GHBeckwith

Did no one supervise or review this narration???

Revisado: 01-21-23

I’m a huge fan of Margaret Atwood. This is another work of genius, albeit depressing AF. But the narrator was awful. Monotone, no hint of the character’s Northern Irish accent, and omg HOW DOES SHE NOT KNOW HOW TO PRONOUNCE SO MANY SIMPLE WORDS??? And why didn’t the director of the audio performance correct her??? UGH! It was so bad that it regularly pulled me out of the story.

So, I thought to myself, isn’t this a show on Netflix? (*checks Netflix listings*) Why, yes - yes, it is! So, I thought to myself some more, couldn’t they have gotten that actress to narrate the audio book? (*runs to google to see who played Grace on the show, drops jaw, double checks, triple checks, shakes head in disgust.*)

They DID get the same actress to narrate the book. Sarah Gadon both starred in the Netflix series and narrated the book. What.The.Actual. Out of curiosity, I watched the first episode, which was much better than I’d feared. And guess what: Sarah Gadon is a pretty darn good actress, with excellent control over her facial expressions AND A CONVINCING NORTHERN IRISH ACCENT (well…convincing to me, anyway). So WHY did they decide to publish the audio book so differently?

Sigh. Margaret Atwood is worth suffering through the narration, but consider yourself warned: if you have OCD tendencies, you might want to have a notebook and pen handy so you can jot down all the mispronounced words, plus all the sentences in which the incorrect phrasing demonstrates the narrator’s complete lack of comprehension of what she was reading.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

The best learning method I've ever used

Revisado: 05-11-20

Pimsleur is by far the BEST way to learn a new language, if you have a decent ear and some patience. Yes, this one starts with very basic stuff (another reviewer called it "boring"), but it builds quickly. I have now completed Ukrainian lessons 1 - 20, and just started lesson 21. It is amazing how effective the "listen and repeat" format is. For those who say it's difficult - well, everyone has different definition of that. It seems like a very logical language to me, and the way you're introduced to new words (and prefixes, suffixes, genders, numbers, etc.) as the course goes on, means that you also learn how to apply concepts that haven't specifically been taught yet...so you're making mental connections you don't even know are happening until suddenly you realize they're already there in your brain!

The hardest part for most English-speaking students will probably be that there are certain sounds that occur frequently in Ukrainian but that we don't use much in English (e.g., the word for "what" is pronounced "shh-cho" - like the end of the word "fresh" and the beginning of the word "chose" - and we don't have words in English that begin with that combination of sounds). However, our mouths are perfectly capable of making those sounds, so it's not actually hard.

I agree that sometimes the native speakers on the recording speak faster than I would like. When that happens, I slow the speed down to 0.75x and listen a couple times until I get it. Then I adjust back up to 1.0x regular speed and it's fine after that.

I took the Pimsleur Spanish course a couple years ago...I completed Units 1-30 in Spanish Levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I became extremely conversant, and my accent is nearly flawless. Native Latin American Spanish speakers think I can speak fluently, because I pronounce everything so well. That is 100% thanks to Pimsleur.

I've also taken Pimsleur courses in French Level 2 and Italian Level 2 - every bit as good as Spanish; I just haven't finished them yet. And so far I'm having the same results with Ukrainian.

HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND Pimsleur language learning courses.

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OMG won't it END yet???

Revisado: 08-23-19

I finally finished it, but it was a chore. It's full of too many bad people who do too many bad things, all going on simultaneously so it's hard to remember, for example, which unnamed villain is doing the strangling now (not that I cared that much)...there's corruption, adultery, rape, murder, torture...much of which is repetitively described in too much detail, btw; and yet these idiot characters still have all this grand forgiveness in their souls? Please. The "good guys" were ineffectual victims and/or children; the "bad guys" were pretty much everyone else and just made stupid, stupid choices. I kept thinking "boy, they are gonna need sooooo much therapy once this is over!" Plus lots of examples of cringe-worthy parenting throughout. I narrowed down the main killer to two people within the first few chapters, and I was right. Sometimes in a thriller that's OK, because knowing the killer's identity doesn't keep you from enjoying the steps leading up to the big reveal, but in this book it was just tedious.
The narrator's southern accent was annoying at times, sounding a little like a drunk Bill Clinton, but since the book is set in NC that's probably appropriate.
I wish I hadn't wasted a credit. In fact, I will probably return this one. Definitely not something I EVER want to waste time listening to again.

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Ughhhhh...had to force myself to finish this trash

Revisado: 03-05-19

Seriously? THIS got published? It reads like a careless compilation of loosely-related chapters that a group of middle school students threw together. I very much enjoyed Lisa Jewell's "I Found You" though many people didn't, so I thought maybe I wouldn't agree with the bad reviews of this book either. I expected to like it.
I was so wrong.

