Kathleen

Difficult to stop listening

Revisado: 10-22-24

I think we are all tempted to believe that the impossible is possible. That some special people can foresee the future. That we can beat or outlast a scary prediction, possibly a medical prediction or some way that we feel we may be doomed.
If someone told you you would die at whatever age, of whatever cause, would you endeavor to forestall that possibility, or would you think to yourself nothing you could do would matter, and that would be your fate?
This book is about a planeload of passengers who are each given a prediction of what age, and how they would die, by an elderly woman who walks through the aisle and gives a prediction to each passenger in turn.
Do the predictions come true? Read to find out.

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Not what I expected

Revisado: 08-23-24

I had thought this would be a book about case examples of diagnoses. Instead, it was a cautionary tale to physicians about how they should improve their techniques with the physical exam or use the stethoscope plus various cognitive errors they should avoid. Yes, there were a few case examples, but not as many as I had expected.

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A very comprehensive book about what it is to be transgender by a very articulate transgender man

Revisado: 07-23-24

Now over 80 years of age, I purchased this book because I wanted to learn more about transgender issues, which seem to be increasingly in the news. I was also curious about why everyone seems to be putting their pronouns after their names, as well as what those pronouns mean about the person.
In this book, Schuyler addresses anything anyone might wonder about transgender issues. It is immensely readable, human, and comprehensive. I highly recommend reading it to anyone who has any questions about what it is to be transgender and why anyone would change one’s gender. Schuyler describes how and why a transgender person might or might not choose to alter their external sexual characteristics, including their genitals. One of the first sections of the book discusses the assignment of gender at birth, often despite ambiguous genitalia, and before the full expression of sex hormones can occur. There is a large section about transgender athletes, which I found particularly illuminating. Lia Thomas’ journey was addressed in this book and anyone who wonders why she, a transgender woman, has been permitted to compete as a woman swimmer at the highest level of competition should read this book
The book concludes with how one might become a transgender ally; This may be the only way to stop the trend of harmful recent legislation against related issues, such as forcing people to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender at birth, and other issues the patriarchy seems intent upon.

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Kind of a pointless waste of time

Revisado: 07-05-24

I am a Maggie O’Farrell fan. I think this is far from her best work.

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Like a 12 step meeting

Revisado: 09-02-23

I heard the author speak about his book on NPR, and that’s why I decided to listen to it. It is the story of a man who has to come to terms with reality. He will never regain what he has lost, but he can find satisfaction and even joy in what he has now. I’m glad it was not a story about drug addiction. The difficulties in his present circumstances were almost overstressed for this reader, and that is why I gave it only three stars. I agree with many of the other reviewers that the author should not have been the one reading his book. His flat, almost sorrowful rendition added to the depressive quality of the story, such that it was an effort for me to continue listening.
I liked the ending because it felt real.

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Not a challenging read

Revisado: 07-27-23

I liked the narrators, but the story was quite predictable. There is a divorce between a couple who had an arranged marriage in India after they immigrated to the United States, and their children were grown. The story takes place a few years after that divorce, and we see how the now-divorced parents are moving on into new relationships.

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The background music is too distracting

Revisado: 05-21-23

This book consists of the history of Santiago de Compostela, with a couple of narrators who speak Castilian Spanish. The information is dense and granular, especially interesting for those who might be pilgrims on the pathway leading to Santiago de Compostela. It is appropriate for intermediate Spanish learners. But I suggest getting this book in print and reading it rather than listening to it.
I am returning this book and getting my credit back, because the background music is so distracting. This is not the first Spanish book I have listened to that has background music, but speaking as a Spanish language learner, narrating over background music is not a good way to improve access and fluency in a language.

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Very distracting background music

Revisado: 05-19-23

The music in the background does not add to the performance. In fact, it distracts and detracts from what is good about the book. The stories are pretty good, and I liked that they were translated and that there was a vocabulary before each story.
But I really could not get over the music, however. It was a serious mistake to include it.

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It desperately needed editing

Revisado: 05-04-23

The story had important messages to people who look down on hillbillies and rednecks. It explains how Purdue Pharma and fentanyl traffickers created the opioid crisis from which America may never extricate itself. That is the gist of the story in a nutshell, leaving out the characters that inhabit it. Kingsolver has written a book intended to update David Copperfield, but it goes on in excruciating detail for so long that even with the uplifting ending, I ended the 21 hours of listening to this book feeling that I hated it. And, yes, although I finished the entire book, I am going to ask for my credit back because it was such a waste of my time. OK, I should’ve known that because it was a Oprah book, it was going to be hard to read, but my only excuse is that the narration was so incredibly good that I could not stop until the end. I will look for more books narrated by Charlie Thurston— his narration is the bright spot in this book that could have easily been cut in half with good editing.

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If only narrator had had a little French accent

Revisado: 02-27-23

The amazing story of an extremely courageous woman. While the narrator did not have a French accent, she seemed to pronounce the French words correctly. I wish the narrator had a little bit of a French accent, but after knowing a lot of French people over the years, it might have been tricky to find someone with a French-tinged accent able to narrate as well as this narrator did.
I want the story to go on, I want to know what the author finds out about her biological mother, and how she survives BrCa. I teared up when she told about her restaurant staff all getting all their hair cut off in solidarity.

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