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End of the Affair, The (The Classic Collection) MP3 CD – Audiobook, July 22, 2014

by Graham Greene (Author), Colin Firth (Reader)
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2013 Audie Award Winner, Audiobook of the Year

Graham Greene’s evocative analysis of the love of self, the love of another, and the love of God is an English classic that has been translated for the stage, the screen, and even the opera house. Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth (The King's Speech, A Single Man) turns in an authentic and stirring performance for this distinguished audio release.

The End of the Affair, set in London during and just after World War II, is the story of a flourishing love affair between Maurice Bendrix and Sarah Miles. After a violent episode at Maurice's apartment, Sarah suddenly and without explanation breaks off the affair. This very intimate story about what actually constitutes love is enhanced by Mr. Firth's narration, who said "this book struck me very, very particularly at the time when I read it and I thought my familiarity with it would give the journey a personal slant."

"I'm grateful for this honor," Firth said when this production was recognized by the Audie Awards as Audiobook of the Year for 2013, "and grateful for the opportunity to narrate one of my favorite stories. A great novel told in the first person makes for the best script an actor could imagine. None better than The End of the Affair…. Theater and film each offer their own challenges and rewards, but narration is a new practice for me and the audiobook performance provides exhilarating possibilities for both actors and listeners. I'm thrilled to be involved in bringing this remarkable work of fiction to a wider audience, and thankful to Audible for offering me the opportunity to perform it and to engage with so many who share my passion for storytelling."

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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Brilliance Audio
  3. Publication date
    July 22, 2014
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 5.5 x 0.25 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    148056009X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1480560093
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Brilliance Audio; Unabridged edition (July 22, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 148056009X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1480560093
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 5.5 x 0.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:

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  1. Rupert Goold

    Rupert Goold

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  2. Graham Greene

    Graham Greene

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    Henry Graham Greene OM CH (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English novelist and author regarded by some as one of the great writers of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted, in 1967, for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Through 67 years of writings, which included over 25 novels, he explored the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world, often through a Catholic perspective.

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Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
3,091 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Literate Housewife
5.0 out of 5 stars Where Has Graham Greene Been My Whole Life?
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2011
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From the first time I discovered that Graham Greene was a Catholic author, I wanted to check out his work. This was years and years ago, but it wasn't until The End of the Affair was marked down on Audible.com that I finally took the plunge. What a waste of years! The End of the Affair is one of the best books I've ever read.

The story of Bendrix's affair with Sarah and its aftermath are so perfect, so true. Bendrix is never quite certain if his story is about love or hate, despair or hope. It is always one extreme or the other. When he believes his competition for Sarah's love is her husband or another man, he hates Sarah in his despair and wants to destroy her. He cannot bare not knowing what took her away. It stifles his art and eats him alive. When he ultimately learns the truth about the ending of their relationship, he is elated and at once certain that he can overcome it all.

Michael Kitchen narrated the audio version of this novel and he was no less than superb. This may sound odd (I think it's odd, but I'll share anyway), but the way Kitchen used his breath, particularly in exhaling, made it seem like Bendrix was in my car with me. We were having an intimate conversation. I could almost smell his tobacco. The effect was fantastic and could not have happened had Kitchen not been paired with such a gifted author. It was a wonderful way to first experience Graham Greene. If you've read The End of the Affair before and are hankering for a reread, I cannot recommend this audio version enough.

Even though I loved the audio, I found that I had to possess the book as well. A Kindle version just wouldn't do. I immediately turned around and bought the Penguin Classics Deluxe edition of both The End of the Affair and, on Rebecca from The Book Lady's Blog's suggestion, The Quiet American. As soon as they arrived, I hugged them to my chest. It felt so good and was nearly impossible for me to not start rereading The End of the Affair.

When I began reading The End of the Affair, I didn't know what to expect. What really surprised me was the ending would have a similar affect on me as Gone With the Wind. It was so open ended and I loved every possibility. I cannot rave about it enough. The End of the Affair has got to be the best book I've read since I started blogging. More Graham Greene, please. Wow!
11 people found this helpful
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Bestgb
4.0 out of 5 stars Thin Line between Love and Hate
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2005
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The End of the Affair is the most autobiographical of Greene's major novels. In it, he exhumes the emotions of a fiery sexual passion, apparently based on his own affair with Catherine Walston, to whom he dedicates the novel. Greene converted to Catholicism as a young man, and he also uses this novel to illuminate the difficult path a seeker must take to arrive at belief in the Roman Catholic god.

The plot is convoluted, and at times barely credible. The novelist Maurice Bendrix had a torrid affair with Sarah Miles, the wife of a dull civil servant, which Sarah broke off abruptly and without explanation. The novel opens a few years later, when Bendrix bumps into Sarah's husband, Henry. Henry, unaware of his wife's affair with Bendrix, confides that he's worried about Sarah's mysterious comings and goings, and is thinking of hiring a detective to follow her. Henry abandons the idea, but Bendrix is still consumed with jealousy and wants to know who has replaced him in Sarah's affections. He hires the detective on his own. Over the course of the investigation, Bendrix learns why Sarah left him, who Sarah is now seeing, and that he hasn't been displaced by another man after all. Bendrix must decide how to deal with what he's learned about Sarah, and what to do about his reawakened feelings for her.

Greene spares us no instance of the anger, pettiness, and spitefulness of Bendrix' possessive love. Indeed, we see little that's life-enhancing in this affair, unless you count the fever of desire that hurls Bendrix out of the confines of his own consciousness or the brief spikes of bliss during snatched moments of sex. Bendrix discovers, as many have before him, that love and hate come from the same source; once he's fallen into the well of strong emotions, he has trouble figuring out how to swim back up to the light.

Both Sarah and Bendrix are reaching for something transcendent. Bendrix believes he'll find it in the relationship with Sarah, if only they can love each other perfectly enough. Sarah comes to believe that what she's seeking lies beyond the flesh. The emotions unleashed by her physical love for Maurice enable her to apprehend the "aweful mystery" of divine love. She resists at first, then gives over to god. Bendrix is a harder case. He starts out dismissing even the idea of god as a childish legend. By the end of the book, he's having heated arguments with this god in whom he doesn't believe.

Greene's justification for Sarah's turn towards religious faith seems to be that human love, compassion and agency are inadequate to the task of relieving human suffering. Once we reach the end of human resources, god is the only answer left. He's too good a novelist to get overly didactic, and too keen an intellect not to have doubts about the rigid, dour dogma of his adopted Catholicism. This interplay between doubt and faith gives The End of the Affair its tensile strength. That and his emotionally courageous depiction of passionate love allow this novel to transcend its post World War II milieu, and explain why it continues to snare successive generations of readers.
31 people found this helpful
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L. Richards
3.0 out of 5 stars My least favorite of all his books.
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2016
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The story reads like a blow by blow account of an actual, unfulfilling, extramarital affair. I found it self-absorbed, self-involved, and self-indulgent, which may or may not be the actual case. Who knows. And even more to the point, who cares? That's my primary criticism of this book. I didn't care a bit for any of the primary characters. They weren't interesting, weren't engaging. They whined for 275 pages. The second half of the book is an examination of religion and love of God. Once again, it wasn't interesting because I don't wrestle with these issues in my own life. If I struggled with religion I might have been more open to his struggle. But I don't, so I'm not. I don't think he could have gotten this thing published if it was his first or second novel. All that said, I am a huge fan. I love his direct, clean writing. I guess everybody has a low point in their chosen field. This is Greene's.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Prof Dr F-J Groebel
5.0 out of 5 stars Auch heute aktuell
Reviewed in Germany on August 7, 2019
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Klassischer Graham Greene.
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Elizabeth Ferreira Garcia
5.0 out of 5 stars The end of the affair
Reviewed in Brazil on August 26, 2015
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Excelente fácil de ler , inglês sem complicações , livro curto mas que você só larga quando terminou de ler todo o livro
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baldrick
5.0 out of 5 stars Get the CD ... Colin Firth is worth it.
Reviewed in Canada on January 15, 2015
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I have this on CD. What's not to love. Colin Firth purring in your ear as your chug along the highway with marvelous words from Graham Greene. English is such a beautiful language when it is well written and the spoken by Colin. ... plus it's a bit of a thriller (l944 style).
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Australia on August 15, 2016
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Beautifully written novel filled with angst and desire and with a total disregard for the feelings of others
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ハミ
5.0 out of 5 stars The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Reviewed in Japan on October 9, 2014
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　今までに何度読んだことでしょう。読む度に心に深く染み入るものがあります。グレアム・グリーン著の初期の４冊：「ブライトン・ロック」、「権力と栄光」、「事件の核心」と、この４冊は、グリーンが文豪であることは　もとより、すばらしい人間性と、人間を超える存在に関心ある方にとっての必読書のように思われます。
One person found this helpful
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