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Oh Dear Silvia (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

by Dawn French (Author, Narrator), Gareth Armstrong (Narrator), Jane Collingwood (Narrator), Beattie Edmondson (Narrator), James Fleet (Narrator), Llewella Gideon (Narrator), Jack Lowden (Narrator), James McArdle (Narrator)

3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (328 customer reviews)

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Product details

Audio Download
Listening Length: 9 hours and 20 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Audible.co.uk Release Date: 25 Oct 2012
Language: English
ASIN: B009WHJ4NG

Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (328 customer reviews)

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Product Description

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Dawn Frenchs' second brilliant novel, Oh Dear Silvia, featuring a full cast of readers including Gareth Armstrong, Jane Collingwood, Beattie Edmondson, James Fleet, Llewella Gideon, Jack Lowden, James McArdle, Pauline McLynn, Patrice Naiambana, Celine Rosa Tan, Maggie Steed, Ruby Turner, and Dawn herself.

Who is in Coma Suite Number 5? A matchless lover? A supreme egotist? A selfless martyr? A bad mother? A cherished sister? A selfish wife? All of these. For this is Silvia Shute, who has always done exactly what she wants. Until now, when her life suddenly, shockingly stops. Her past holds a terrible secret, and now that she is unconscious in a hospital bed, her constant stream of visitors are set to uncover the mystery of her broken life. Meanwhile she must lie there, victim of the beloveds, the borings, the babblings and the plain bonkers. Like it or not, the truth is about to pay Silvia a visit. Again, and again and again...

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Customer Reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars

3.8 out of 5 stars

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Who Was Silvia? 25 Oct 2012

By ACB (swansea) TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This second novel by Dawn French is easy to read but in the early parts difficult to interweave the various contributions of the narrators into a cohesive piece of work. Persevere, it is worth it. Silvia Shute has fallen three floors from a balcony. She is in intensive care in a coma on life-support including mechanical ventilation. She is the younger sister of the eccentric Jo. They lost their mother at a young age and their army-trained father went off the rails. Sylvia divorced dependable Ed after showing little love for him or their two children, Jamie and Cassie who after leaving home had no love or respect for their mother.

This background is the canvas on which the author paints the past and mysteries of Silvia through a series of monologues delivered by family and friends. She is inert and unresponsive 'like a marble sarcophagus'. The content of the monologues alternate between love and hatred, sibling rivalry and jealousy with Ed in particular, 'dead inside'. The prose jumps from straight dialogue to charming descriptions particularly of the woods where Silvia and Ed spent much of their courtship. The dismal outlook and depressing medical predicament of this tragedy are broken by episodes of humour. The Indonesian Tia (Silvia's cleaner) spends her moments relating the contents of current gossip magazines in an amusing format. Jo refuses to give up hope and reality of waking her 'frozen sister' with a series of bizarre, funny and hilarious attempts to stimulate some response.

The novel is held together by Silvia's Jamaican nurse, Winnie. She treats Silvia with the repect she gives all her patients and is the only one with no axe to grind, no anger, hate or questions but only wishes good things for Silvia. She is a totally professional caring person.... Read more ›

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Audio is better! 15 Nov 2012

By Ladybug

Format:Hardcover

For those who didn't enjoy the reading the book, listen to it as an audio book. The characters come to life and the whole plot makes more sense, I did this with dawns last book and it was much nicer to listen to her reading it and playing the parts. I thought the story it self was interesting in parts, clever with letting us realise who Sylvia really is/was and in some places dam right hilarious! I had some funny looks at work listening to this!

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for me but maybe for others. 2 Nov 2012

By Dave VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

By giving this book only 2 stars I am not trying to imply it is a bad book but it was not to my taste. Maybe it is my fault for buying a book that is outside of my normal genre but I wanted to try it as it was by Dawn French who I do like a lot on the telly.

I only got up to page 60 odd before giving up but later thought it would be fairer to the author to give it another go. I got to page 100ish before giving up again and passing the book to my missus.

Basically this is a book that revolves around the thoughts and feelings of the friends and family of Sylvia. Unfortunately Sylvia is in a coma and cannot answer back and these thoughts and feelings are expressed at visiting times at the hospital. I just thought that the mundane thoughts of Sylvia's visitors was quite boring and I had no desire to carry on.

I am sure that when the missus reads it she will have much better views than mine.

One thing I did not like was the authors habit of underling words quite frequently. I thought that this indicated that Ms French has not got the confidence in her readers to understand the book.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars easy read yet subtley deals with the bigger issues, another great book by dawn french 15 Nov 2012

By Mrs. J. L. Barkley

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

although through the way this book is written it seems like just another easy read, it surprisingly sneaks in, along with a lot of humour, some deeper thoughts and themes. Without giving anything away, the ending brought me to tears and highlights the relationships between family members and those we love, whether they deserve our love or not. As i heard Dawn say in an interview the British often find humour in our darkest times and the book demonstrates this beautifully. Enjoyed dawn's previous books but this has to be the best so far, she has obviously found a style she is comfortable with but it seems that she is becoming more confident with each book, can't wait for her next novel, no pressure intended!

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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Oh dear Dawn! 8 Nov 2012

By I L Gardener

Format:Hardcover

I've just joined a book club and this was the first book chosen for us all to read, and I'll be honest and say that it wouldn't have been one I would have chosen to read otherwise. I've not read anything by Dawn French before but I admire her as a comedian/actress. The problem I found was that Dawn writes the way she speaks and so when I was reading the book all I could hear was her voice, doing all the different accents. The premise of the book is very interesting and explores the notion of how we are all different things to different people, but I just found the characters to be flimsy, one dimensional and unbelievable. Some parts of the story are touching and poignant but in other chapters it dissolves into farce and I found the humour rather infantile. Like someone said in another of the reviews, the story would make a great play rather than a book.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Dead as a Doornail 11 May 2013

By Carl Spencer TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Dawn French has a great concept. Silvia lies in hospital in a coma. Her family and 'friends' come to visit her and, whilst sitting with her, recall old memories and reveal their inner secrets. Their lives have all been influenced by Silvia in one way or another and we learn more and more about their pasts as the story progresses.

The problem is that the story and the way it's told just isn't very good. The story is neither funny, dramatic, romantic or poignant. It sometimes try to be all at once and normally fails. It's characters are dull - as Silvia thought of some of them herself when she was alive and well - or just downright annoying. The characterisation and accent of Winnie, Silvia's caring nurse, teeters from stereotypical to a wee bit racist. The story development is slow, some of the hospital visits are the same or similar to those which preceded it. That may be representative of real life but an exciting book it does not make.

It was a real struggle to get through. Only in the final few chapters did the book pick up a bit and become a tiny bit compelling. Then it was over. The resolution was minimal, the final reaction 'meh'. Rest in peace.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh Dear, broken Kindle

I was enjoying this book but unfortunately my Kindle broke about a quarter of the way through (it was old and had lived a full life) I will try to read this book again as it... Read more

Published 13 hours ago by Waxwing

5.0 out of 5 stars a very good read.

I have read dawn French before and enjoy her type of writing. this book was excellent.i would really recommend it.

Published 1 day ago by huytonian