Peter Morton

Quite a shocker - but some structural problems

Revisado: 06-11-16

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. It's stood the test of time very well - after all, it was published more than 50 years ago. There are only a few reminders of that: the references to 'Teds' (teddy boys) and the primitive sound equipment Miranda has to put up with in her cellar. And it's much more sexually reticent than a contemporary writer would almost certainly make it. The narration is gripping, but for a few longueurs, and I'd challenge a friend to guess how it ends.

What other book might you compare The Collector to and why?

I suppose there are plenty of thrillers that use the theme of a psychopath holding his victim prisoner, but I can't think of one at present. Anyway, Fowles is in a different league as a writer. Other small details remind me of Ian McEwan's 'Cement Garden'. Some passages remind me of a couple of chilling books I've read on the loathsome Fred and Rosemary West case.

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

No, but he certainly makes a superlative job of this one. Admittedly, he only has 2 voices to do (with very minor exceptions) but he never misses a beat. He captures every nuance and shift in mood - of which there are many - and manages to make the whining, wretched Fred Clegg almost likeable, just for a few instants, now and again.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Miranda wields the axe and very nearly knocks Clegg out it seems for a moment she is going to make it to freedom. But we know it's not going to end like that. It's going to end in tears. The very last section does chill the spine.

Any additional comments?

This was Fowles' first novel and it has structural issues I don't think he was able to solve. He takes us so thoroughly into the twisted mind of Clegg that the replacement of his 'voice' with Miranda's is a great jolt, and telling the entire history of the abduction all over again from her POV does generate a certain amount of tedium. I think Fowles wants us to like Miranda as a person more than I possibly could: her endless ruminations on the insufferable art bore 'GP', though natural enough given her plight, made me lose patience: It was obvious that there could be only one outcome, and I looked forward to hearing Clegg's voice again! .

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A famous novel - but really, really hard work

Revisado: 05-12-16

Would you try another book from Fyodor Dostoyevsky and/or Constantine Gregory?

I might do, if feeling masochistic -after all, D is a world-famous novelist. Gregory is excellent.

What was most disappointing about Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s story?

I teach 19thC English literature and have read 100s of novels (mostly British) of the period. God, this was hard-going! I realise it's D's ambition to plumb the motives of the murderer's mind and also I realise that Raskolnikov is the prototype of many nihilistic, 'outsider' killers that the new great metropolises were apparently throwing up in the late Victorian era. But long, long before the end I just wanted him to confess and get it over. Also, Sonya must be just about the least convincing prostitute of all time. D. very wisely doesn't attempt to show her servicing a client! (I had the idea that D is outspoken about sex compared to English novelists of the period, but that isn't true at all. He's quite the prude.)

What about Constantine Gregory’s performance did you like?

Excellent. His manages all those jaw-cracking Russian names with never a miss, and even in the long, tedious passages where R. is agonising over the state of his soul he always sounds eager to do his best.

Was Crime and Punishment worth the listening time?

Well, sort of - I was determined to get to the end but the last section nearly defeated me. Glad to have done it, but glad never have to do it again.

Any additional comments?

I thought Henry James can be hard work, but he's a breeze compared to D.

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Grave Disappointment

Revisado: 11-17-15

What would have made The Road to Little Dribbling better?

A strong infusion of Bryson's wit and eye for oddity -- from 15 years back.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Certainly - anything by Bryson is worth looking at.

Any additional comments?

