gnudung

inadequate reader, illustrations claimed, absent

Revisado: 08-27-23

Only one audiobook reader has shocked me more, and that one had a speech impediment. This narrator sometimes pronounces ague so as to rhyme with vague and other times so as to rhyme with gag. Neither is correct and both grate. Transposed letters commonly mangle the pronunciation of English words as well as Spanish words. Most Spanish words, however, are correctly pronounced. Prosody lacks verve. The narrative is quite gripping and so far I have been able to gag this down, but it is difficult to recommend. To the best of my knowledge, there is no alternate audiobook, so consider reading it rather than listening to it. The illustrations are critical, and they no longer seem to be available at the narrated URLs. The illustrations can, however, be found at Internet Archive, and also the text.

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Great Russian pronunciation, good prosody

Revisado: 02-28-21

This is a review of Derek Perkins' narration of In the First Circle, in case Amozon or hackers decide to blend this review with reviews for bulk raw turpentine. Occasionally, alas, one encounters audiobooks whose narrators, when called upon to pronounce words in languages other than English, produce concatenations of sound that can be grating to the ears of an auditor who understands the language being so mangled. Derek Perkins' Russian pronunciation is absolutely superb. He understands "softness" and "hardness," as those concepts apply to the spoken Russian language. He is a very fine narrator in general, but this detail makes his narration of this book outstanding, at least for auditors who would notice or care.

This is indeed a remarkable book, as detailed in many other reviews. My focus is on what details of the narration make it so stand out.

There is a small technical problem: when one sees Chapter 28 on the display of whatever device one is using to listen to the narration, what one hears is actually Chapter 27. It is only a mild vexation, but awareness of it might reduce one's frustration if one is going back and forth between narration and e-book or dead tree book.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Very many Italian words mispronounced, gruesomely

Revisado: 12-25-14

What made the experience of listening to The Courtier the most enjoyable?

The story and the translation.

What other book might you compare The Courtier to and why?

There is no book to which I can compare this one.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

By pronouncing Giuliano as Gwee-lee-ah-no, by pronouncing Cagliari as Caligari. I would expect him to order la-zahg-na in a restaurant. His eye seems to trick him when he looks at Italian words, and diphthongs such as gn and gl are beyond his ken. H following a g or c makes the sound hard. Italian is not difficult to pronounce.

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

No.

Any additional comments?

This might be just fine for you if you don't care how Italian words are pronounced. The reader does a passable job with voice characterizations, and has a pleasant UK accent.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

May I present to you… your map?

Revisado: 08-23-13

Would you listen to The Travels of Marco Polo again? Why?

Number ten on the National Geographic list of top one hundred adventure books.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Marco.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Walter Covell?

I have already.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Any additional comments?

To all you frustrated people who wish the audiobook had a map, well, how can you hear a map? If you want to look at a map, one wonders what trouble you encountered when you suggested that your web browser furnish you with one to look at. My browser found a just fine one for me, unencumbered by copyright restrictions. I put it in the same directory in my mobile device and in my desktop computer. Give the whining a rest, eh?

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esto le resultó útil a 10 personas

intense narrative of a dark and complex time

Revisado: 05-05-12

Would you consider the audio edition of Dog Soldiers to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version.

What did you like best about this story?

the subtleties of the characterizations

Which scene was your favorite?

inside the mountain

If you could rename Dog Soldiers, what would you call it?

I would not rename it. This is a silly request in my opinion.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

challenged narrator . . .

Revisado: 08-22-11

Many books contain passages in more than one language. John Lee, a reader I have liked before now, should restrict himself to narrating books written entirely in English. His Spanish pronunciation is . . . excecrable. Malcolm Lowry's text deserves better.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas