katherine shabell

Absolutely hilarious

Revisado: 03-16-22

Loved it.
Plain and simple.
Narrator was superb
Go. Listen to it.
IMMEDIATELY.
If you are at all into comics/superheroes +supervillains (especially if you prefer the latter), this is a MUST LISTEN. Like, right now. What are you doing still reading this? Go listen. Right now.
Why haven't you started listening yet?
Is it a delaying gratification thing? Well, the book is 3.5 hours of quite literally laugh out loud entertainment. (I'm serious about this, started listening to it in bed this morning, with my husband still sleeping next to me, and after about the fifth time I woke him up with my loud guffawing, he got a bit annoyed at me.) (point of that story being: make sure you listen to it somewhere where laughing loudly out of nowhere won't embarrass you, or won't startle another person into danger or making a mistake. You don't want your loud laughter to be the last thing some sweet old lady ever hears because, stepping off the curb and turning her head toward the laughter, she failed to see that bus) (or maybe you do want that... In which case you would probably find this book very useful and informative, as well as hilarious.) (something to think about)

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Would be perfect 5stars all around, but...

Revisado: 05-15-21

Listening to the credits at the end, and it says that it was abridged. The credit specified "text abridged by: (name)". This is quite a disappointment, and a bit of an unpleasant surprise, as had I known (had I but known! - extra dramatic! -) it was abridged, I would not have used a credit on it.
I don't know if this is even connected to the 'abridgement issue', but something has been really bothering me for quite a while now, namely, I have very very vivid memories of reading a particular David Sedaris story, but have been unable to find it either on audio books or in print (although my current book copies are recent reprints, so any text abridgement would have occurred and more recent reprint would have the abridgement, I would think.). I remember a few specific details about the story that allows me to eliminate other stories from the list of possibilities. (if anyone is interested, it involves David and his sister Lisa going to a golf game/tournament with his father, his sister gets her very first period while they are there (I think she was wearing white pants /skirt, too! So embarrassing!), and her father asks a stranger, a female golfer, to help her out.
There's another story I remembered reading that I cannot find, and it was about David working in Chicago with dangerous wood stripping chemicals, working for some sort of foreign woman (I want to say, eastern European? Polish perhaps?), there's something about them listening to the radio together, and I think the woman says something derogatory about an ethnic minority (jews perhaps?). That one is more vague, memories-wise, but I am still positive that I read it more than once when I had my original copies! I don't remember what book it was from, nor the other story, but I am almost positive that it is either Naked or Me Talk Pretty One Day (but I'm like 85% sure it's Naked, not MTPOD)
Anyone who can help enlighten me on this, feel free to hit me up with an email/message. My email is grrlsinister at Gmail dot com.)

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Love this author!

Revisado: 12-03-20

I have very much enjoyed the true crime books by the author, all very engrossing and well written, so when I saw this, (one of a series of short true crime stories) and saw it would be free + included in my Audible membership, I just had to grab it for my library. Under 2 hours long, it was an easy, 1-session listen. Narrator has a pleasant voice, and good pacing, doesn't drone on or use a monotone. Story itself is very interesting and engaging, my only issue with it is the frequently condescending discriptions of the main people involved (example, calling Ms French a 'dumpy high school dropout', and a few other less-than-generous descriptions of other girls and of one of the boys). I'm not usually judgemental about the way people describe other people, but I have seen documentaries about this case before, and I have seen pictures of these girls, who are in NO WAY WHATSOEVER as he describes their physical attributes. ('dumpy', 'a skinny tramp', 'a plain, mousy girl, who made up for her deficiencies in appearance with a puppy-ish devotion', 'a weedy, asthmatic little runt' ) He does the same thing, in reverse, for one of the victims, exaggeratedly overstating her looks in positive terms (' prom queen type looks' etc) . My personal opinion is, it is authorial intent to make the 'bad guys' (and gals) in this case look worse, uglier and utterly non attractive. He didn't really have much to say in positive terms about anyone involved with this case who was not one of Schmidt Jr's victims. I'm not saying in any way that these people who fell under Schmidt Jr's spell should be held up as examples or exemplified in any way, I'm just pointing out something that made an impression on me, because I have seen photos of the people involved in this case. While writing tactics like this are great in the world of fiction, I feel it doesn't have a place in relating something that really happened, to real life people. In reality, not every villain is ugly or undesirable, not every victim is a beauty queen. More realistic descriptions of the person's involved in this would improve the narrative, in my opinion.
Otherwise, no complaints at all, I very much like the author's 'voice' and the chosen narrator performs well. Just the author's name on the cover is enough to get me to use a credit on one of his books, I was lucky this series was available to me for free. The others in the series are good too, the first one I listened to in the series was 'Little Slaughterhouse on the Prarie', about the murderous Bender family.

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Amazing

Revisado: 11-16-20

This book quite literally changed the way I think about things. Incredibly engaging, well written, amazing narrator, who does many various voices very well. Very easy to tell who is speaking, with such distinctive voices.
Cannot recommend it enough!

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Haunting and evocative. A cinematic love letter.

