Awake Tex

Too much snark

Revisado: 09-27-23

Hegel's an influential philosopher. But you wouldn'tknow ttha from this book. Paul Strahern does little other than mock Hegel. He's ugly. He's bamboozling his students. He's a boring teacher.And his writing is incomprehensible, as is, I might add, almost every philosopher.

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Can't get past the narrator

Revisado: 04-01-23

I gave three stars to the story; it probably deserves more. But I couldn't continue listening because of the narrator. He speaks in a consistent monotone, a strikingly bad choice for someone as passionate as Vincent Van Gogh. There's no variation in pitch, no emotion, no personality. It's like Van Gogh is being voiced by Ben Stein in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Even the rhythm of the sentences is repetitive: take a breath, read a chunk of text, take another breath, read another chunk of text of a similar length, over and over and over again. I've listened to other recordings by Mr. Chafer that were actually listenable. For example, his narration of Ian Davidson's "The French Revolution," an especially dry subject, demonstrates far more variety and passion. Very strange. And very unlistenable.

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Brutal and Funny

Revisado: 11-30-20

This book deserves to be much better known. An insufferably egotistical and immature husband. An overwhelmed and self-martyrizing wife. A desperate, fantasizing daughter. Christina Stead creates the worst possible family. No physical abuse, just relentless psychological domination and destruction. Darkly funny and brilliantly written.

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Time Capsule

Revisado: 11-08-20

This journal, compiled in the 1830s but published in the 1860s,, gives insight into the nature of slavery in antebellum Georgia. Kemble, the English born wife of a plantation owner, is often indignant and appalled by the mistreatment of slaves and by the whole slave system.

Kemble comes across as compassionate. But she also at times is condescending and paternalistic. She is, in other words, a product of her time. Her journal, therefore, is a vital historical document.

Her prose style and observations about the natural environment of the Georgia coast reveal her intelligence and curiosity. And they convey a moral seriousness shared by the best writers of her age.

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Moving and Well-Written Biography

Revisado: 09-30-20

This biography, which originally consisted of 6 volumes published in 1926 and 1939, was condensed into one long volume and published in 1954. I can't imagine listening to all 6 volumes. But the condensed version is long and detailed and has been seamlessly edited into one volume by Carl Sandburg.

I'm sure many contemporary historians would look down on this book for following a more traditional narrative structure and perhaps for mythologizing Lincoln a bit. And I'm sure that new evidence and arguments have come along since the 1950s.

Nonetheless, this is a terrific book. Sandburg does a good job conveying Lincoln's character. He smoothly shifts from anecdote to 19th century politics to cultural background to the gruesomeness of the Civil War. Best of all, Sandburg, a poet, writes clearly, dramatically, and lyrically. It's a pleasure to listen to.

The narrator has the perfect voice and personality for this book, sounding almost like someone from the 19th Century.

Highly recommended.

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Too much ephemera, not enough Moby

Revisado: 08-20-20

I wanted more on Melville. The author has gone fishing. And has returned empty handed.

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Too Anecdotal

Revisado: 04-13-20

I found this book something of a chore to finish. There was too much focus on the stories, however sad and disturbing, of people addicted to painkillers. These stories ran together, dissipating their impact. I would've like much more about the back story, about Big Pharma and its ties to Wall Street and politicians.

Unlike some other reviewers, the narration didn't bother me. Most of the time, in fact, I like it when an author reads her own book, especially nonfiction.

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Great book, great narrator

Revisado: 08-23-19

In "Fingersmith," Sarah Waters has written a compelling modern take on the Victorian novel. She manages to create a believable facsimile of Victorian-era prose but without the difficult syntax that can make listening to, say, Dickens, so difficult. The story is compelling, with two first-person narratives, and a surprising and twisting plot. These narrative voices believably capture the attitudes and beliefs and details of Victorian England, while at the same time conveying a modern sensibility free from the sentiment and moralizing common in much 19th century fiction.

Juanita McMahon's narration is captivating. She perfectly mimics the novel's two voices, a well-educated upper-class girl and a poor cockney girl. And she creates convincing voices for many other characters. Her speech is precisely modulated, capturing the stresses and fears and joys of this novel's main characters.

A perfect match of author and subject, story and narrator, "Fingersmith" is a joy to listen to. Highly recommended.

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Kings and Wars

Revisado: 08-22-19

I listened to this book in preparation for a trip to France. It began promisingly, with Norwich recounting some amusing experiences as an adolescent in France. I liked the fact that Norwich was narrating his own book, with his compelling and old-fashioned English accent.

However, this book quickly revealed itself to be a narrative of kings, one after the other, and the wars they fought. One would think a history of France might actually consider the French people. This absence is ironic, given French historians' concerns with social history (as in the Annales School). How did average people live in France in the Middle Ages or during the Revolution? You won't find any of that information here.

How do the regions of France differ? What conflicts have they had? How have the provinces responded to domination by Paris? Nothing here will tell you.

And there's virtually nothing about the arts. Norwich tacks on a perfunctory chapter at the end identifying some of his preferences. But don't look here for anything about Flaubert and Zola and Proust, Debussy and Ravel, Monet and Degas and Cezanne. Here's a book about France that doesn't even mention Marie de France. But you will learn that Louis Napoleon Bonaparte died during the Anglo-Zulu war and that Garibaldi fought in the Uruguayan Civil War.

Ultimately, this book reads like a wikipedia entry on French royalty. If you want a much more comprehensive look at French history, listen to Alistair Horne's "Seven Ages of Paris." His book on this city covers much more of France, ironically, than does Norwich's book

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Narrow Focus

Revisado: 08-22-19

I listened to this book after having listened to the previous one in this series, Richard Evans's magisterial "The Pursuit of Power." Compared to Evans's book, which provides a truly encyclopedic examination of 19th century Europe, Kershaw's volume is narrowly focused on international affairs. There's little effort to understand the impact of science, technology, the arts. Quite a disappointment.

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