Andrea

Loved it!

Revisado: 01-15-25

I've had this in my library for a long time and finally got around to listening. It is SO good. The story is compelling and the narration, especially by Rutina Wesley, is so engaging and made me eager to keep listening. The shifts in perspective add a rich texture to the story that, broadly speaking, isn't that complicated. I especially appreciated the tension between Jojo's perspective and Leonie's perspectives, as we shift back and forth. The haunting presences add a bit of uncanny historical reckoning that speaks to the traumas of violences (un)buried.

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Not sure yet

Revisado: 11-05-18

So, I've been listening for seven hours so far. I'd describe the experience so far as something I am enduring mostly to see what the fuss is all about, and how it'll end. I am a huge fan of French's work, and I am very much into the more literary mysteries that aren't too formulaic. So in that sense I appreciate the pace of this one. However, it does drag on quite a bit. The speaker doesn't help. He's not dreadful but he's turning the narrator into someone I don't really care about. (Perhaps I'll find out that this is done on purpose.) I find myself not caring for his thoughts and feelings and responses to things anymore. It's annoying that I feel almost like I have to ignore the narrator's thoughts in order to focus on the story, which in a first person perspective, obviously, is hard to do. I also find the speaker kind of awful on some of the other voices, especially the women. Again, not terrible to the point I'd quit this book altogether, but just annoying. Just hoping it'll get better over the next 16 hours, assuming I'll stick with it!

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Like the idea behind the format but it gets old

Revisado: 04-08-18

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend Otsuka's When the Emperor Was Divine instead. While I like the idea behind constructing Buddha in the Attic in the plural "we" perspective, it gets kind of old after a while. I found myself fasting forward after a few of the variations on how the women meet their husbands for the first time, or what kind of interactions they had with "them" (white people in CA), or how their children grew up. It was a bit of "I get it already." Perhaps I would have found this feature less annoying had I read the book instead of listening to it. I did keep listening because I was curious to hear how Otsuka would address the incarceration history and those stretches were quite interesting. But, again, I would recommend Emperor instead for that history.

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Tedious

Revisado: 07-17-17

What disappointed you about The Nix?

I realize that it's not fair to write a review about a book I didn't finish. However there are plenty of enthusiastic reviews on this book to persuade an interested listener to give it a try. Just wasn't for me. The beginning was intriguing enough but the more we settled into Samuel's perspective I was irritated by how the narrative developed his character. The observations about teaching or gaming, his thoughts on life--none of it seemed original and worth my time. I kept wondering why I was supposed to care about him. I wanted to know how the narrative would pull together but, in the end, gave up before I found out.

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Not for me

Revisado: 06-23-17

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I listened for about two hours and then gave up. I am usually all for a "flaneur-esque" narratives that meander through city spaces, but with this one I couldn't see the point or why I should care. The observations, to me, seemed as if they were meant to be profound but really weren't. I appreciate the idea of chance encounters as the narrator makes is way through NYC but it just didn't work for me.

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Just wonderful

Revisado: 06-22-17

If you could sum up Nutshell in three words, what would they be?

A great listen. Really enjoyed the narration and perspective. Of course, being familiar with Hamlet helps and increases the listening experience.

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Not sure

Revisado: 06-03-17

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I really liked the first book in this series--the narrator is great, the characters nuanced and likable, there was a good amount of suspense, and I really liked the setting. However, this book.... I don't know. It feels like VERY mindless listening and while I usually appreciate that for certain occasions, I am almost not sure if it's worth my time. I feel kind of bored. I'm mildly intrigued by the nod toward something "other" going on but there's just something that's not working for me. Too many half-cooked story lines?

Was Thirty-Three Teeth worth the listening time?

Not sure. Kind of but also kind of boring.

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Entertaining but not as complex as original

Revisado: 12-04-15

Where does The Girl in the Spider's Web rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Definitely an entertaining and somewhat suspenseful listen. It doesn't have the complexity, depth, and grit as the original series and is thus not as profound a listening experience as the first three were for me. I was astounded by Larsen's stories, the characters, the violence, and, above all, the heft of his social critique. There's very little of that here. It mostly sounds like a made-for-tv-movie mystery with some familiar characters. There are a couple awesome Salander moments, but overall a much more shallow experience (this may be intriguing for some who found the original series too violent and hard to swallow).

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

Vance is, as always, superb. It did take me several hours to get over the fact that he pronounced Salander's and Erika Berger's last names differently than in the Larsen books. With Berger in particular, I initially thought she was a different character. I thought this was an odd choice but, eventually, got over it.

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Overall glad I stuck with it--wasn't always easy..

Revisado: 05-26-14

What did you like best about The Goldfinch? What did you like least?

I'm torn about this one. Overall I have to say I ended up liking it and that it had moments that were very engaging and made me come back (I finished it, after all, when I wasn't always sure I would). My two main issues: the narrative to me seemed sometimes too drawn out, making the pacing of the story seem awkward, like she didn't know when to get out of a scene. In about a handful of key moments, the narrative, rather than moving forward, kept turning in on itself going in circles. (I read the whole Proust and loved that experience--so I am NOT someone who needs fast paced stories!!). Part of the issue is the narrator. It's not often that I find first person narrators successful and this was certainly not one of them. I understand her choice to make Theo the narrator, to keep us so close to the story rather than creating more distance with a third-person narrator, but at times I simply didn't care about what seemed to me overly self-indulgent passages. As for the reader it took me several hours to get used to his version of young Theo. I found his inflections and intonations rather annoying. However, once the story added more characters I thought the reader did a really nice job with them. (The women tend to all sound the same, though).

Have you listened to any of David Pittu’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Nope

Do you think The Goldfinch needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

nope

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Didn't engage me at all

Revisado: 01-31-14

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Couldn't get interested in the story or the characters. Maybe someone interested in motorcycles and racing will have more luck. Good writing, though, and I like the reader.

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