Genevieve Fields

WOW the narrator ruined it!

Revisado: 10-01-20

I prefer audiobooks, so this was my first experience of the novel. I've since read the book and seen the 2002 movie. Having traveled Vietnam for over a year, I would characterize the book as brilliant and the movie as quite good. Upon reflection, I got remarkably little from this audiobook due to the terrible narration.

To echo previous reviewers, Joseph Porter is maddeningly bad. His reading reduced the incisively written characters into just two: sneering Brit and drawling foreign imbecile. Fowler and his wife compose the former category; a previous reviewer hit the nail on the head with 'droning Vincent Price'. In the latter category, Americans are voiced in a terrible John Wayne impersonation. All others (French, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.) are indistinguishably voiced as . . . *an upspeaking, self-doubting . . . Scottish . . . granny . . .? (*typed to grammatically reflect the only cadence employed by the narrator in each and every such utterance).

I noticed this recording is from 1983. These days many free podcasts are of higher quality, with characters individually voiced by native-language/age/gender/class appropriate actors. Often there is era and locale appropriate background music and sound mixing as well. Joseph two-tone Porter is such a disappointment to modern ears. Many recordings of this quality are starting to put me off purchasing.

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Great tips for Hanoi Tourists

Revisado: 07-28-19

I was loathe to spend $$ on a 22 minute book, but this is totally worth it. Countdown style tips handling the basics of spending days as a tourist in Hanoi: eating, drinking, shopping, taking a taxi, which neighborhoods to stay in, bargaining culture, sights, how to take a cab . . .

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MADDENINGLY INEFFICIENT

Revisado: 06-02-18

I was expecting a book with this title to be textbook style, with clearly delineated sections, each with subsections addressing theory, explanation, and examples. The title says 'complete guide', therefore I was expecting an instruction guide or manual format. Instead, it was a 3 hour ad for one of Richard Bandler's Intro to NLP seminars. It was narrated as the story of a group of 6 or 7 different first time attendees (characters, not real people, with commensurately superficial problems), and how they each attained breakthroughs while taking part in their first Richard Bandler seminar.

So much of it was just unrealistic imaginary conversations and terribly longwinded segues.
i just clicked a totally random location to give an example, but the entire book is like this:

"he proceeded back to the seminar room and found himself a place to sit; by the time richard took the stage he was smiling away, already looking forward to the next few meetings. feeling better about them was an excellent start, but he also knew he needed to learn the most effective way of communicating with his clients and colleagues. he was full of anticipation as richard began to speak . . . 'now this morning you learned not only that you can take more control over what you feel . . . " etc. by the way, this is midway through chapter 4, not chapter 1 . . . that's how slow this book is to get anywhere.

There was good information contained in this book, but it would have been better at 1/5 the length or even shorter, delivered in a bullet point format, and illustrated with real-life examples rather than the superficial problems of imaginary characters. My mental energy was exhausted trying to keep track of the cast of characters and glean from the narrated parts of Bandler's speech which of his stupid expressions actually conveyed an important concept (ie. yoghurt knows yoghurt!), so much so that I didn't grasp or remember anything useful from this book even as I was in the process of listening to it.

I had read on various blogs that Bandler was the king of repackaging and reselling the same old concepts in every imaginable variety, so I was already unsure which of his books to buy (he has 130 books on amazon!). This one seemed to have the most straightforward title, so I chose it. I regret it. The outline, format and content could have been so much better.

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Extremely helpful

Revisado: 10-18-16

I particularly liked chapter 12, which introduces the Yale communication method.

As the daughter of a borderline/narcissist, I wish I had read this book 15 years ago.

Highly recommend!

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Motivating

Revisado: 10-15-16

A lot of this was boring (I don't care what you wore each year of high school!) but in toto it motivated me to get off my ass and start executing some ideas that have been banging around my head for a while. Positive tone, I recommend this.

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Good tool, great price

Revisado: 03-25-16

Compared to the price of something like pimsleur these are great! Not as thorough, but gets you some of the phrases you'd need for a vacation. I'm a fan of ear works overall.

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Wonderful for a beginner

Revisado: 02-17-16

Very helpful phrases for a tourist- I'd like a coffee, there's a problem with the room, etc. the catchy music really does help! Great explanation of grammar too. Highly recommend, great value.

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Too little too late

Revisado: 01-02-16

The only new hot tip I got out of this was the folding advice. Unfortunately I think I've learned everything else through trial and error over the past ten years of living as an adult. Everything in this book is good and true, just wish the book had been available when I was a chaotic college student rather than a mid-career together professional.

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How to be the perfect housewife

Revisado: 12-07-15

Loved this book, all the advice, all the details. I am a single woman who has really struggled with having a barely functioning apartment, forget a smoothly running peaceful home like the author describes. This book has already been a great help- just this morning I used several of her tips: do Sisyphean tasks with a positive attitude, listen to peaceful classy music to begin your day on the right foot, wake up an hour before you normally do if you always rush too much in the morning, say affirmations, spend quality breakfast time with your loved ones . . . I will be listening again and again. My only issue with this audio book was the French pronunciation of the narrator, which was rather poor. There are a couple phrases which are repeated several times, so it became irritating.

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Not witty

Revisado: 07-17-15

What would have made Primates of Park Avenue better?

If the author didn't imagine herself smarter than both the women surrounding her and those reading her book

What was most disappointing about Wednesday Martin’s story?

It didn't go anywhere

Which scene was your favorite?

Birkin telephone

What character would you cut from Primates of Park Avenue?

The dead baby. Bwahaha, that's so macabre only an actual New Yorker would write it!

Any additional comments?

Not worth my credit, but maybe it hits too close to home. This might be interesting if you aren't raised in the culture she describes, and thus aren't wincing throughout.

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