The Gambler

Narrator Simon Prebble makes this tightly constructed Dostoevsky classic his own. Through the voice of the first-person narrator, Alexei Ivanovich, Prebble brings to life the story of the young Russian tutor who struggles with both unrequited love and his passion for gambling. The gambling at the heart of the story reflects Dostoevsky's own compulsion for the gaming tables, and, in fact, the book was written on a bet, with the rights to the author's entire oeuvre as the stake. Prebble's performance is supremely well balanced, both sonically and emotionally, and he is a master at catching nuance, inflection, and emphasis on the page and giving them voice. M.G. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Dostoevsky's novella is brimming with irony: It was hastily written (dictated, in fact) in 1866 so the author could pay back debts he had incurred at the roulette wheel. The novella is told from the point of view of Alexei Ivanovich, who is love with Polina, a woman who exploits his ardor. Narrator Michael Kramer faces many challenges--Russian names, a variety of European accents, and several passages of untranslated French. He ably overcomes them all. In an almost-supercilious tone he portrays Alexei, who embodies all of Dostoevsky's feelings about gambling's seductive but devastating charms. Kramer also switches skillfully to the graceful Polina, the buffoonish general, and the haggard grandmother, giving full voice to the colorful cast of this psychologically rich novella. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine