Robert B Lower

Vivid and intense

Revisado: 12-18-24

Wellum's prose is sharp and clear. He recreates the desperate state of Britain in 1940 and the unparalleled thrill of flying Spitfires at 19 years old with the immediacy of a post-battle report and delicious detail that will satisfy any would-be fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain. Outstanding memoir!

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A river of a book

Revisado: 03-04-24

This book flows over you and through you. You can't engage with it. You will remember almost none of it ( but what you do will be vivid). But you will enjoy being in it, letting it delightfully wash over you. If you're confused, don't worry about it. If you're bored, wait five minutes. It just keeps flowing and, like a river, seems reliably predictable but perennialy fresh. I loved it. And the narrator, by the way, is perfect.

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Bunk

Revisado: 05-29-22

The writing is facile, superficial and unconvincing. These characters never existed anywhere and the plot is awkward, forced and contrived. Hellegers reads in an irritating sing-song that says neither he nor anyone involved takes this project seriously. I finished it only because it's so short. The ending is as contrived as the rest.

Shame on everyone involved, except Michael Crouch and the technical crew.

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Wretched writing

Revisado: 12-19-21

Literal, clumsy and plodding. This guy's much-vaunted superior intelligence does not extend to storytelling. Pass.

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Great writing, less great reading.

Revisado: 10-17-21

Vanderhaeghe is a fabulous writer. I think this is his best. He knows his characters and they know themselves. His antagonist, Ernie Sickert, is a familiar psychopath presented in a gripping and original form. I couldn't put it down.

Alas R.H. Thompson does not rise to the same level of excellence. His voice is pleasant and his enunciation flawless. But his turgid reading speed and his sing song delivery completely undermine the energy of the writing and authenticity of the dialogue. But do not despair... I found that increasing the playback speed to 1.2 times normal made it acceptable, and the sing song delivery diminished as the book progressed. Or else I got used to it. For that reason I heartily recommend this book. And if you're Canadian it's so refreshing to hear familiar place names presented unself-consciously. If you're not Canadian, welcome to a new and exotic, foreign yet familiar locale. And a ripping yarn.

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I should have listened to W

Revisado: 05-14-21

So should you. I too read this book many years ago. The abridgment has sucked out all the tension. Pass.

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Overwritten pretentious clsptrap

Revisado: 04-28-21

Hours I'll never get back. A relentless grimness, a protagonist who could never exist, a story that never materialized. The reader did what she could but had nothing to work with.
Not recommended. For anyone. The bleak wreck of the American experiment put into a book.

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Unbelievably overwritten and tedious

Revisado: 08-11-20

Hard to fathom how this book won awards. The story is bogged down by Willis’s need to include all her research and then stopped dead while she amuses herself with trite portrayals of pompous and unappealing academics. I finally went to Wikipedia to see where this plot was actually going. If you are considering buying this great blob of a book, I strongly suggest you do the same.

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The narrator does her no favours

Revisado: 03-14-20

The essays are generally excellent. The reading is clear,lively and carefully enunciated, although calling British navy officers “lootenants” clangs as offensively on the ear as a Brit calling an American a “leftenant”would. But my more serious objection is to the reader’s tone. She gives Ms Fadiman a supercilious and self-congratulatory voice which never and must never come across in print. Pleasure, yes, superior self-satisfaction, no.
Still, the essays are worth it.

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Good book, terrible read

Revisado: 06-11-19

This is a fabulous story, compellingly told. The writing is first class, but it is brought down tragically by an appalling read. I'm sorry to say this since a sample of Steven Cooper's reading from a number of novels on Audible suggests he can do a fine job with fiction. But nonfiction leaves him helpless. A monotonous and repetitious sing-song is all he brings. Every word the same emphasis, every sentence dipped at the end. I strongly recommend this very human and visceral treatment of a colorful and unique event in history, but if it interests you, read it, don't listen to this misfired production. The reading sample will tell you what every minute of these twelve hours will sound like.
Happily, Charlotte Gray's other book on Audible has a different narrator. I'll definitely give it a try.

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