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My Brilliant Career

By: Miles Franklin
Narrated by: Carrie Bickmore
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Publisher's Summary

“I Remember, I Remember" "Boo, hoo! Ow, ow; Oh! oh! Me'll die. Boo, hoo. The pain, the pain! Boo, hoo!" "Come, come, now. Daddy's little mate isn't going to turn Turk like that, is she? I'll put some fat out of the dinner-bag on it, and tie it up in my hanky. Don't cry any more now. Hush, you must not cry! You'll make old Dart buck if you kick up a row like that."

That is my first recollection of life. I was barely three. I can remember the majestic gum-trees surrounding us, the sun glinting on their straight white trunks, and falling on the gurgling fern-banked stream, which disappeared beneath a steep scrubby hill on our left.

It was an hour past noon on a long clear summer day. We were on a distant part of the run, where my father had come to deposit salt. He had left home early in the dewy morning, carrying me in front of him on a little brown pillow which my mother had made for the purpose. We had put the lumps of rock-salt in the troughs on the other side of the creek. The stringy bark roof of the salt-shed which protected the troughs from rain peeped out picturesquely from the musk and peppercorn shrubs by which it was densely surrounded, and was visible from where we lunched.

The green-hide bags in which the salt had been carried were hanging on the hooks of the pack-saddle which encumbered the bay pack-horse. Father's saddle and the brown pillow were on Dart, the big grey horse on which he generally carried me, and we were on the point of making tracks for home. Miles Franklin began the candid, passionate, and contrary My Brilliant Career when she was only 16, intending for it to be the Australian answer to Jane Eyre. This thinly veiled autobiographical tale of a young girl hungering for life and love in the outback was so beyond its years when first released in 1901 that Franklin insisted it not be published again until 10 years after her death. My Brilliant Career is a coming of age story for all of the ages.

©1901, 1966 Miles Franklin (P)2014 Audible Studios

What listeners say about My Brilliant Career

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • mrs
  • 22-03-2015

Narrator too annoying to listen to

I have listened to audio books for years but this is the first one I had to turn off because of the narrator. She reads like it is a news bulletin with the same downward inflection at the end of each sentence. I found myself listening to the ABC-style narration instead of actually hearing what she was saying. I will just pick up the paperback of this classic Australian novel instead.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Worst Reading Ever

Carrie Bickmore's horrendous reading of My Brilliant Career almost ruins what is a very interesting and captivating tale of late 19th century rural Australia. Miles Franklin's story is honest and raw and deserves much better than Bickmore's terrible 'news' voice and clumsy pronunciation. i really hope this classic gets a do-over in the near future.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Couldn't bear the narration style

I was looking forward to this book, but unfortunately I couldn't stand the newsreader style narration. After a short time I found I just could not keep listening.

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5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Great story, terrible narration

I wanted to enjoy My Brilliant Career. I realise that it is a classic. The descriptions of that time were intriguing. But I had to deal with the protagonist and a bunch on unlikeable characters.

And then I had to deal with Carrie Bickmore.

My wife dislikes her intensely. I've never been fussed either way. But after listening to this book, I tend to agree with her. She reads almost the entire story like it was a news story. She almost nearly tried to do accents, with no luck. I had to force myself to listen to the whole book, just so that I could say that I've read My Brilliant Career.

Ah well, I've read it now.

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4 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not a fan!

I only listened to the first two chapters, didn't like how it was written and the reader was very mono tone.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator

I suffered to the end of this book, it is ages since I disliked a narrator as much ....her intonations were always inappropriate to the story, & thus irritating . It has been a long time since I read the story & my memory of it is now tarnished by the experience.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Australian Literature

The book kept you ficusswd all the way through for the story line was quite strong and the main characters held you in captivating but the climax end left you in no mans land

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A good story

I am glad I read this book and the narration did not worry me at all. I did find the beginning a bit slow but once I got past this, I was captivated by the experiences of this young girl. It was obviously almost an autobiography for Miles Franklin. Her real life experiences in the harsh bush and Depression times were fascinating and I felt empathetic to her situation. A girl of high ideals, intelligence and ability confined by cultural and family factors of the time she lived in. I was not disappointed in the ending, it is close to what Miles choose herself; not to take advantage of an easy life of marrying a prosperous farmer because it would not have been honest and fair to either him or herself.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Expected so much more

This had so much potential...

So disappointing...

Insightful for the time, but no real story and you are left wondering

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Lee
  • 28-12-2014

Boring

Unable to finish. I found the narration annoying and the story too hard to get in to. If I had persevered I may have been surprised, but not my cup of tea.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.