Max

Great story, not so much the narration

Revisado: 09-15-17

A true story about being lost at sea on a life raft for 76 days makes for compelling listening. Great respect for the author/narrator for his accomplishment and survival.

My only criticism would be the narration itself -- I appreciate the producers wanted a first person story to be read by the author, but I feel this audiobook would have been much better had a professional read the book. If you are used to listening to many of the books on Audible with incredibly talented narrators, be forewarned that the narration is amateurish (understandably) by comparison.

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You'll never forget this tale

Revisado: 09-04-17

Sometimes you just come across a book that stays with you--this is one. Thinking of Chris Knight surviving for 27 years in the deep Maine bush is pretty compelling. The author tells the story with impeccable research and allows the reader to judge whether committing 1000 break-ins in order to survive is necessary and forgivable or repugnant.

At the end of the book he lists many of the sources and books he consulted in his research and the whole experience of listening to this book wants me to follow up with other listens.

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So THAT is what is going on?!

Revisado: 05-11-15

You have heard perhaps about high frequency trading and the computerized madness of the current stock exchange. Hand it to Michael Lewis to put it down in clear and entertaining prose what is actually happening in the 'black boxes' of the modern financial markets. A must listen to anyone who follows the market, or anyone with even a slight interest there of.

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Worthy of the praise

Revisado: 02-06-14

Would you listen to The Boys in the Boat again? Why?

As a general rule, I don't re-listen to books--there are so many other books to enjoy!

What did you like best about this story?

The fact that as a listened you know, right from the outset in the prologue, that the boys win the gold medal in rowing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and yet you are riveted all the while to the story of how they got there. I am not a rower, and this book made me appreciate, what an incredibly difficulty and deeply rewarding sport it is. I love books that open a new world to me and help me appreciate something I never considered before.

What does Edward Herrmann bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I commute 2 hours a day, so being read to is my great solace. Being read to by such a masterful narrator is a delight.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I don't want to sit and listen to any book for 11+ hours straight. This is a silly question.

Any additional comments?

As a long time Audible fan, I often choose books where a lot of reviewers have reiterated the refrain: just listen to this one / you won't be disappointed / etc. This is one of those books. I was not at all interested in rowing or the Olympics in 1936, but the sheer mastery of the story, the writing, the narration, made this a delightful listening experience.

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Painful

Revisado: 02-10-13

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If the author was a better writer.

Has Fifty Shades of Grey turned you off from other books in this genre?

Absolutely. As a straight male in my mid thirties, I read this to "see what all the fuss was about" and tap into the zeitgeist. What I found was the horrific realization that this may be what it is like to be inside a woman's head. Perhaps instructive, but mostly painful.

How could the performance have been better?

The director on this book made a bad call: in the email exchanges between Annastasia and Christian, the narrator kept reading the To:, From:, Date and Time: lines in the emails, as well as the email signatures, something you would gloss over as a reader--this made these exchanges tiresome, not like they were meant which was more snappy and playful. Not necessary.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

By the end, I did want to have closure, and it did not come. Which means I will just have to ask someone else what happens in the next 2 books because I cannot endure another myself.

Any additional comments?

There are better ways to spend your Audible credits and time.

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The most painful one of the lot!

Revisado: 09-02-09

So I have both enjoyed and suffered through this book and the 2 previous books. This is definitely the most irritating one of the series so far, as in Bella is finally beginning to drive me crazy with her whining and whinging. She drones on and on "I'm the worst person in the world for hurting Jacob, blah blah blah" -- spare me! How this whole series could be so much better in the hands of a more talented author!

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Not great literature but solid entertainment

Revisado: 07-06-09

First a disclosure: I am a straight, 30ish, educated man and yes, I enjoyed Twilight. As a high school teacher, I wanted to hook in to the zeitgeist by understanding what all the fuss was about this novel. Make no mistake this is not a well-written book, in fact the first 3 hours of this audiobook made me wonder if I could handle the whole listen. Stephanie Meyer lays out the heroine's first week of school with such protracted detail that I just kept saying "get on with it, already". Perhaps it is the whole appeal for many readers, the constant exploration of the minutia of a teenage girl's thoughts, especially in relation to every "chuckle", "smirk";, and eye movement of the Edward Cullen vampire character. His every facial tick is analysed and commented on in such detail it was bordering on painful. That said, around the 4 hour mark the book totally picks up, once the brilliant narrative crux is evident: here is a girl, irrevocably drawn to a boy that wants to eat her, and he in turn is fully drawn to her and wants to overcome his desire to drink her blood. This "star-crossed lovers"; theme is as old as the hills, but the vampire angle refreshes the refrain. The narrator is superb; all the comments in these reviews attesting to her abilities with this book (and the next one that I have started) are warranted. If you want an easy listen, and don't mind blowing two credits (I must say, the two credits seem unwarranted here), this will happily occupy some time while you commute or go about your while-listening business.

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Superb listen--though what is with the music?!

Revisado: 05-13-09

There is no doubt this is a superb listen. Enough reviews have been written celebrating the wit and majesty of this book, I need not repeat.

I will add in two points: once you start getting in to the book, be sure to read up more on the author. There is also a great video clip of him speaking about Middlesex on Oprah--I found this help me further contextualize the book. Just Google him and Oprah and you'll find it.

One criticism: the producers felt the need to put in these odd musical overlays at certain parts of the story, some dramatic and some seemingly random. Not only was it intrusive and unnecessary, but the music itself sounded like some cheesy free-download classical mash. The narrator is superb (also check out his narration on a book about McCarthyism called 'The Age of Anxiety'—brilliant) and he rose above the hackneyed music that was sorely out of place.

This is a great listen that will surely entertain and enthral.

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Now I understand the horrors of slavery

Revisado: 04-18-09

Being Canadian, I have not been exposed to much detail regarding the history of slavery in the US. While I am sure many American students end up reading this in school/college/university, I would never have had occasion to read it had it not been referenced in Barak Obama's books (which, by the way, are an amazing Audible listen). Uncle Tom's Cabin is incredibly engaging as it makes the oppression and cruelty of slavery palpable, in turn helping the uninitiated understand the importance of this divisive issue in American history. I also just enjoyed the turns of phrase of the 150 year old written word--don't let the book's age turn you off, the archaic expressions help make it a fabulous listen.

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Good insight into Obama's rise to prominance

Revisado: 02-11-09

I went through a bit of an Obama-fest with Audible, listening to Dreams from My Father, The Audacity of Hope, and then this book. If you are looking for a book to read on the President I would strongly recommend reading his first book, Dreams from My Father (written in 1994) before this one. This book, Obama (unabridged), spends the first chapters basically reiterating 'Dreams'--and it is much better to listen to Obama reading his book himself rather than this paraphrase job. The great advantage to this book, Obama (unabridged), is that it covers what 'Dreams' and 'Audacity' do not, namely an in-depth coverage of his 2004 Senate race and then his superstar Africa trip 2 years later; the author spends 2+ hours of this audio book recounting Obamas trip. It is both a meditation on Obama's rise to celebrity status and one journalist's own experiences as a news professional 'on the stump'. Both elements are interesting, though the authors tendency to 'put himself in' is at times distracting. That said, this is a great snapshot insight into life of a campaigning politician, and it does discuss how Obama's usually unflappable persona got frayed at times through his meteoric rise to prominence. Worth a listen if you want more of the 'back story' to how Obama got to the White House.

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