaction … but nothing of his partner’s satisfaction. Feminists, beware — this oversight might annoy you. Author Boyd, take notice, for future novels!
Narrator Robert Ian Mackenzie treats us to spot-on characterizations via his superb command of voices and accents. I recommend “Waiting for Sunrise” to all listeners who appreciate historical fiction and realistic thrillers … with the feminist proviso stated above. Squeamish listeners (like me) need not worry: Even though “Waiting for Sunrise” takes place during the First World War, Boyd keeps graphic depictions of that war’s horrors to an absolute minimum, while still providing us with a credible sense of the times.
Good Historical Wartime Mystery
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Excellent
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Entertaining narration
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Very disappointing
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What made the experience of listening to Waiting for Sunrise the most enjoyable?
I enjoyed the book, but by the end it became perhaps too many variants on the theme.What did you like best about this story?
Clever changes of perspective about the adventures of OdysseusWhat does Robert Ian MacKenzie bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
accent and toneAn interesting retake on the Ulysses/Odyssey eli
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Excelent story and narrator
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No need to wait.
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It's not a miserable read but for me it is a disappointing one - I look for Boyd to deliver first a first rate read.
Waiting for Closure
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