Betty B.

Appreciate the tremendous amount of work required to create this interesting plot

Revisado: 01-17-24

136 citations from I Ching, starting each of the 136 chapters, is tedious and annoying — detracts from rhythm of storyline, abrupt mini lecture. It is reason for 4 versus 5 star story rating. Glad protagonists’ relationship is moving along.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Not up to the earlier novels

Revisado: 11-20-21

In summary: Too long by a mile, unsympathic characters, too much religion, disjointed time jumps muddle plot development. Own all the Franzen novels, had been a fan; and also came of age in the 70’s, similar religious upbringing, so that wasn’t the problem. Rather, it simply wasn’t worth the time—brought nothing new or interesting to the party—had to make myself finish it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Ugh

Revisado: 03-14-19

I bought this thinking it was by WB, not realizing it was another author. I have dozens of WB’s books and he is a revered fav. This book was largely disappointing because:
1. Heavily religious overtones by a member of organized religion (which WB rightly holds suspect);
2. The self narration is annoyingly plodding as mentioned by another reviewer, I finally put it on 1.5x speed to get through it;
3. The author/narrator tellingly misstates the title of Wallace Stegner’s influential novel ANGLE of Repose as ANGEL of Repose; and finally
4. Nothing new or particularly insightful is presented—it reads like an undergraduate term paper.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Boring

Revisado: 05-23-16

What happened to Barnes's story telling abilities? Huge fan of his previous works, but not this. Meandering disjointed storyline. Had to make myself finish this one.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Return to Excellent Writing and Thinking

Revisado: 02-21-16

The Scotland street series has always been one of AMS's strongest storylines IMO. In this book, important philosophical questions are skillfully woven into storyline, plus there is a plot turn that brings some relief for Bertie--hooray! This book refreshes the charm and originality found in earlier AMS books. I'm so glad the author can still produce the delightful good read, as was worried that ability had faded after a couple recent ho-hum novels that were clearly just coasting, plus one that was embarrassingly bad (Forever Girl). This narrator is masterful and engaging in his expression of difficult dialects and multiple character profiles. Very good listening experience.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Abject failure

Revisado: 02-16-15

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If it were written with any of the author's usual insight, humor, and character development-- but alas, it was inexplicably boring and trite, even though the new Cayman Island setting had potential interest. I have dozens of books by AMS and love them, but this one is a stinker! Reads like a 6th-grader's first love musings. I'm really worried that this is the beginning of the end of an excellent author. Has he had a stroke or illness? It is so unlike his established narrative voice.

Would you ever listen to anything by Alexander McCall Smith again?

Well I certainly won't BUY a new book without an initial listen and some reviews first. I'll need to determine if Forever Girl is just a disasterous one-off that got through editing on the basis of his well deserved and respected prior body of work, or if this is who he is now.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The story was so bad I didn't care.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Forever Girl?

All the romantic musings of the main stick people (can't call them characters), it was embarrassingly immature and saccharin. Bottom line here is this book should never have been published, it's that bad.

Any additional comments?

Please, somebody, don't let work this bad see the light of day again. What he's already accomplished is monumental, perhaps best to stop at a high point.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña