The Divine Comedy

Rating:
Summary: Find a better audio version
Review: When I first checked this out of the library, I was looking forward to re-acquainting myself with the work of a great poet. In general, my experiences with recorded books have quite positive. I've usually been able to pick up things when listening that I miss when reading. When it's a book that I've already read, listening to the taped version gives me a much deeper appreciation of the work. Having read and enjoyed "The Inferno" many years ago, I was hoping that this would be the case here.

Alas, this was not to be. I found May's rendition to be plodding and leaden. I got through most of the first tape, but finally gave up because I didn't want to destroy my appreciation of Dante's poetry. May's reading was so matter of fact that I never even figured out whether the translation used was prose or poetry. (I may have missed it, but I'm not sure if they even mentioned which translation they were using).

The bottom line is, Dante Aligheri is a great poet and "The Divine Comedy" is his greatest work. But find another recording if you want to experience more fully.