Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Buddha of Suburbia

By: Hanif Kureishi
Narrated by: Christopher Simpson
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

A Radio 4 Book Club Selection.

The hero of Hanif Kureishi's debut novel is a dreamy teenager, desperate to escape suburban South London and experience the forbidden fruits which the 1970s seem to offer. When the unlikely opportunity of a life in the theatre announces itself, Karim starts to win the sort of attention he has been craving, albeit with some rude and raucous results.

©1990 Hanif Kureishi (P)2003 BBC Audiobooks Ltd
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Nothing cover art
The Black Album cover art
Killing Helen cover art
Just William: A Second BBC Radio Collection cover art
The Swimming Pool Library cover art
Heartburn cover art
Lime Street Blues cover art
Laceys of Liverpool cover art

Critic reviews

"An astonishing book, full of intelligence and elan." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Buddha of Suburbia

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    31
  • 4 Stars
    27
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    10
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    22
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    14
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    39
  • 4 Stars
    24
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful story but spoilt by the awful narration

I loved the book , have read it several times and have seen the TV dramatization several times but this for me was nearly spoilt by the standard of the recording. The tone of the narrators voice changed in different periods of the recording which I wonder was a fault in the production as on passage of narration would sound completely different to the next.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant book but Audible version is awful.

The Buddha of Surburbia is a delight. It’s extremely frank, gloriously indecent, and perverse - and very funny. Be warned though it is raw and extremely explicit at times and definitely not for the easily offended.

Sadly though this Audible version is awful, it sounds like it’s recorded in an empty room on an old cassette recorder, and there’s something in the background, a TV or radio or something. Also the quality fluctuates from bad to worse and back again. As for the narrator himself, he sounds like one of my attempts to read out loud in English literature at school, although this does improve (or is it that I just got used to it?). Playing it at 1x2 helps a bit but not a lot. Also the chapters are out of sync, the physical book chapters starting in the middle of the Audible book chapters. Sadly this Audible version is a messy affair.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book…

I loved the book and the TV version was great too. All the actors are just as you’d imagined them in the story. It’s so funny in parts, it made me laugh so much. The narrator does a good job, but the recording is so bad in parts.
Worth listening to though.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A masterpiece!

Buddha of Suburbia is a much more subtle and complex novel than I thought it was going to be from watching one episode of the tv series as a kid, it is still so very pertinent in its observations and commentary. There is a lot of sex, for sure, and if he means it to or not, it is a lens through which to understand better the nature of the relationships. It’s a fascinating book, especially about ethnic minority identity in the U.K. and makes me wonder who else there is until Zadie Smith who even attempts to tread this ground with so much complex reality and honesty since.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, terrible editing

I enjoyed the story but it was spoilt by the editing of the narration. The narrator was fine it was just the editing. It was obviously not checked before being released. I listen to many audible books and this is the first time with this problem

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Worst quality audiobook I had listened to

Worst quality audiobook I had listened to, you can clearly notice the start of a new recording session. I think at times the narrator left room while still reading and still recording.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved this book on first reading...

...just as enjoyable as an audiobook. Now working my way through the other Kureishi books on here.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Funny and thought provoking story.

The audio book editing was very poor with poor continuation and footsteps in one part.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Terrible Recording, Good Book.

The audio is echoey and even has the sound of people talking in the background. A disservice to an otherwise good book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoy listening

This is a great story performed by Mick Jagger; however, the recording needs updating as the sound quality isn’t great and changes with some rough edits. Still very good though.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful