Mark

Moving and Well-Crafted

Revisado: 04-06-25

This is a fine book but moves along more slowly and with less plot excitement than other Hollinghurst novels. Written in the form of a (fictional) memoir, I had to learn to accept it on its own terms, just be patient and let it roll out at its steady pace. At the end, I was deeply moved. One cannot expect justice in this world.

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Wonderful writing, realistic story

Revisado: 03-03-25

Like many, I was drawn to the book because I like the TV series. I was surprised to see that the author is not just a good at devising espionage stories, but is also a charming prose stylist, sometimes personifying the natural world as observant of human activity. The reader was not the type of voice I expected for this material, but he grew on me!

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Realistic and Satisfying

Revisado: 02-25-25

Connelly provides another winner. Ballard’s story continues to unfold in a compelling way, with strong supporting roles for Harry and Maddie. Several storylines are satisfactorily wrapped up by the time we hear the epilogue. Excellent narration.

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Excellent Book and Performance

Revisado: 02-21-25

A very satisfying conclusion to the “Karla trilogy.” Tinker Tailor is still the masterpiece, but this one comes a strong second. Le Carré writes like a dream-weaver of the highest order and the reading is flawless.

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Good but . . .

Revisado: 02-01-25

The writing is superb, as always with Le Carré, and the performance is first-rate, especially considering how difficult must be the many accents of these characters from many different countries and backgrounds. No spoilers, but to me the protagonist’s motivation in the last section of the novel makes no sense. His actions seem suddenly out of character with no explanation. That reduced my pleasure in what is in most ways an excellent novel of espionage and suspense.

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Deserves Its Revered Status

Revisado: 01-25-25

This is indeed one of the best spy novels ever written, one that rises above the expectations of “genre fiction.” The characters are complex and plausible, not the cartoons one encounters from many writers in the game. Smiley—old, overweight, seemingly dull—is an unlikely hero, but he is not what he seems. He has the brain and the moral center that drives these exceptional books. The narration is just right. I forget that he, the narrator, exists, which is as it should be. Vance is so good as to become imperceptible so that I can enter into an experience of pure story.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Rankin in Top Form!

Revisado: 01-15-25

I had delayed listening this newest Rebus novel because the idea of our hero in prison just seemed too limited and too sad. But it’s neither! Complex and believable plot that takes place in the prison and outside, as Siobhan and Christine pursue an exciting case that intersects with Rebus’s subtle inquiry within the walls. Fox lurks around the edges of both. Really a delightful listen and the narrator is as perfect as always.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Lots of exposition before much happens

Revisado: 07-30-24

It turns out to be a satisfying listen, but the first half of the book is mostly information delivered to us in a character thinking or engaging in lengthy, not very interesting, dialogues. The second half is much more exciting with, frankly, plenty of sex and violence. The reader tries way too hard, especially in early chapters, giving the characters these bizarre accents, the Empire characters sounding like a convention of Draculas from the old movie. Very annoying and gets in the way of the story. I guess he’s trying to make them sound Russian? The reader himself seems to get tired of these bizarre articulations and settles down later into a better sound.

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Weak Story with Awkward Lead Actor

Revisado: 06-10-24

I’m a Connelly fan, but supernatural suspense is definitely not his forte. The dialogue was phony and slack, plotting was predictable and really just depressing. To be frank, Jack Quaid is a bad actor, or at least he is here, sounding like junior-high drama club level. If he were not a nepo-baby. . . what would he be doing? You guessed it: he’s the 30-something son of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid. A disappointing listen, but at least it was free.

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Relies on personal anecdotes and preferences instead of science

Revisado: 05-11-24

Spector is an actual scientist who has properly published research to his credit, but this book has little to do with science. The author is very sloppy in his thinking and statements, often making blanket statements that anyone who has been paying attention to nutrition science knows to be wrong or at least very misleading. He has a weird tendency, for a science writer, to just ignore the science he doesn’t like because he admits he enjoys a certain food and doesn’t want to give it up. That’s fine, make your own decision for yourself, Dr. Spector, but isn’t it wildly irresponsible to encourage your readers to go ahead and consume alcohol, butter, cheese, and bacon, because in your personal estimation they are just too good to give up? That’s not science-based writing; it’s just a food blog by someone who should know better. According to Spector, the future is all about personalized nutrition, which, it just so happens, he sells in his “Zoe” program, which he plugs at least twenty times. He may be right about that future, but the science on personalized nutrition is still very new and poorly developed. The book comes across as casual, sloppy, and intermittently an advertisement for his commercial diet advice program.
The reader is fine, if you don’t mind very British-y. Does any educated person today really pronounce the past tense of “eat” as “ett?” Seems an oddly Masterpiece Theatre/Lord Peter Winsey style of reading for a book that is supposed to be about science.

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