Charlotte

terrible narrator

Revisado: 03-11-25

I've read the series years ago, which I loved, but wanted to listen to the story while I walked. The narrator, Mary Sarah, is terrible. TERRIBLE! Listening to the way she draws out the title of each chapter is nauseating. She distracts so badly from the story. Her accent is, I believe, an attempt at being upperclass British, but it's not British at all. Obviously, the editors of this website don't read the reviews (ever) as there is not a single positive thing said about this horrible narrator. She has a phony, affected accent. I can't believe that anyone would hire her for any work at all. I wish I could find a different audio copy of this book elsewhere.

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Terrible

Revisado: 12-21-24

The quality of the audio book is excellent, but this is a ridiculous detective story, with the killer turning out to be a young schizophrenic. It is totally improbable , uninteresting, and makes no sense at all. No possible motive for the killings. One of the worst mysteries I've read, of thousands I've read/listened to.

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too complicated

Revisado: 01-09-24

It is far too complicated and there are far too many characters. The next book in the series is far better. Overall, I'd avoid this one.

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Terrible narration

Revisado: 09-18-23

I read/listen to a huge number of mysteries and found this to be good but not great. The narrator is terrible: when he does a male voice he's fine, but then pitches his voice up to a falsetto to do female voices which sounds ridiculous. He is totally unable to do a British accent so, instead of a British accent does something else which isn't British and isn't American. Wish the company had chosen someone else to narrate as this man ruined the story for me, which i listened to mostly on a plane ride home from Europe.

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Not one of her better novels

Revisado: 08-15-23

The Kills is not one of Fairstein's better novels. There are too many characters, a convoluted plot and an EVIL villain, whose personality is a bit too OTT to be convincing. The whole scene on the Vineyard during the hurricane should have been left out of the plot. She isn't stupid, naive or inexperienced enough to have been there in the first place during a major hurricane without help, been there without alternative utilities, spent the night in a lean-to or done all she did under the circumstances. I've enjoyed her other novels but can't recommend this one.

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Abridged

Revisado: 01-23-22

I didn't notice that this book was abridged until I started listening to it. So much of the story has disappeared that I couldn't get the thread of the story. The narrator speaks with what sounds like a Russian accent, which I find really annoying. Very disappointed overall.

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Narrator should be replaced

Revisado: 04-06-20

It's a good story. What I found incredibly annoying was the narrator, who was a complete failure at NY and British accents and should have stuck to a straight neutral American accent. The British is particularly irritating.

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Terrible

Revisado: 11-14-17

This is a completely unconvincing story. The murder which occurs in this first novel is totally inconceivable. Does anyone honestly believe that a family would murder a girl who had gotten pregnant by their son simply because it might interfere with his military career? Since when does an out of wedlock marriage come as such a surprise to the military? Come on!

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Disappointed

Revisado: 03-05-16

What would have made The Road to Little Dribbling better?

I've read virtually all of Bryson's books over the years, am Bryson's age and am a lifelong anglophile. I was optimistic about the plot after hearing Bryson's opening dialogue in which he described what was my own early adolescence, dominated by British music and style. That said, whenever we hear a sad, aging celebrity promoting his memoirs on the nightly news, my husband's response is, "somebody must have some alimony payments in arrears." Andy Rooney was a lovable old codger in his final years on 60 Minutes, complaining about the modern world. Bryson just isn't that funny or lovable anymore. I wonder if he has some frontal lobe damage, as he just can't stop lacing his sentences with 4-letter words, a depth to which Rooney was far too dignified to sink. Can't a man as (previously) articulate as Bryson utilize slightly less vulgar language? I guess not. Finally, what is his juvenile issue with transsexuals? Isn't he a father of four? Since when do we feel comfortable mocking people, such as Jenner, different from ourselves? Oh, yes, now that we have Trump running for President. Why does he need to devote so much ink to telling us how unfair and inaccurate Tripadvisor is? The narrator was a disappointment, as well, mispronouncing British proper nouns and totally blundering regional American accents. I'd give this one a miss and reread some of Bryson's earlier books, such as Notes on a Small Island.

What could Bill Bryson have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Written it 20 years ago when he still had an above average IQ and less coarse language skills.

Would you be willing to try another one of Nathan Osgood’s performances?

No.

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Narrator not up to the task

Revisado: 10-28-10

Is it possible that there wasn???t a single male actor in the entire British Empire available to narrate this 20th Century British classic? It was a huge disappointment to listen to this recited by an American.

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esto le resultó útil a 11 personas