I bow to nobody in my admiration for Bryson. I've read all his books as they came out and there are comic scenes in many of them that made me laugh out loud - a rare thing. To my mind, his 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' is a book I'd like to see put in the hands of every intelligent 14 year old who is interested in how the world got to be the way it is and humans' place in it. Bryson has, or had, a huge gift for making a popular synthesis of history and science. This book is serious disappointment. The witty persona he has cultivated through his career seems to be dissolving in all round grouchiness and moaning about Britain, his adopted homeland. His constant bitching about prices of sandwiches etc does not amuse, coming from someone who must (deservedly) be a rich man. Similarly, his pose of ingenuousness, attractive in earlier books, rings hollow here. Among other things, I simply don't believe Bryson has never heard of the painter Leighton, as he claims! Large chunks of the book, especially the biographical vignettes, have the air of being paraphrased from Wikipedia. Also his regular laments about not being able to recall things that happened 2 weeks ago are disconcerting. I suppose Bryson has reached the stage where his publishers are happy to slap anything he writes between covers and push it out. What a shame. The narrator, though, does a very sound job in the circumstances.

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Not Elton's best

Revisado: 07-06-15

What did you like best about The First Casualty? What did you like least?

'The First Casualty' is a whodunnit which is really an excuse to take the reader into the trenches of WW1 and 'over the top' (twice). The plot has lots of holes - it's easy to guess the murderer because there are no other candidates, really. And why would the government use the hero for this secret assignment, when he is just about the most loathed and recognisable conscientious objector in Britain at the time? Surely it had other detectives? And surely he would have understood long before what awaited him in prison, as a hated policeman? No, the real purpose is to describe trench warfare, where the hero, despite his 'logical' objection to the war, turns into a killing machine in short order. In general, I found it difficult to see what we are supposed to take away from the novel. Not one of Elton's best, but as usual a page-turner.

Has The First Casualty turned you off from other books in this genre?

If by 'this genre' you mean books about WW1 the answer is no, although I think that event has had enough exposure for the time being.

What about Glen McCready’s performance did you like?

Excellent. At first I thought his voice a bit monotone, but actually he proved he could do a whole range of feeling and accents.

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

No.

Any additional comments?

Elton has an odd idea of what (most) suffragettes stood for. It was 'votes for women, chastity for men' in most cases. Extreme sexual promiscuity (of the kind his heroine displays, with her much re-used condom) wasn't on the agenda.

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Grim Grim Grim

Revisado: 06-23-15

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I certainly would. I'd say that Elton is in no sense a 'literary' artist but to get an idea of what it was like to be a Berlin Jew as the Nazis tightened the vice you could hardly do better than this.

What did you like best about this story?

It's absolutely gripping. I'm a historian and well acquainted with the period in Europe 1920-1940, and I've read many books about the rise of Fascism and the Holocaust. However, even the best historian has to deal in generalities. A good novelist/storyteller like Elton gives you the reality like what it really meant to be forced to lick the pavement by a gang of psychopathic SA thugs. There are many such moments in this book. Some of it reminded me of '1984' though in this case everything is factual & horribly realistic, made worse by Elton's gift for black humour, which he gives especially to Wolfgang. The book is very long but I didn't want it to end and I rationed my listening.

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

No, but he was perfect for the job. All the characters were perfectly distinguishable and well-realised.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Many such moments, but I admired the way Elton conveys the very common response of the Jews of Berlin that they simply couldn't believe that the plan of the Nazis was genocide from the start. Inevitably I reflected frequently how I would have reacted.

Any additional comments?

I found the 'love' scenes between Dagmar and the brothers a bit tiresome and the analysis of their feelings for the 'Jewish princess' repetitive. Actually some quite unnecessary repetition is a weakness of Elton's style. Occasionally the plot strains the reader's credulity (eg when Otto arrives at the burning house just as Dagmar is pushing up the window to escape) but this is not often.

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Butchered by abridgement - dreadful

Revisado: 05-27-15

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

Having all of what Elton wrote would have been a start.

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

I don't think so, but he makes a good job of what's left of the book.

What character would you cut from Past Mortem?

None

Any additional comments?

I never listen to abridged books but made a special exception in this case as it's the one Elton audiobook I haven't heard. Now I know why. The cutting is shameful. Chunks of the plot are missing and some scenes are so cut they read like notes the author might have made in the first place. Avoid at all costs if you admire Elton as a novelist as I do. I've a good mind to ask for my money back.

