Amazingly detailed, but personal.

I was impressed by the sheer length of this story, at 60 hours of listening time. However, every moment of it was intriguing and engaging. It kept me listening through every part of it's many storylines, each as fascinating as the last.
My family come from Northampton, but I grew up elsewhere, so this was an interesting look at an area that I had little personal knowledge of. It builds up a picture of both the history of Northampton and the individual people who have populated it.
Now I have finished, I'm tempted to start again.

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3 people found this helpful

I can't give this a high enough rating

My first experience of Alan Moore as author and I loved every second of this audio book. Fascinating, beautiful and dark.

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2 people found this helpful

Incredible book well narrated, dense but rewarding

I love this book. At 60ish hours it's a long haul and the writing is incredibly detailed and descriptive but it's massively rewarding. Simon Vance does a marvellous job narrating!

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hooray for audiobooks

A couple of Joycian chapters midway through were pretty impenetrable, but overall an excellent book, which I would have still been reading next Christmas if I'd got a physical edition.

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Incredible.

brutal, beautiful eerily magical book that despite it's monolithic length, is improved by repeated readings... somewhat ironic, though no less poignant given the descriptions of afterlife and themes. almost every element of the book blossoms out and is reflected and repeated like acoustic harmonics both forward and backwards through the tangled plotlines, and whilst this is pretty meta, again given the themes of the book, it all feels earned and complimentary.
Moore's masterful use of prose are just as likely to make you cackle with laughter as to sob uncontrollably, maybe even both. this story will make you go mad, and everyone should read it.
the performance by Simon Vance is excellent (he's always pretty good!), and he deserves a medal for even attempting the Joyce chapter!

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Awesome!!

This book seems to be going nowhere but as you listen more and more the stories connect, it's very good one of the best audiobooks that I have listened to.

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Fabulous narrator

Fabulous narrator, the man is a master of tone and accent. A worthy reader for this awe striking book.

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Jerusalem

Have just finished Jerusalem! Absolutely incredible, I honestly don't think I'll ever look at my hometown in the same way, again. Some books were tougher than others and for some reason I found the last two chapters of Book Six a struggle, nevertheless, highly recommended, thoroughly enjoyed every bit! Top marks Mr.Moore

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A glorious mythology

Alan Moore's behemoth, Jerusalem, is to Northampton what Joyce's Ulysses is to Dublin, or what Alasdair Gray's Lanark is to Glasgow. Namely, a richly imagined personal mythology. It's length may seem intimidating, but the personal cosmology Moore creates out of the chaotic kaldescopic lives of the Boroughs denezins, woven together as it is by the rich history of Northampton, makes for a very rewarding read.

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Well worth the time

This was SO fun and unhinged, I absolutely loved it. I found the fantasy stuff in the middle to be a bit of a lull but I think that's just personal taste -- the modernist stuff around the edges is just fantastic. My advice to anyone struggling with the more experimental sections is just to let it wash over you, you'll be surprised how much gets through. Simon Vance reads beautifully as ever. This is definitely worth the time investment, I'm really glad I did it in audiobook format.

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