Jbrown_leo

Honest and heartbreaking

Revisado: 02-14-25

This book was hard for me to rate. I had no idea who Shari Franke was and have never heard of the 8 Passengers vlog. First and foremost, what Shari’s mom did to her and her siblings was awful. Posting their lives on social media like they weren’t human beings and for fame and money is absolutely a level of abuse and something that can cause so much trauma it should be investigated more frequently. Everything that occurred after Jodi entered their lives was atrocious. Shari’s memoir is open, honest, and doesn’t hold back on everything that occurred within her family.

Now, there are a few things that don’t sit well with me. The absolute biggest problem with this is some of what Shari admonishes her mother for is making money off of their lives so it’s quite ironic and slightly off putting that she turns around (at just over a year later) and does something very similar. I’m not saying she should tell her story, but it also seems somewhat hypocritical in its own way. Also, this read almost like a poorly written college essay. I think Shari would have done better to wait a few years to really process everything a little more and to put a book together that was meant to bring to light what she went through instead of putting a book out there to appease the media and prior fans of the vlog. The timeline of Shari’s story was often unclear, and a lot was vague that needed more detail while other parts had information that was unnecessary and irrelevant.

Ultimately, these kids really experienced something horrible and I hope they get or are getting the help they need. If anything, I hope that writing this book was somewhat therapeutic for Franke, but I really believed something like this would have been better off being written many years in the future. 3.25 stars

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Such a fan now

Revisado: 02-01-25

I really didn’t know much about Cher going into this book. I knew she got her big start with Sonny, I was obsessed with Mermaids when I was a kid, and I knew her songs. I didn’t realize the amount of trauma and craziness she had to go through as a child. I didn’t realize how rough her and Sonny’s relationship was.
I listened to the audiobook and although Cher herself reads less than half of it due to her severe dyslexia, Stephanie J. Block (who actually won a Tony award for playing Cher on Broadway) did an excellent job of mimicking Cher’s inflection. The reading had feeling and wasn’t just a monotonous voice. And Cher’s story was fascinating. I was never obsessed with her as a fan, I never actually understood was so many people were. After this book though, I’m a much bigger fan. I look forward to reading part two.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Beautifully written

Revisado: 01-17-25

4.5⭐️This was a very pleasant surprise of an audiobook for me. I’m actually not sure how I came across this, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably be purchasing a hard copy to annotate.

Bloom not only presents some very educational and interesting medical information but she writes her experiences with such beautiful prose that for the first time, I found myself bookmarking clips of an audiobook.

This a very personal and inside look at dealing with hereditary illnesses and disabilities. What I think I enjoyed most of Bloom’s story was how every time some other medical issue/hurdle came up, she extensively researched the issue, her options and even differing opinions. Even though she had obviously already made decisions on what was right for her and her family, Bloom presents the information from many view points giving varying opinions. I found that listening to this on audiobook was excellent. Listening to the author retell her experience was very powerful, an impact I think would have been missed reading the physical copy. I highly recommend!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Why is this a book?

Revisado: 12-30-24

I’m not sure why this is a book. This was literally a standup routine in print format. This should’ve been part of some kind of comedy special that he did, not a book. I like him, I liked his show, I like watching him as an actor and I think he’s funny, but that was a complete waste of time as a book. I thought there would be some insightful information. I thought there would be some sort of real relatable things talked about, but it was just a comedy routine. As a comedy routine, it probably would’ve been good, but I was irritated that I was listening to this as a book. I can’t imagine how this would’ve been a physical book. Because I listened to this as an audiobook and it was bad. This had to have been awful as a physical book. Also, this did NOT hold up over the years. The jokes and content is super outdated feeling. Don’t waste your time, please.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Maybe it would have been better read

Revisado: 12-01-24

I didn’t care for this too much. First off, the word “redacted” is said sooo much it completely took me out of the story. I could follow along and I stored paying attention at the beginning. Which sucks because that was a really important and impactful part of her story. She really needed to do it differently though. Also, her humor is a little over the top for me. She had some funny parts that were great but overall I found her jokes to seem like she was trying too hard for that laugh. Her story is very interesting and maybe this would have been better as a physical book but I just didn’t enjoy the way she told it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Excellent!

Revisado: 11-22-24

I am already a fan of Mr. Tyson. Not because I think he is all knowing and not because I agree with everything he says. He’s an exceptional speaker and continually does an outstanding job of making information accessible and easy to understand. This audiobook was no different. I greatly enjoyed listening to Mr. Tyson narrate and found it especially entertaining to have different people narrate the letters. Overall an excellent, educational and quick listen. Highly recommend!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Funny and honest

Revisado: 11-14-24

I must be living under a rock because I have never even heard of Leanne Morgan. A friend actually recommend this and I’m glad they did. Did I think she was “pee my pants” funny? No. Some of the jokes and silliness was a bit over the top and cheesy and there were some awkward pauses and fluctuations in her reading (better editing maybe?) but her story was fascinating. She did an excellent job conveying emotion and there were aspects of her story that were funny because they were so relatable. It was a great quick read and I’d recommend it. I’d love to see her on stage sometime.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Shocking and grotesque yet hilarious trip through the ages in medicine.

Revisado: 11-09-24

I love these kind of books. It’s so interesting to see how we have advanced over the centuries. It also makes you wonder what things do we do now that we will look back in the future and think how ridiculous! Overall, this was a great book and well worth the time it took to listen to. The authors did a great job with their research. They also did well adding humor to keep the reader engaged, but I think sometimes that humor went a little overboard and was a bit cringe. There were several times, especially in the beginning, where I was rolling my eyes at the cheesiness of the jokes. Great book though and definitely recommend.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Fabulous! And now I have to buy the physical copy!

Revisado: 10-19-24

This by far is probably the best audiobook I have ever listened to. First off, the author did an excellent job reading it. I felt every emotion she wanted the listener to feel. I got angry when she got angry. I felt the sadness when she was sad. I felt frustration and anxiety… All of it! The only other audiobook I’ve ever listened to that did this great of a job was Henry Winkler‘s autobiography. What this book had that Winkler’s didn’t was relatability. There was so much of her story that I could relate to, so much that I felt when I went through something similar that I never could express in the way that she was able to express. I too met my second spouse through rehab and went through a lot of the same frustrations and anxieties and worries that she went through. The way that she was able to express her personal thoughts vs what she really said or did felt so familiar and relatable. This is an amazing story and I’m so glad she had courage and bravery to tell it, not only by writing it down, but by reading it out loud and reliving all that raw emotion. Highly, highly recommend!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Interesting story but probably better as a physical book

Revisado: 10-14-24

I grew up watching Roseanne as the kid, but didn’t really know much about her real family. This was an interesting look into one of her daughters’ lives. I really enjoyed this story as it was told with quite a bit of humor and sarcasm. My biggest complaint was just how it was read. It was a very dry monotonous reading which made it hard to stay focused. I think I would’ve enjoyed this much more as a physical book. But it doesn’t take away from the story. The story was excellent. I really appreciated the humor.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña