God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible
By: Adam Nicolson / Narrated By: Clive Chafer
Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
Interesting facts and details, but DEPLORABLE narration!
I shoulda known it: Narration by Clive Chafer? Did I not pan his narration of Colin Cotterill’s The Coroner’s Lunch over on Audible? Why, yes! I did! Obviously I forgot about how he very much took the whimsy and humor outta Dr. Siri Paiboun’s; I forgot that it was a painful listen, that I gave up on it after what should’ve been a funny scene came off sounding like a BBC broadcast.
So I guess God’s Secretaries had some humorous bits—hard to say as Chafer’s delivery was totally one-note, very heavy-handed, over the top at times. There were quite a few times where I’d be listening intently, something I had to do as the audiobook is crammed full of facts and many, many people, and I’d be five minutes out before realizing that something funny was said way back when. Very disheartening, I can tell you. Add to that, parts of earlier versions of the Bible were read and set against the new King James Version where the only difference is in punctuation, in when and where pauses added sooooo much to the interpretation. But do you think Chafer paused at all so that we, the listeners, could grasp the depth and beauty? Nooooo! Frustrating beyond belief.
The audiobook is filled with facts that are quite interesting, and it’s jam-packed with details, tiny details, so many, many details that I kinda sorta got sidetracked and forgot what Nicolson’s initial point was. But at least all of it was compelling if not absolutely engaging.
Make no mistake: This audiobook is not about the new version that was being hammered out. I’d rather hoped it would be, that there would be snippets of the new translation, but there were only a few scattered throughout the audiobook. No, this book is about the “secretaries”, the men who worked on the text. You’ll find out about all their petty foibles, their strengths, their weaknesses, what they liked to eat, whether or not they approved of dancing. You name it, those details are loud and clear. But I kinda like stuff like that. I’m into Bios and Memoirs, but I do believe other people might find it boring beyond belief.
At least it was never bad enough to make me nod off, tho’ Chafer’s narration did inspire a wandering mind. Oh, well. You, my dear Accomplices, chose this for my Next Listen, so I’m happy to take one for the team.
You’re welcome…!
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