Andrew

Pretty exceptional, especially for this transplant

Revisado: 04-06-25

I came to Maine in 1974, having grown up in New Jersey till 1970 and then living briefly in Colorado and Vermont. I was familiar with racism, but I'd no sense that the Franco-American population occupied the niche that the African-American occupied in New Jersey. Ron Currie has written a book from the inside of the Franco-American experience, with almost entirely female characters, that made me long to have had a family that cared so much about each other and felt so connected to their larger community. I especially liked the vicious portrayals of the white protestant gentry and realized that I had met those caricatures in the flesh. I'm pretty impatient with a lot of contemporary novels, but not this one.

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A tour de force

Revisado: 01-04-23

Simply extraordinary. My hats off to the author and to the reader. So heartbreaking and so uplifting.

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Worth your time

Revisado: 07-14-18

I’m often frustrated by the books I choose; some are predictable, some badly performed, and some just mediocre. Not this book! Very funny, good characters, great language, and well read.

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Buyer beware! poor narration and more...

Revisado: 10-28-17

The book has many flaws, and I find it extraordinary how it could possibly have won a Pulitzer. It is surprisingly lacking in historical context, and seems more like hagiography than biography. I continue to listen i hopes that I would better understand why Calhoun is cited as the father of modern american right-wing thought.

but it is the narration that is truly baffling. it seeks to imbue calhoun with heroism while breaking lines at strange places. It is more like a sermon than a narration. Where the producer was during the production I have no clue - it is not just sonorous but silly.

Buyer beware!

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Confusing then extraordinary

Revisado: 08-30-17

I used to read a lot of sci-fi but got tired of poor writing. This was recommended by my daughter at MIT. Tough going at first but so rewarding to finish. World building at a very high level. Do it! It is so smart and so well crafted.

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An important book in 2017

Revisado: 08-18-17

I'm pretty well-read, but this book explained to me why Charles Koch and his cadre think and act as they do, along with the historical roots (Calhoun, not Madison) of their thinking. It is nothing less than a plot against the democracy that they have successfully staged. Please read if you ever wondered why people vote against what appear to be their best interests.

Dreadfully performed. This reader and producer should be fired.

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Not as riveting as Nixonland

Revisado: 03-17-16

An interesting book about the rise of Reagan and Carter, to a lesser degree. Focused on the bicentennial year of 1976, it was more difficult to stay with than the authors previous volume, Nixonland.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Extraordinary work, Extraordinary writer

Revisado: 06-20-14

I had listened to Jeremy Irons' reading of Lolita with amazement, but I was so taken with his narration that I may have underrated the writer. No longer. Ada, by Nabokov, reminds me of nothing so much as reading Proust when I was 23 - a transcendent experience. His facility with words, his play with time and place and history is flawless.

But this is not for the meek or faint of heart! It requires attention and devotion. Truly an extraordinary work.

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A fine book for the less informed

Revisado: 11-11-13

I read a Bill Bryson book called Home or something like that with great pleasure on vacation once. I opened this book at an airport to a Babe Ruth page and thought 'this looks like fun.' Well, not so much.

The reading of the book, by author Bill Bryson, is curiously subdued. A bit more energy or enthusiasm or something would be warranted occasionally. He should not be encouraged or even allowed to read his own books; leave this to more accomplished readers like Junot Diaz, please.

The book itself is a bit drab. I knew a lot of this history already; perhaps if this was your first venture into the world of the teens, twenties, and and thirties it would be wonderful. For me, it wasn't. Pus, the author always seems a bit puzzled by what he is writing about… is he British, perhaps? Anyway - not one of my better audiobook choices, and not one I would recommend to anyone except the casual reader looking for 'popular' history, I think.

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Not as good as previous Hiassen's but ...

Revisado: 10-13-13

Any Hiassen is worth a listen, though this isn't one of his best. And the new narrator is not as fun as the one who does the older books.

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