S. Newell

The science was interesting—leave politics out of it

Revisado: 09-14-18

I thought I was going to hear an interesting story about NOAA’s advances in weather prediction. While there was some of that, the author unnecessarily injects politics into the mix. I suppose he’s one of the people that probably believes that Hurricane Florence — currently making landfall—is President Trump’s fault.

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Interesting but disjointed story

Revisado: 05-11-17

What did you like best about this story?

The portions of the story relating to Mark Anderson and the 2005 fire were by far the most captivating.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I've been listening to audio books for several years now, and this ranks among the worst narrators I have heard. Her mispronunciation of key terms like "sommelier" really detracted from the listening experience, along with her totally unemotional, flat affect. The author states in the prologue that the entire point of her researching and writing the book was to understand the passions that wine arouses in people, such that they would be willing to run so far afoul of the law. But the narration demonstrates no passion at all; it may as well have been read by Siri or a robot.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes, if it stayed focused on the Mark Anderson story. I truly did not understand the diversion into 19th century California and the excruciating minutiae included in that bit of the story.

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Didn't live up to my expectations

Revisado: 11-02-15

Would you recommend The Astronaut Wives Club to your friends? Why or why not?

Probably not. While the glimpses into the lives of the astronaut's wives were interesting, I felt that the author tried too hard to draw parallels between cultural shifts of the 1960s and early 1970s and the changes in the wives' lives and self-perceptions.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I would guess that many people who would be interested in this book are folks like me who are consider themselves, to some degree, NASA/space program junkies. I'm pretty familiar with the astronauts' stories. It offended me that the narrator couldn't pronounce Gus Grissom's last name correctly. Even the slightest bit of research would have revealed the correct pronunciation. This man gave his life for the space program. The least the narrator could do is pronounce his name correctly.

Moreover, her attempts to imitate the vocal styles of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon was pretty awful. It would have been better for her to just continue narrating these parts in her own voice.

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Needs a better narrator

Revisado: 06-05-15

What did you love best about Still Alice?

There were some really beautifully written moments, both in terms of the emotion of the moment and the actual sentence construction.

What did you like best about this story?

Through her writing style, the author has a way of letting you feel the same disorientation and confusion that Alice feels as her disease progresses.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Lisa Genova?

A professional narrator and someone older with more "gravitas" to their voice. I felt like Genova's delivery and tone were likely what you would hear if she were to give a reading at a book club or book signing event, but it wasn't appropriate for the full-length audiobook. Even my 13 year old son, who happened to catch just a piece of this book while he was in the car with me, commented that he didn't think the narration was very good.

Any additional comments?

Despite the flaws in the narration, the story was compelling. I always know I've found a good audiobook when I can't wait to get into my car at the end of the workday so I can listen to my book. "Still Alice" was definitely one of those books.

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Narrator is annoying

Revisado: 04-03-15

Any additional comments?

After trying to give this book a chance and listening for over an hour, I just couldn't get around the fact that this narrator's voice irritates me. His inflections and changes in tone don't seem to match up to the words that he's saying, as if he has absolutely no understanding of what he's reading.

I am a huge Disney fan and a fan of theme parks in general. I had hoped that after an hour of listening, the story would be gripping enough that I could get past the annoyances of the narrator's voice. But so far, it has felt like nothing more than a list of dates from the first half of the 20th century regarding how Universal Studios was formed. This one will likely sit unfinished in my Audible library.

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Confusing and disjointed

Revisado: 03-16-15

What was most disappointing about Scott Blackwood’s story?

I was expecting more of a true crime type account of the Austin yogurt shop murders, but that's probably my fault for not understanding the nature of the book. I bought it based on a short blurb I read in People magazine in a doctor's office, and the magazine indicated that the book was "about the Austin yogurt shop murders."

Any additional comments?

While I usually enjoy the multiple, interwoven storyline format, I found this book confusing and disjointed. I didn't understand why the reporter character was necessary to the story at all, and many of the details in each character's storyline ended up being superfluous and irrelevant. Perhaps this read better as a book, but on audio, I found myself continually having to rewind and listen again because I was confused. By contrast, I did not have this issue with other similarly structured books like Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train.

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Zzzzzzz

Revisado: 02-11-15

I was excited to see that the author was the narrator of this book, as I anticipated that no one else would be better able to infuse this 50-year-old story with meaning and emotion than the person who had actually done all of the research that forms the basis for the book. Unfortunately, it's difficult for me to imagine how such a compelling mystery could be made more dull than by the author's emotionless, monotone narration. The only reason I made it to the end was because I wanted to know how, if at all, the mystery might finally be solved.

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