Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.
Title: The Laying on of Hands
Author: Alan Bennett
Narrator: Alan Bennett
Format: Unabridged
Length: 2 hrs and 19 mins
Language: English
Release date: 02-03-05
Publisher: BBC Worldwide Limited
Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 10 votes
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
Clive has died young, in Peru and in cirucumstances which make some of his many friends uneasy. The congregation gathered for his memorial service is unexpectedly distinguished; amongst the well-known faces and household names are pop stars, actors, politicians, and even members of the government.
So how come they all knew Clive, and why does his death make so many of them anxious?
It's only when Clive's friends in the congreation begin to stand up and share their memories of the dead man that a number of uncomfortable truths are revealed.
Members Reviews:
Inviting but wanted more.
I found this work by Alan Bennett to be inviting however with so many possibilities for twists and trysts falling short of perfect. There were many places that the story could have gone especially near the conclusion I had hoped one or two might materialize. Witty, fun as ever, and clever, but for me a bit tame in the end. Perhaps after reading "The Uncommon Reader" with its twists and turns I expected more at the finish. All in all a very good read.
Brilliant premise beautifully executed
Very quirky and wonderfully written, and very very funny. It left me quietly smiling for quite a while. Just try it!
You might like it, i didn't.
bought on the advice of a friend. Guess we don't have the same sense of humor.
A Subversively Funny Send-up
The title story of Alan Bennett's "The Laying on of Hands," a novella that takes up half the book of three stories, demonstrates the playwright's sparkling versatility as a writer.
Anyone who has seen or read Bennett's recent Tony-award-winning play, "The History Boys," will appreciate the more subtle humor of "The Laying on of Hands," the focus of which is a memorial service for a highly attractive, skillful, and young (dead at age 34) masseur conducted by a High Anglican priest who, like most of those attending the service, has enjoyed the virile masseur's services, albeit without the knowledge of the others.
Among the attendees is wide selection of mourners, including many of England's wealthy and famous, male and female, a "version of England," as it were. Add a self-righteous Archdeacon, there to report on the conduct of Father Geoffrey Jolliffe, who is conducting the service, and you have the ingredients for a smart, subversive dark comedy revolving around the question of "What did he die of?"
To supply the answer would spoil the story. Read it and enjoy it; then read and see the movie version, available on DVD, of "The History Boys" if you haven't already.
Wrestling With Angels: A Tale of Two BrothersBare RootsLoud Whisper
Another Alan Bennett delight.
I was very pleased with this collection of short stories. Alan Bennett is a delightful and thoughtful writer who pushes the limits of cultural comfort levels with his writing. Although I wasn't quite as enamored with these stories as I have been in the past with "History Boys" and "The Uncommon Reader," I was far from disappointed. If you are already a Bennett fan in search of new material I highly recommend picking this up. If you are new to Bennett and looking for an introduction to his work I highly recommend putting this one on your shelf... but read it *after* "The Uncommon Reader."