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New Twist on Time Travel Story

Revisado: 05-11-15

If you could sum up Time and Time Again in three words, what would they be?

Fast-paced. Novel plot-line. Excellent narration

What did you like best about this story?

I thought I'd read every possible twist on the time-travel story, but Elton finds something new. Admittedly, the plot is fairly absurd in many details, but it races along before you have time to consider too much at the time. The characters are pretty much cardboard but the real interest is in the situation (preventing WW1 from happening) and how the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

Which scene was your favorite?

The first visualisation of Constantinople in 1914 is very well done. I didn't detect any anachronisms then (or later either).

If you could take any character from Time and Time Again out to dinner, who would it be and why?

The murderous lady professor would be lively but I suspect a bit of a bore before the evening was out.

Any additional comments?

Not Elton's best for sure, but very listenable when you're feeling mentally lazy and just want to be swept along in a lively story. The narrator is first-class: he can do a creditable Irish and Scottish accent, and others too, and swap seamlessly between them.

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Hair-raising Australian history

Revisado: 03-04-15

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

The amazing, tragic story of the Batavia (Dutch East Indiaman) wreck and its appalling aftermath in the 17th century off the WA coast has been told in several books, but never better than here.

What other book might you compare Batavia to and why?

I've read several of the books on these events, but this is by far the liveliest, because of Fitzsimmons' ability to imaginatively reconstruct a credible account from the original sources.

What about Richard Aspel’s performance did you like?

At first I thought his voice was too 'light' for such a serious, tragic subject, but I grew to like it a lot. He did a great job with the jaw-cracking Dutch names, terms and titles. He describes all the gory details with relish.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I thought the gradual descent into the sadistic butchery of the survivors was brilliantly handled. It reminded me much of Milgram's experiments into authority and obedience.

Any additional comments?

I thought this was a spell-binder. A necessarily show start (how the spice trade was organised, etc) but after that totally gripping.

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Brilliantly narrated - pity about the writing

Revisado: 02-05-15

What disappointed you about The Potato Factory?

Courtenay can keep a story moving and his characters are lively enough. I found the historical details more interesting than the plot, eg how forgers operated. Clearly this is down to the researchers C is known to have relied on, with mixed results. C's style will grate on anyone who is expecting a second Dickens.

Would you ever listen to anything by Bryce Courtenay again?

No

Which character – as performed by Humphrey Bower – was your favorite?

Bower is a hugely skilled narrator who can do an amazing range of characters, especially women and foreign accents. His 'stage Jew' Ikey Solomon, is very well realised, though it's not surprising C has been accused of anti-Semitism. Bower tackles the sex scenes with manful enthusiasm.

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

Cut out all that Sperm Whale stuff - it's supposed to be bawdy and funny, but I found it very tedious and just ... vulgar.

Any additional comments?

No one ever claimed Courtenay was a great stylist - his prose is, frankly, pretty awful. He needed a strong editor to get rid of his verbiage and purple passages.

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Painless history

Revisado: 10-21-14

If you could sum up Edge of Eternity in three words, what would they be?

A painless history lesson filtered through (mostly) appealing characters.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

No - but Follett, as in all his novels, never fails to keep one intrigued and attentive. The very large range of characters and settings, and constant cross-cutting, could be confusing but actually it's easy to follow. It's not even necessary to know the 2 previous tomes in the trilogy.

Which scene was your favorite?

I didn't have a particular favourite, but though I know 20th century history well the book is a constant reminder of how eventful the post-war part of the century was. The missile crisis, the assassinations, the Vietnam war, pop music ... Follett deals with it all and manages to put a character at the centre of the action - it's a bit forced, but effective

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not really - but I was impressed by Follett's ability to offer an even-handed treatment of, for example, the Soviet Union's motives during the Cuban crisis.

Any additional comments?

Follett's style and character development are never more than workmanlike, but the bluff tones of the narrator (who is very adept) makes up for it.

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