David Perera

Full dose of Graham Greene

Revisado: 08-06-21

Wow, that was bleak. But excellent. Perceptive of how loneliness corrodes. Good narration, as well.

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Pulp fiction

Revisado: 11-03-15

I'm not sure what I expected when I downloaded this. But it wasn't this: A pulpy sci-fi novel with a promising start that quickly degenerated into a trite story about an alien invasion via humanoid robots. *They look just like us! Only they're super-human!* Similarly, the narration, which seemed to straightforwardly promising, quickly takes on a dimension of leering insinuation. Yawn.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Good when not self-involved

Revisado: 08-02-15

Buck throws an unexpected and interesting light on pioneer history through insights gained on an authentic re-creation of the Oregon Trail.
And when he's discussing the actual trip he undertook, the book is fascinating.
When Buck is exercising clueless Baby Boomer self-absorption and entitlement, it's insufferable.
A few asides about his prosperous, yet emotionally complex upbringing would be okay. But after a few of these digressions, I find myself actively not caring about Buck nor his father. All families are complex and his isn't portrayed as especially captivating.
In addition, he shows hilarious lack of self-awareness at times. For example Buck writes that no-one would ever cross the Oregon Trail from a sense of adventure, only from economic necessity. This from a man who's only motivation is adventure - and a book contract where he can complain about his father.

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Poor material, grating narration

Revisado: 08-03-12

From a clever premise -- aliens hire Hollywood agent to introduce them to humanity – John Scalzi crafts a workaday book where dialogue alternatively drives exposition or mimics the rat-a-tat snap of a bad sitcom. Moreover, the premise itself gets lost for large chunks of the book only to resurface toward the very end in an unconvincing manner. In the meantime, we get a version of Hollywood in which agents have hearts of gold, journalists have all the time in the world to shadow people, actresses are bimbos, etc. Scalzi also makes much hay with a sophomoric joke that the aliens communicate through unpleasant smells. Funny, maybe, the first time I heard it, less so the twentieth. Wil Wheaton’s reading is decent but the whiny edge that plagued his acting career is present here, too. I very much wanted to enjoy this book, but by its end, I was thankful it was over.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Hackneyed delivery

Revisado: 11-28-10

Dick Hill, the narrator, delivers the book in a Saturday afternoon B-picture matinee voice that quickly becomes insufferable. His attempt to sound like an "authentic" wise guy or tough guy or hardboiled detective, etc, dissolves into unintentional parody. Hill is perfectly capable (as audio samples show) of producing a genuinely masculine reading that doesn't depend on shtick; what a disappointment he didn't do so in this case.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

good book, bad reading

Revisado: 10-29-10

The text is a great light history of American commerce and attitudes -- but the reading drains the fun out of it. Robert Fass has a robotic delivery that sounds more like a Kindle than a human being. He's relentless -- he just does not let up his drone, which makes listening to this book a chore.

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Magnificent

Revisado: 10-17-10

Perhaps the finest reading of a great novel, yet. Simon Slater's narration adds a new dimension to a rich source text. He does voices, he has a measured cadence, but his reading is neither extravagent nor unctuous. His narration is an aid to bring to further life the characters as Mantel depicts them. Read the book and listen to the audiobook.

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