Adele

Pretty ordinary

Revisado: 08-04-20

I persevered with this book to the end. This universe of unlikeable characters was a bit dreary, and became more so as the book went on. The twist at the end wasn’t much of one either. All in all not much of a pay-off in reading this one.

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Simply fantastic!

Revisado: 05-07-15

I loved this book. It tells a great story quite simply. The narration was absolutely superb too - quite understated, as it should be, but with perfectly nuanced tone and voices that kept me listening way past my usual limit. My favourite Robert Harris by far.

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Mispronunciation sure, but buy it anyway!

Revisado: 12-23-14

All the Light We Cannot See is a well balanced gem of a book - beautifully written descriptions and dialogue. Most of all I loved the diverse and complex relationships. The humanity of all the characters was deftly captured, and the many and varied forms of love.
A few words were noticeably mispronounced and it was a little disruptive when that happened. I got the impression that the reader was aware of some of them opted to persist rather than introduce inconsistency. Ideally those mistakes should have been spotted and corrected before publishing. However, aside from these relatively infrequent glitches I loved the narration - it was unobtrusive, understated and sensitive. I was totally engaged and had no difficulty distinguishing one character from another and certainly experienced a wide range of emotions along with the characters.
I would encourage anyone who loves really good literature to listen to this beautiful story.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Aspergers Cliche? No, I loved it!

Revisado: 05-04-14

I started listening to this and thought oh no, here we go, Curious Incident... revisited. But it grabbed me. I rapidly found myself brightening up at the thought of my next opportunity to rejoin Don and Rosie. Wondered what they were up to while my back was turned. It is a light romance superbly done, and the themes explored apply to us all. This book could have so easily have been a clod-hopper, but it was a very elegant dip into what makes for solid relationships and the myriad things that can trip us up. I had a smile on my face pretty much from go to whoa.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Wolf Hall it isn't, but well worth the read

Revisado: 09-06-12

Only 4 stars, which feels a bit mean, but it's not Wolf Hall (which must be read first for this book to make any sense at all). Wolf Hall was truly exceptional, and any book would be hard pressed to stand up to comparison. The same comment goes for the narrators - which isn't to say that Simon Vance wasn't excellent. I really enjoyed Bring Up the Bodies. Not a lot happens but the cut and thrust of court politics and interpersonal conflicts are utterly intriguing. It is refreshing to read something so intelligent, original and really well written. I hope the final book in the trilogy will be as good as Bring Up the Bodies and don't mind waiting.

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Good Australian Family Epic

Revisado: 09-06-12

I really enjoyed this read. Didn't expect the narration to be through a child's eyes, but I quickly got over that and came to enjoy it. GREAT performance. I felt at times that the author was being a little too instructive, but appreciated his desire to share some fascinating information. The single perspective was limiting at times - as indicated by the author needing to justify how the narrator could possibly be privy to some of the incidents he relates. I think this story might have had the potential to be a future classic if the internal voices of the individual characters had been present - allowing for greater complexity and sophistication in thinking and feeling than could be offered through the boy narrator's eyes. I loved the characters and had no trouble empathising with them and caring about their stories. I thought a couple of the characters were a bit too stereotypical, almost to the extent of parody, but on the other hand the complex portrayal of Tommy (and his relationships) was exquisitely handled. LOVED the descriptions of the Australian man-made and natural landscapes. Altogether a highly recommended read.

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OK listen, but glad it was free

Revisado: 09-05-12

These short stories were competent but they weren't outstanding. The performance was good but the stories weren't that interesting to me - all a bit too superficial.

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Original, witty, clever, charming - loved it!

Revisado: 03-26-12

I thought my son might like this. I had a sneaky listen to check it out and couldn't stop listening! While there are some traditional themes (no spoilers, but think graveyard), they are handled in a light, original and very sympathetic way. Very well produced. Well written, witty, perfectly narrated, great music and a raft of rich characters that are easy to relate to - this quirky story has something for everyone.

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Simply dripping in syrup and cliche

Revisado: 02-29-12

This is a mild erotic fantasy novel, thinly veiled as an historical/sci-fi adventure. The relationship between the two protagonists, and the sex scenes, are preposterously syrupy and cliched. Numerous rape and attempted rape scenes are presented in a facile manner. I suspect its not too far removed from Mills and Boon. Not for me, but if you like this kind of thing then you'll probably love this.

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Appalling narration spoiled a good story

Revisado: 06-02-11

The book was fine, but completely spoiled by the awful narrator. I don't think I'm especially picky, but this was an exceptionally bad job. Her interpretation of sentences was often wrong (emphasis misplaced so that the sentence had the wrong meaning), pronunciation was often way off even allowing for an American accent (eg Brisbayne? i don't think so.) The narrator's Italian and Australian accents were so bad at times i was close to turning it off. This is one of the rare times when I didn't listen to a sample before purchasing - I won't be making that mistake again.

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