Anne

The worst narration ever

Revisado: 10-02-23

I have read this book in print twice and I liked it. It’s not top drawer mystery, but it’s clever, with some engaging characters and a unique setting. The narrator committed nothing short of a crime upon the book, and I persisted in listening only so I could review it. She delivered every bit of dialogue as those the story was a silly sit-com. I could almost see her rolling her eyes. In addition, her efforts to distinguish characters with different voices were pathetic. But the very worst part was her not only mispronouncing words (pavane as “pavan - ee” for instance), but her calling one of the characters alternately “Donelli” (correct) and “Donnelly” (glaringly incorrect since the character identifies herself as Italian American). This narrator was the worst I have ever heard on an Audible recording, and showed no respect for the book or the listeners.

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Riveting

Revisado: 07-13-20

Rarely are a narrative and a narrator so meant for each other that is seems like the book is reading itself aloud, but this recording achieves that state of seamless storytelling. The story of a single mysterious murder of a mother of ten during "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, the reporting slowly teases out the complicated tangle of political beliefs, patriotism, personal loyalities and resentments that surrounded the killing. Blaney is equally good whether he is reading factual information or inhabiting the many tortured souls of the cast of characters. Absolutely riveting.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

More questions than it answers

Revisado: 04-07-19

This is, indeed, a harrowing tale of physical and psychological abuse, but it leaves the listener with more questions than it answers. The issues surrounding what extreme fundamental religious beliefs do to a family bleed into major issues of mental health on the part of, at least, the father and one sibling. Then there is the mother, who facilitates the abuses being perpetrated while suffering along with her children - a big case of Stockholm Syndrome, looks like. And then there is the writer, who rebels in small and then bigger ways, leaves and comes back again and again before 'finally" breaking with them. Despite her extraordinary achievements, it looks like there are no uncomplicated happy endings for her. The narration was not good. Westover may have many gifts, but reading aloud is not one of them.

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esto le resultó útil a 10 personas

Brilliant!

Revisado: 10-21-18

The narration in this 4th Robert Galbraith novel is brilliant, and a wondrous example of the skilled acting that is required by sustained reading of a long piece of fiction. How Glenister manages to bring to life characters from widely different social backgrounds and places and widely different characters is a mystery, but one that brings great enjoyment to a listener. He is as good at presenting a character through voice as Rowling is at creating them.

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Brilliant!

Revisado: 09-06-18

The hours speed by in this amazing narration of the brilliantly plotted and tightly written Collins' novel. It seems discursive in the glorious tradition of English 19th century novels, but, as the climax approaches, each and every detail falls into place and the listener realizes the elegance and economy of the text. The performances are absolutely top notch and the series of narrators exactly realizes the structure of the novel in text form. I'm ready to listen again!

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

So promising, but...

Revisado: 08-19-18

I love the idea of this book, particularly the connection the author feels with Mrs. Gaskell, more than a century away. But the suspicion that it was, essentially, just a long, sad story about the breakup of a romantic relationship and the difficulty of doing work you don't like very much grew to the point that I gave it up 2 hours before the end. Her field of interest, apparently so novel, given her attachment to Mrs. Gaskell, turns out to be mostly her sad romance and her failure to motivate herself to work on her doctoral dissertation. I just got tired of listening to her and wanted to suggest that she get some career counseling. Her prose is charming, however, and her narration is skilled.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Absolutely Thrilling

Revisado: 08-13-18

This translation and the performance together make an absolutely thrilling listen. A narration that sends a listener back to the text to enjoy it again and in another way is rare, indeed, and this production does just that.

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esto le resultó útil a 20 personas

Unbearably tedious

Revisado: 08-13-18

Dear Mrs. Bird is ludicrously predictable in plot and unbearably juvenile in tone, rather like a Girl Guide story of a plucky young woman. I suppose the narrator is trying to do justice to the cliched material, but I found I could not stand listening to it.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Interesting, but uneven

Revisado: 08-13-18

Parts of A Double Life are engrossing, parts are quite suspenseful and parts are oddly tedious, with the feel of an effort to prolong the suspense. The pacing, so important in a suspense book, is off a bit. And then the resolution of the mystery and the wrapping up of a couple of other narrative strands are hurriedly done, as though after being forced to dawdle along the way we are then urged to hurry up and get to the end before the author loses patience with it.

Altogether, worth a listen, certainly, but less skillfully done than book reviews would suggest.

The narrator is skilled and sure with the twists and turns of the plot and tone. Well done.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Romance treatment of classic lit

Revisado: 07-14-18

The narration of The Song of Achilles was pretty good. It was the material, i.e. the book that was so very disappointing. After listening for several hours, at first impatient and then puzzled, I looked up reviews. The NYTimes review hit was spot on - it describes The Song of Achilles as having "the head of a young adult novel, the body of The Iliad and the hindquarters of Barbara Cartland." I decided it wasn't worth my time to find out how the author finished a story that ends after the narrator is killed.

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