OYENTE

Phoebe

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  • opiniones
  • 9
  • votos útiles
  • 93
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Delicious

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-07-25

So much greatness all together. I had read some of these before, especially Daughter of Time. I don’t know why, but I have read it several times and still enjoy it.
J Tey writes well and her books make sense. I enjoy the characters she creates and their inside selves. I also like how everything comes together to make a whole. I also like how she keeps Grant a person and not a superhero, even though we follow him through all the books. Each book stands alone so you don’t need to have read other books with Grant in them. It’s a group, a series, and if you want you can sort of figure out which came where in kind of an order, but that’s not important. You can enjoy them as stand alone stories. I enjoy how the characters take you through the adventure and it all makes sense, especially the end, the unfolding. Narrator pretty good, although it might have been interesting to hear how others would have interpreted them. I don’t see her as the definitive voice for these books. I might like to hear them with a male voice and a narrator that gave the characters more individual “voices”.

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Fred and Crystal’s drawing power

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-30-25

I like the way the people around Fred and Crystal were willing to stand up and with them. Those two had acquired such “devotion” so easily (?). Mostly by Fred being Fred. He thought about his decisions and then acted on them, but this all came from his caring and honesty and his willingness to be there for others.
He’s a great role model. He knows what he stands for and how he should act and then applies that to all individuals and interactions that come his way. He truly wishes to honor all he meets and to do all he can to ease their lives and feelings. You might say he learned this from how others in the past had treated him and how that had hurt and so resolved to avoid subjecting others to that but that’s not all. I don’t know where he got it, as we are given the the impression that he had no interactions with other people who might have shown him the hows and whys of living that caring way (and also the rewards), as, even though he was very intelligent, he wouldn’t necessarily come up with his choices for his ethos on his own, especially as I’m not sure he saw anyone acting this way. I guess you could say it came from his genes as I don’t believe it came from his environment. The old nature versus nurture debate, though the way he was treated by others and the hurt those actions brought him might have a little impression. On the other hand, many people have faced very similar experiences and few turn out like Fred did. He did acquire a very strong flight instinct (which he viewed as cowardice), but he was able to overcome it for the benefit of others. You could say he was so used to that feeling, and that it had been something he had been used to feel, but managed to keep on keeping on pretty well while feeling it. Just making it through daily life (well) takes everyone a lot of courage and perseverance. Just getting through it at all requires the things I mentioned previously and using these things takes a lot of stamina and hope. Even if it doesn’t seem possible to us, the hope is still there though some would label it drive, the innate drive “to pass on our genes and perpetuate our species”, It’s probably true that our genes hold that ambition and desire, but in our species, where we can choose our actions, there are many who choose not to fulfill this directive. Also there are many who don’t survive and flourish no matter what their experiences have been. They show a quirk in their system that either leads them to have the desire to hurt others or leads them to lives that have not much fulfillment for themselves. They stay outliers all their lives in ways that make them miserable. Then there are the ones whose genetic makeup that messes with their body or their mind. And also people who suffer accidents that put them in much the same position.
I believe we are shaped both by nature and nurture, but I sometimes think that nature is the stronger influence. I’m not putting down nurture. In my own life it has helped me grow despite what my genes had in mind. I don’t think I could have managed as well as I did without the boost the people in my life gave me. And I was not as lovable as Fred.
Maybe it was their genes that made them fight so much for me. I have become more “lovable” but I often am a lot of effort to get past my oddities. My social graces are few, and even though I have learned “manners” I often forget to apply them. I’m able to show love but I often can’t back it up as Fred does. I’m also more concerned about myself and cater to me as this is one of the ways I can make it through life without wishing to end it or becoming more ill. I’m very concerned about my health as slipping in gives me so much pain, and I’m never sure I can recover or manage despite it. I have so far but it’s taken more work and stamina and just hanging in there one more second and then the next second ad infinitum. I’m still here and reasonably able but I don’t know how I did it. In other matters I don’t have those skills or successes, or rather I don’t seem able to do the work. I sometimes see myself as weak and unable to push myself, even though, as far as my health I do seem able to hang in there. There have been so many times where I was only one millisecond from ending my life (and I always had a plan to accomplish this) but somehow,and I don’t know this how, I stay here. Of course that just gets me through this second and I go through it all again when the next second shows up and there is no relief available and no telling when this awful time will ease some.
I’m talking about this in the hope that you will remember when you are looking at or trying to interact with others that you might need to be as caring and helping as Fred is. Remember, he acts his way without knowing what’s coming up from the other, he just knows that his part in this world is to be honest and caring and as helpful as he can. He takes on responsibilities that might be unknown even when he feels overwhelmed because that is his role in his own life and in the lives of others.
My mother used to say that you can’t compare others outsides with your own insides. I lived 63 years keeping (successfully) my secret about my health status so that others didn’t even know I was ill. Think on that, my lying “front” was surprisingly successful. Very successful. I wasn’t trying to put anything over on anyone and lots of people in my life were quite easily able to tell when I told a lie that I had. They just never were able to see through my mask. (I’m a very poor liar, in case you haven’t figured that out already.)
I didn’t proofread this, sorry.