Revisado: 05-18-19

Adore this book. The physical book haunted me so much (in a good way) afterwards I had to get the audio book.
It is narrated by the authors significant other, who participated a lot (according to author note and thank yous) in the writing of this book, I can be confident in that he pronounces all names as the author intended them to sound. This is the next best thing (a very very close second) to an author doing their own narration. His voices are unique enough to be memorable and he handles the strange amalgam of accents people in that parallel universe have...
The world created by the author drew me in, I was enchanted, disturbed, and moved, all in the very best sense of the terms. I only wish that she would write more novels in this universe she has made.. Ten, a hundred, a thousand novels! I'd read each one and sit eagerly awaiting the next.
A perfect novel, and a perfect audio book. Well worth the credit, or even purchase.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Delicious scandals, and murder most foul...

Revisado: 05-14-19

I have always been a fan of history and historical biographies, and ever since Stephen Fry's wonderful 'Stephen Fry' s Victorian Secrets' was offered as one of the Audible Originals selections, I have been on the look out for something similar.
This was that, and SO. MUCH. MORE.
I will summarize what I deem as some of the best features of this audio book, as I will be here all night and wear out my fingers typing if I listed everything I adore about this book.
Starting with the narration, (which was stellar) I was very pleased right away with the narrator's voice, and measured, dignified way of speaking. She does many many different character voices, and even tries (and for the most part, succeeds) Welsh, Scottish and varied American accents. She speaks about the often disturbing subjects with obvious compassion for the victims in her voice, as well as dignity. Many narrators of so-called 'scandal' collections tend to a sly, voyeuristic tone, which lends an attitude of gawking at a nasty accident. Not so here. She is also excels at pronunciation, I only heard one mispronounced word, which was a proper name anyway, so I didn't hold it against her (the word was ' Decatur', the name of a town in the US).
The selection of stories is well chosen (I am very much into this period of history, as well as famous scandals of yesteryear, and I had only ever heard ONE of the well over 40 stories, that of the man who attempted the assassination of Queen Victoria, Edward Oxford) and though on the obscure side, this is to the books advantage, as I am positive most people will not have read about these cases before.
The cases are detailed but not overly wordy, nor does the author linger over the gorier, nastier aspects any more than is absolutely necessary for conveying the details needed to understand what happened. The cases/stories are also separated into loosely themed categories, which helps the stories flow from one to the next very smoothly.
The stories themselves? Absolutely fascinating! Riveting! Even better than fiction because they actually HAPPENED, fantastic though the details are. A good selection of locations, too, from the US to the UK and Europe.
In summary, I cannot praise this book enough. I snagged it during the mother's day sale but would have been just as happy if I'd either paid full price or paid with a credit.
This is a DEFINITE re-read (re-listen?). 5 stars all around

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Fantastic facts, well written and amazingly acted!

Revisado: 04-13-19

I cannot stress enough how much I loved this book. Not only is the text erudite and full of detailed information (but nowhere near dry and boring) but the narrator was incredibly well chosen. The way the author writes, inserting clever and wry observations on what a modern person might think about the current subject, is brought fabulously to life by the voice actress, who reads these little jokes and comments with an almost audible wry smile and sly wink.

Chock full of great (and gross) details on historical hygiene (or more often, lack thereof), crazy sounding (and often deadly) cosmetic procedures and medical treatments that are closer to torture, this was a fascinating listen that had me immediately restart it after I'd finished, just to hear all those repellent and fascinating facts about castle life and those intimate and interesting details so often glossed over in other non fiction accounts.

The second section examines 20 something cases of suspected death by poison and includes many many details of the case, the autopsy or forensic examination from the time of death (if available), then a modern analysis, including (again, where possible) new examination of the remains, often revealing the truth!
I am a great lover of historical biography and facts about day to day European life in the Renaissance and medieval period, and this has to be one of my top 3 non fiction collections. To anyone who might be interested in this subject, this is a great reference, and an even better listen. Far from romanticizing the time period (as so many authors do, focusing on gowns and masquerade balls rather than the ugly truth), the author revels in the true facts (many of which are very clinical and frankly disgusting, those who are sensitive to descriptions of bodily functions such as vomiting or diarrhea should probably skip this one, since it is focused frequently on the symptoms of poison victims and does not spare any details), and the voice actress was a perfect pick, being sober and respectful where needed, but also articulate and slyly humorous, almost as though she worked with the author to write the jokes! Her reading and delivery is very natural, and it is very easy to tell voices apart when she is recounting dialog.

5 stars all around. I would of course listen to this many times over. I used my monthly credit on this but would gladly have paid full price for it. I was only disappointed it wasn't longer! Ha ha.

This review was entirely unsolicited, left because I enjoyed it so much I thought others should at least give it a try. Heck, audibles returns policy is great, so if you are into this sort of thing and have a credit to spend, go for it! Worst case scenario you don't like it, return it and get your credit back, and best case scenario you have a new favorite book and dozens of gruesome facts to disgust your friends and coworkers!

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esto le resultó útil a 15 personas

Great book, OK performance

Revisado: 06-21-18

The narrator makes some jarring mispronunciations, as well as sometimes substituting the wrong word (example - instead of 'he picked him up bodily' she said 'picked him up BLOODILY'. Big difference. Also the way she chooses to pronounce certain proper names makes me cringe. Otherwise good performance. I adore this book, have loved it since high school.

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Great book, OK performance

Revisado: 06-21-18

The narrator makes some jarring mispronunciations, as well as sometimes substituting the wrong word (example - instead of 'he picked him up bodily' she said 'picked him up BLOODILY'. Big difference. Also the way she chooses to pronounce certain proper names makes me cringe. Otherwise good performance. I adore this book, have loved it since high school.

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