What the heck happened to character development (i.e., give us at least ONE person to care about), and for that matter character itself (i.e., give us at least ONE person who has character - or at the very least, a strong believable personality)? What ever happened to plot lines with a point - ughhhh!

I have no problem bouncing back & forth from 1920 to 1995. I like books that do it, in fact. BUT ONLY IF IT'S RELEVANT. I didn't like any of the characters in either timeline. NONE. Even the obvious look-at-me-I'm-the-good-guy and hey-over-here-I'm-the-true-friend ones. They were all two-dimensional and made stupid, stupid, stupid choices...way beyond the willing suspension of disbelief a reader can be expected to employ. And furthermore, stupid random things happened out of nowhere without advancing the narrative (to provide examples would be spoilers, but seriously, don't bother reading it anyway). New characters were introduced who added NOTHING to the story development or plot or narrative; relationships between characters were depicted as if Aphrodite herself had blessed them, even though we were shown no personality traits or behavior that might support the intensity of the relationships; huge-important-larger-than-life-cathartic "revelations" merely made me roll my eyes at the implausibility and the gratingly unrealistic reactions by the characters - ugghhhhh!

I'm sorry to be so repetitive with my "ugghhhhh" but it's either that or the F bomb, so I'll type ugghhhhh instead.

There are so many examples of things that just ticked me off I can't even list them all...often related to characters behaving in ways that were 180 degrees from everything we'd been led to expect thus far, and never getting any explanation for why this or that person suddenly flipped so far around. By the end of the book, I didn’t CARE why they did a 180 – I just wanted it to END.

As for the reviewers who complained that there is too much profanity in the book - I didn't think it was very much at all, actually. My problem with it is that NOBODY KNEW HOW TO CUSS CORRECTLY! So whenever someone DID throw out an F bomb, it jarred the ears, like "what? since when do YOU talk like that? weird." Almost as if the author were trying to shock her target audience of (presumably) 7th-grade readers.

Bottom line: if this had been the first Lisa Jewell book I read, I would never have read another one by her. She should be embarrassed by this. I’m embarrassed for her.

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Wow. Just . . . wow.

Revisado: 07-16-18

Carey Mulligan is incredible. Her talent shines blindingly throughout this performance. I can scarcely imagine what it must be like to watch her perform this play on stage.

Yes, the subject matter is sometimes dark, but that’s not the overall point of the play, and not the focus of this performance. Despite some of the stark and bleak details, this is an audiobook I will listen to again and again...if nothing else, for the pure pleasure of hearing Carey Mulligan demonstrate her wide-ranging talents. (Sally Sparrow - you are BRILLIANT, and I wish the rain would never stop.)

I didn’t expect a less-than-two-hours audiobook to be so thought-provoking and stay with me so long. The playwright has a genius for natural conversational rhythms and the way we talk to ourselves inside our heads.

Highly recommend. I’d rate it higher than five stars if I could.

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esto le resultó útil a 54 personas

Not as impressive as I’d hoped

Revisado: 07-08-18

Based on the other reviews, I was optimistic. I don’t usually get short books (under 10 hours) and now I remember why. There’s only so much an author can do in 225 pages. While this story started out as promising, the ending was NOT a huge surprise, and made the story fall to the ground with a thud. It has good “creep factor” but then takes it overboard. You know from the start there’s weird sh** going down because there’s no way real people would behave this way, so clearly something is rotten in the state of (mind) Denmark, but the clues are delivered with such heavy-handedness you start to feel like you’re being smacked in the head with them.

I chose the book because another reviewer said it was a good “mindf**k book” which is just my cup of tea; however, I’d call it more of a “mindcuddle” book. Makes you think for a bit and provides brief entertainment, but that’s all.

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Ugh please let this end soon!

Revisado: 07-08-18

I usually like Thomas Perry a lot. The Butcher’s Boy series was great. This one, though, dragged on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on (repeat ad nauseam... literally). Where was his editor? So much extraneous detail that added NOTHING to the plot or development of any characters. The story was not believable even though I willingly suspended my disbelief as hard as I could (think Trevanian without any intellectual appeal; or maybe a B grade action movie without any fun). The characters were not likable or even care-about-able. My mind rarely wanders while listening to a book, but during this one, it went on frequent journeys to anywhere else more interesting (e.g., wondering how full the lint filter in the dryer was).

