Kindle Customer

love in many forms

Revisado: 12-19-24

The author did an incredible job in her performance.

a beautiful story of love, friendship, disappointment, and the agony of becoming one's self. not cheesy or corny, but empathetic and endearing.

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storytelling that catches you by surprise

Revisado: 09-29-24

At first I worried that I had wasted a credit. The multiple perspectives (with one in second person) seemed disconnected, and I couldn't imagine the connections that would be brought out. But before long, like undertow slowly dragging my feet deeper into the sand, I was surprised to find myself completely in the story's grips.

Some of the most heartfelt and heartbreaking themes and plot points come from the most surprising places. The characters are not simple. Each has their flaws and their redeeming qualities. But there were moments that I exclaimed aloud in agreement, or gasped in shock.

This is a story about a climate pathway, the decisions that we each make and - crucially - the decisions that are made for us. This is a story for everyone who wants to learn about, think about, imagine about what a climate-changed America might be. Well-resesrched, thoughtful, poignant. A new favorite.

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good story but distracting narrator

Revisado: 08-10-24

The first narrator has a way of reliably putting the emphasis on the wrong word in sentences, changing their meanings. It was so distracting, I wasn't sure I could finish.

the second narrator is much better.

the story is sweet and decadent and queer. the characters are charming and relatable; easy to love. it is worth a read/listen, if you're not as picky about narrators as I am.

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incredible narration!

Revisado: 06-08-24

I wasn't sure at first, but by the end of the first chapter, I was sold. It is a surprisingly thoughtful and beautiful love story, and the narration sucks you in. Loved it!

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Not what I expected

Revisado: 02-18-24

I don't know exactly what I thought this book wouls be like, but it wasn't this. I waited a long time to listen to it because I was unsure if I would like it, but finally decided to go for it because it was in genres and styles that I normally enjoy.

I thought the writing style was inconsistent, not between characters, but even within characters perspectives themselves. The voice would be sort of elegantly simplistic and then suddenly use words like "tits" which just seemed surprisingly vulgar compared to the rest of the style. Also there are chapters which focus on a character tangentially related to the main family, and who never reappear, meanwhile there are characters directly belonging to the main family who we never hear about at all. I get that the story is supposed to be like a game of pachinko, a bit random, a bit fateful, a bit steered, but in the end it all felt a bit haphazard.

Finally, I just couldn't really get into the narration. it didn't feel like she was telling a story, more like she was just reading aloud. it would have been a DNF for me if I had borrowed it from a library instead of buying it.

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Good story, bad narration

Revisado: 10-01-23

This book was a bit difficult for me to get through. The beginning was slow, but it picked up with time and by the end I was excited to read Book 2. I have a hard time getting into the first book of fantasy series because there is so much of the world to learn. So part of the difficulty in getting through the first part is probably a "me thing" and nothing to do with the book. Now that I am familiar with the lore and the different species I feel like I can devote more energy to getting sucked into the story in the next installment.

For me, the biggest let-down was the narrator. Something about her inflection, the emphasis she put on words, felt like she wasn't really paying attention to what she was reading. This happens especially in dialogue, when one character is addressing something another character said, and a specific emphasis is necessary to get across the author's intended meaning. Emphasis in the wrong part of a sentence can change the whole meaning, and unfortunately that happened a lot with this narrator. Also, she ends every chapter with the same tempo and inflection as any other sentence, which missed out on opportunities to build tension and foreboding. It made the ends of chapters feel flatter than they might have with more intentional delivery.

Also I kept getting tripped by words that I don't know whether the narrator was pronouncing them strangely or if the author had picked a close but wrong word (ex. "volted"...did she mean bolted, or maybe vaulted? Or "rackety chair," did she mean "rickety"?). Either way, it took me out of the story, usually at high-intensity moments.

One thing I really liked was how Eva and Reina's stories and experiences mirrored each other. It was an artful storytelling device that set up future events really well without being overly obvious.

I think I will keep reading the series, but I will get the hard copy instead.

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Loved the book, didn't love the recording

Revisado: 09-24-23

The narrators did a good job, but the audio editing was sloppy, imo, and the quality of the captured audio was so different between takes that it was clear when something had been edited in mid-sentence. It was so distracting that I almost quit in the first chapter. BUT I am glad I stuck it out, because this book was amazing. Interestingly, it is a good companion read with Fossil Capital - I was constantly thinking back to the latter while listening to Babel and wondering whether the author had read it as background.

Overall, a beautifully-told story, a necessary perspective, and a read I will continue to recommend and return to.

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Riveting and delicious

Revisado: 09-24-23

it was the first person narration for me. The main character, Juniper, is so clever, so good at sharing and withholding information, so complex, you want to keep listening. The narrator does an amazing job bringing Juniper to life. The book deals with several of the same themes as Babbel, but is able to explore them in fascinating and important ways through the use of a white woman first-person narrator. I couldn't stop listening. This is one of my favorites of the year.

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Required listening

Revisado: 02-08-23

While definitely not "the last socially acceptable form of descrimination, anti-fat bias nevertheless is a rampant issue that often goes unscrutinized even in progressive circles. This book, and the many books Gordon recommends for further learning, should be required reading for everyone to begin to recognize how our own anti-fat biases operate to sustain systems of oppression. As a "straight-size" person, I sometimes felt called out by this book, and I think that's a good thing. I'm being forced to reckon with the ways I perpetuate anti-fat bias that were invisible to me before. I'll be coming back to this and recommending it further for a long time, and I look forward to continuing to read the other books Gordon recommended.

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overall, very good and moving

Revisado: 05-15-22

this novel hits home for those of us struggling to feel that we make a difference in the world. my only problem, and it was glaring, is how the author's depiction of NYC was very, very white.

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