King John Audiobook

" Life is too short to read boring stuff. This was really boring. I get that Shakespeare was trying to make a point here, with the parallels between King John and his father, Henry II, and with Queen Elizabeth and her father, Henry VIII, but still, that's no excuse for a boring play. He stuck too closely to history and didn't give any glimpse of the personalities at work behind the story. Not worth reading. "

" this was alright as far as his "King" books go. "

" The ironic running commentary by Falcounbridge and the florid histrionics of Constance redeem the lack of focus in this overcrowded, awkwardly constructed play---that is, redeem it on the page; I do not know if they could save it in performance. "

" This is what was at stratford upon avon when i went to visit shakespeares birthplace...no frills great performance... "

" I thought it was pretty good. The way the Bastard continues to problematize the pretensions of the rest of the cast throughout the play puts its events in an interesting light. "

" Works well early on, but it's rather unbalanced because the last act is a bit of a let-down. Three good parts for women! Some lovely poetry, but the characters of King John and the Bastard are not as fully evolved as Richard III, for whom they might be seen as prototypes. "

" At least this history has a plot, even if it lacks the redeeming qualities/actions that the real King John had. "

" It seems against the rules to rate Shakespeare so poorly, but this is not the best of his plays. The story lurches about at random, which I found too much of a distraction from what value there may be in the language or characterization. Perhaps I would enjoy it better performed. "

" There are a few good passages. John's mother makes for an interesting female character, and his cousin, the Bastard, is very complex. The plot, however, leaves you wondering what the whole point was supposed to be. Not the best of Shakespeare. "

" A story about King John. "

" Was happy to be finished. Didn't really like it. "

" Only earned a third star for the scene between Arthur and the man sent to take his life. "

" Hell, it's Shakespeare! Did *you* know where the phrase "gild the lily" came from? "

" Sturdy edition of one of Shakespeare's more unusual history plays. "

" Despite having a Bigot and a Bastard, this play was just a bunch of blah, mostly reading like an early draft. Here is where Shakespeare pokes around and experiments, the way he will further in the three parts of Henry VI before reaching a much crisper, brutal, playful Richard III. "

" eh...I read it, it's done...moving on "

" An interesting enough play. Riffs reminiscent of Richard III and Richard II. Not one of Shakespeare's best, but still worth reading. I'm looking forward to seeing a production later this year. "

" Another brilliant Arkangel audio production of Shakespeare. "

" This was my first historical play of Shakespeare and I really loved it. I love British history and found it interesting to see beloved historical figures like Eleanor of Aquitaine in a play...is it wrong I still see her as Katherine Hepburn from The Lion in Winter? "

" I read this one when I was 15 years old. You can get abridged versions of Shakespeare but I prefer the original. Sometimes it is helpful to get an edition that includes the original book on one side of the page and the story written in "easy to understand English" on the opposite page. "

" This is a reread for me. I always liked the character of Philip the B@*^d, and for some reason King John as been on my mind lately. "

" This was required reading in my freshman comp class at Bellarmine. This play was included in our literature anthology, "The Experience of Literature" by Lionell Trilling. "

" I'd give Lear 4.5 stars if I could. Not five, because only books that mean a lot to me personally get five; but this is a gorgeous play, and definitely in my top five of Shakespeare's works. "

" Didn't get around to this until my senior year of college. How'd I miss it for 22 years? "

" This is an absolutely terrific edition of King Lear. Slowing picking my through the text (taking pains to absorb all the footnotes along the way) proved to be an enormously rewarding experience. "

" I liked reading it but I didn't like reading it for school. "

" An assault on age and custom. Touching, but not my favorite of the Bard's tragedies. "

" I didn't much care for this play. "

" Read for school. <br/>It was sad when Cordelia died - but then it's a tragedy, isn't it? "

" It is such a pleasure to re-read something and find it to be even better than remembered. I think one must be over 50 to really get this. "

" <br/><strong>Rating: 2,5</strong><br/><br/>I liked it the least from the Shakespeare's play I read so far. Though it is filled with morals I didn't particularly found it interesting. <br/>In this edition there is a lot of extra materials, some more interesting and helpful than others. "

" This was a pretty good tragedy. It was enjoyable to read in class and the story kept moving along. "

" it is a good classic book "