Owlman2

Disappointed in this Book

Revisado: 03-23-25

I hate to be the one negative review for a book with a 5.0 average review, but I was very disappointed in this book.

I knew of the Scholls and the White Rose prior to listening to this book, but barely. Having finished the book, I can honestly say I know nothing more now than when I started it. All the book really does is find a myriad of different ways to say the members of the White Rose were "brave", "noble", "courageous", "moral", etc. I am sure they were all of these things. But in the real world, human motivations are vastly more complicated than that. The book explores virtually nothing of who these brave people were, and why they chose to do what they did, other than Nazi=Bad.

Honestly, the book gives the impression of an essay final exam on the White Rose, written by a student who never went to class and never learned the subject matter. If it were a breakfast, it would be all syrup and no pancakes. The book is 5% history/biography, and 95% subjective fawning over the Scholls and their cohorts to the point of absolute redundancy. It is nothing more than a puff piece.

A prospective author could have read the Wiki on the White Rose and they would have had sufficient factual basis to write this book. Perhaps that's all I should have expected in a four hour audio listen, but I certainly hoped for much more.

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Mob Textbook

Revisado: 03-01-22

I have no doubt that this is probably the best and most accurate history of the Italian mob in the USA.

Having said that, it reads exactly like a textbook. A 34 hr/900 page textbook. It lacks any personal insights of the people involved, or the engaging aspects of any first person accounts. I guess I am saying that I found it boring. I am 20 hours in, and gradually realized I was dreading turning it on and going any further. So, I have given up. I am almost entirely a non-fiction reader, but still found this book far too dry and droning/monotonous to get much enjoyment out of it.

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I tried my best to get through this....

Revisado: 01-06-22

Try though I might, I just couldn't keep track of what was going on. Too many changes of perspective, too many characters, too many pronouns, no particular chronology. I don't understand how a book so poorly written could get published. The narrator did a good job of trying to subtly alter his reading of the different characters, but that could only do so much. I finally gave up five hours in, which I don't do lightly.

It might have been easier to follow as a traditional book, but in audio form I do not recommend.

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Horrible Audio File

Revisado: 11-28-21

Throughout the book, the audio file would continually skip far ahead, the 10 minutes or so backward. It was maddening.

The content was ok, but I felt the author's efforts to fact check Roberts' claims were meager at best. I have read many criminal biographys, and lets just say...they tend to lie.

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Enjoyed the content, but the book needs editing...

Revisado: 09-13-21

I enjoyed this book, largely because I have always been fascinated by the subject matter. The narration was well done and easy to listen to.

Having said that, in several places this book was quite rambling and repetitive/redundant. I don't know how a book can be published without first being effectively edited, but it appears this one was.

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"Not For Me"

Revisado: 08-30-21

I plowed three or four hours into this book, and gave up. None of the characters were of the slightest interest to me, nor was the story.

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I do not recommend the audible version....

Revisado: 06-21-21

I have listened to this book for a few hours now, and simply cannot go any further. The narration is so bad that it makes the book absolutely, painfully monotonous to listen to.

I have seen a few others complain about the narrator's accent being difficult to understand. I did not have that problem. It is just that she speaks in a complete monotone, absolutely devoid of even the slightest emotion or inflection no matter what is going on in the book. It is sort of like listening to the "robo-narration" you occasionally encounter on YouTube.

I'm not sure if this is a good or bad book....because for me the narration destroyed it and I am not going any further....

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