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Friends and family

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-28-25

So far, this has been my favorite book in this series. I like the way all the people Fred thought of as friends felt the same about him. And those feelings were so strong that they wished to be with Fred through thick and thin, even when there was no obvious “gift” from Fred involved. There might have been some pluses for them incidentally, but they would have been pretty much ok without these pluses. Everywhere throughout this series Fred has just been honest and fair and had looked to do the best he could for these characters, in other words, he had been himself. This was what had drawn these people to him and created a likability to Fred. Fred acted this way because that was what he felt, deep down, was how he wanted to act. He wasn’t running his life this way in the hopes of getting anything back. Too often, in our human world people don’t appreciate that, or view it as weakness, or something that is too much work, to act in a similar manner. Fred’s viewpoint also led him to help in some situations that he would’ve not felt brave enough to tackle, based on his previous experience of his life.
This all is a valuable teaching that would be of use to everyone in this world. He also took time to listen and to try to understand others so that his help would match their needs. Listening and trying to understand another’s point of view is also a powerful tool that we have not been using as much as we should be. I believe that the root of many of our world’s current difficulties are because of not listening carefully and thinking about the other’s needs. I know it’s hard to not worry about ourselves and our close ones not getting “enough”, or that we’ll put ourselves in the position of running out. It’s a very real feeling. I know I’ve had to constantly deal with those kind of emotions. We’re human beings, it’s part of our nature. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do some things against that fear and nature. After all, those others we are dealing with are in the same boat we are, as far as these feelings and inclinations go. Life’s a tricky twisty path demanding us to “think”, ie. “work”, as we make our way through it. We know how we’d rather take, what seems to be, the easier way than to spend all that effort.

Sorry that some of these reviews I’ve been writing have been so strong in favor of my philosophy, but that’s another thing about these books. They’re fun to read as adventure and humor style books, but there’s also this there that stirs us to consider, to compare and to really take a good look around us. That gives these writings extra value.

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Ok fun-too short

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-26-25

I know when I wrote my review on the previous book (maybe not, book 1 anyway), I was a little uncomplimentary about the narrator. I take that back, the work done for this book was, what I consider, much better. It was easier to tell who was talking and Fred’s voice was a little more emotive. That said, I enjoyed the book but there was less irony than the first so I was a little less amused. It was nice to learn the characters more and that Fred had “grown” as he experienced more adventures.
I still enjoyed it, but it felt somewhat too short. Maybe I was listening to a dramatized version but I don’t think so. On the other hand, the time listed for that style is shorter than with one reader alone. I’ll have to look at that. Enjoy the book!