The narrator was so bad it became comical, which is pretty much the only reason I listened all the way to the tedious, implausible, made-for-tv end. I actually laughed out loud at some of the “serious” scenes due to the narrator’s horrible, horrible job. (And where was HIS editor, too?) My favorite was his pronunciation of the short “a” sound (cat, apple, pan)... as if he were grinning broadly with his teeth clamped together and inserting a diphthong “ee” at the beginning of the word: “kee-yat,” “ee-yapple,” “pee-yan.” Genuinely funny in places (especially in scenes not intended to be funny). I wonder if someone bribed him to see how bad a job he could do and still get hired. And his accent was not consistent, which would have been tolerable at least, but ranged from poorly done Midwestern to poorly done Southern to poorly done Canadian to poorly done Libyan and several others not even worth identifying. He’s now on my very short list of narrators who, when I see their names, will automatically disqualify the book for me. I agree with the other reviewers who said he can’t do female voices and sounds like a sinister Lego Batman, except the latter might be insulting to said Lego Batman.

This book makes me grateful for audible’s return policy. What a disappointing purchase. I truly don’t understand how so many reviewers loved it.

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UGH - melodramatic tripe - no thanks!

Revisado: 05-27-18

Perhaps if ANY of the characters were believable, then maybe the melodrama wouldn't be so bad. I don't remember the last time I rolled my eyes so frequently while listening to a book. A few times I even groaned in exasperation at the idiocy of the characters and the lack of talent of the author. I mainly chose this book because Lucy Price-Lewis is one of my favorite narrators, and the book is in the mystery/thriller category I usually enjoy. True to form, Lucy did a great job - but even she can only read what the author has written, and NOBODY can turn this sow's ear into a silk purse. Not sure I’ll try anything else by this author.

I'm a big fan of "the willing suspension of disbelief” when listening to fiction - but there MUST be limits somewhere! The narrator (both at age 18 and also 16 years later) was unbelievably naïve, weak, just plain stupid sometimes; and even after 16 years had passed since "the events of that horrible time" she hadn't matured an ounce. The characters were all just caricatures: Gareth-the-controlling-jerk, Cassie-the-outspoken-and-brash-but-with-heart-of-gold-best-friend, Dad-the-overprotective-and-blind-to-his-daughter's-activities-father, the elderly-and-kindly-but-nosy-small-town-neighbors, the list just goes on and on. And – pet peeve – why switch from 1st person to 3rd person when Rose is the one narrating both the past and present storylines? That was very distracting (and annoying). Does the author think we’re not smart enough to follow past vs. present if she uses the same voice? Really? Even though each chapter starts with “Rose: present day” or “Rose: 16 years earlier”? Come on.

There was insufficient development of Rose's early relationship with Gareth to explain his appeal – we saw nothing in her first 18 years would have led her into a destructive relationship like that. The description of her bulimia and the motivations behind it made no sense (e.g., why did she hear Gareth's voice calling her fat and ugly, when at his worst he called her stupid or a “b”? I only ever heard him compliment her appearance, although that was creepy by itself). And while bulimia might be a normal short-term PTSD response as a way for Rose to regain control back then, why would it continue or resume 16 years later? Why would finding Billy's blanket cause her to fall apart so completely? And what ever came from the council's inspection of her library? Will they close it down & she'll have to move to a new town (the thought of which sends her into an inexplicable panic); or let it stay open? After making such a big deal of the upcoming library inspection and how it went, why drop that storyline completely? But...I don't actually care if the library stays open or not. I don't actually care about anyone in the town. The author completely failed to pull me in. Sure, some bad things happened, and those things sucked, and some people had trouble getting past them, and ….blah blah blah, I’m already boring myself. I don’t often send a book back for a refund, but this one I did. Yuck. It isn’t even good beach reading. At best, it’s a low-budget B movie on Lifetime, which I would have turned off at the first commercial.

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esto le resultó útil a 37 personas

So much better than I expected!

Revisado: 05-19-18

Fantastic character development. The fast switches from past to present were easy to follow. I was so proud of the main character’s gradual progression out of her OCD prison, and fascinated by her “checking” routines in the beginning.
I’d have liked to know more about Lee’s past, and Sylvia’s story from “then” to “now” — but it didn’t really matter for understanding and enjoying the book.
Will be eagerly looking for more by this author!

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Another winner!

Revisado: 02-14-18

I’ve never read anything by Jodi Taylor I didn’t love. Her dialogue is simultaneously hilarious and touching. Her characters are human and endearing. Her plots often include unlikely coincidences and “happily ever after,” but she makes you WANT the happy ending!

My only disappointment in this book is that it was too short. I didn’t want it to end. Maybe there will be a sequel, although the story didn’t end with any unanswered questions, so no sequel is needed (but would be greatly welcomed).

I’m accustomed to narrator Zora Ramm for Jodi Taylor’s novels, but Anna Bentinck does a fine job too. In fact they sound a little alike, although Zora does a better job with male voices, and Anna’s female lead was a little breathless sometimes.

But nonetheless, five stars all around!

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