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Irony galore

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-25-25

I suspected this book would help lift my spirits. I mean, with a title like that, it wasn’t that hard a guess to make. I’m not sure if it’s meant for a non-adult audience or not, but I was glad that the mayhem and sex were low key. I prefer to be able to use my imagination rather than have it in my face like a thrown pie. That’s one of the reasons I usually stay away from it, except say in older movies or ones where the director knows that what we imagine from the hints is usually worse than anything that could be put on the screen. Same with books. You’re already using it your imagination as you read and whatever you think up is probably more frightening to you than anything that could’ve been written.
The humor was fun, just like it’s fun to let your mind make the “pictures”. It was a little light weight though and if I were reading instead of listening I probably would’ve taken to skimming if not down right quitting it. It didn’t catch me or make me laugh enough for me to hang in there to the end. The story and the writing were just not “full” enough for me to want to spend too much time with. Also, the narrator was just not able enough for me. I mean, I’d start thinking about how I would like it to be, or how I would’ve done it , and I am not an actor.

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Individual alternatives

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-23-25

I’ve enjoyed books by this author before and this one is no exception. There are many individual individuals in it and that’s its appeal to me. We’re all different and odd and individual and that’s because we’re humans.
That’s what I had trouble with growing up in that I didn’t want to give up my me but at times it seemed as if my peers were against this idea, that we were and could and should be who we were and that should be accepted and acceptable. I mean, isn’t life more interesting that way?
I also had difficulty being who I wasn’t, I couldn’t hide it. I had other things I was trying to hide and I pretty much managed that, but I wasn’t able to “fit in”. I also found it very tiring and not at all awarding. I prefer to be as lazy and amused as I can. I live with “Major Depression (or Depressive Disorder), I’m not sure on the current nomenclature as it seems to change every time they publish a new official book, which is about every five years or so. It’s considered a chronic condition and it’s been mine since about when I was in sixth grade (American style), so about 9/11 years of age. Before that, I just had to deal with “Generalized Anxiety Disorder”. That means I’m always anxious all the time, often “over” anxious. There doesn’t have to be a particular “reason”, but there can be. I know that just now there are a lot of people feeling that way. Anyway, finding something to tickle my funny bones is valuable to me. To us all. Just don’t be mean and hateful about it. Put up with the discomfort of the anxiety and smile. We’re all who we are and that’s where the fun is. (Sorry for the digression).

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A little boring until denouement

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-23-25

The ironic absurdity of many of the people and the “goings-ons”).
I prefer that style of humor and acquired a great deal of satisfaction from these absurdities as they occurred. I forgot this was a murder mystery though, and was a little tired of it seeming to be ending, with no real ending, per se. But then the brilliance of the police came forward, with some humorous referencing of “if this occurs then it means this” with very little clarity (at least to me). So, the explication was of use to me, and perhaps added some humor, including the last line. (There, have I used enough obfuscatory vocabulary to add some humor, or not?). I said I enjoyed irony and satire, I did not say that I possessed any skill at it.

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Noir-Ross MacDonald style

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 12-21-24

I kind of like Noir style art . I have watched and enjoyed many noir movies both good and bad . I don’t often read it because the pictures I make in my mind are just too awful.
I was happy that the “hero” was a good person doing his job as well as he could. The way it ended (hero gets girl) ok. He had changed as I followed him through the book and he was ready to turn his life into that change.
The woman he chose turned out to be okay and okay for him, though that wasn’t clear almost all the way through the book. Even though I was still not quite sure about her even at the end (this is noir after all) I trusted him to have made the correct choice. He had seen many people throughout his job and I trusted his ability to see her as she was.
Parts of the book you kind of figured out quite early but there was a lot to be uncovered, which made it interesting to me, but then I don’t spend too much time trying to solve it myself. I read books for the writing and the mood and characters the writer creates.
This was written quite a while back in time, about the time of the hey-day of noir style in books and movies in the USA.

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Exciting but very dark

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 12-21-24

I wasn’t sure about everything being tied up with a happiness bow at the end. On the other hand, it was a reminder that there are still good people in the world. Human, but good.

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Local—sort-of noir detective

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 12-16-24

I liked the reader’s voice. It gave me a picture of that person inside. I liked how the main character grew and changed through time and experiences. I liked the heart and love of many of the people and also how they could screw up their lives, sometimes by valuing the wrong things. I guess, kind of a morality statement. The need to love and value the things that will bring peace and joy to your life. It also framed caring people who care just because that’s the kind of person they are.

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