Cat Claydon

Off-putting at first but stick with it!!

Revisado: 11-16-16

I loved this book. First and foremost, YES - the voice of "Heather", narrated by Heather Wilds, is not the easiest to listen to. The problem is that a lot of people might not be familiar with what southern welsh sounds like. Because we can't physically see Heather, our brain wants to use her voice to give her a look. To people outside of living in the UK, the narrator's accent comes off as Indian or Middle Eastern. Do not let this deter you from listening as Wilds' performance is very solid. Sing-songy and melodramatic is exactly what you'd get from a frumpy, emotionally stunted introvert from South Wales. And there is always the other narrator; Hardingham, as always, is near perfect in her inflections.

The characters in this book are all well fleshed out. As a woman and mother I particularly enjoyed getting to know Edie - even if at times I did not like her very much. Heather steals the show here, though, and once you have let her in you can't shake her. In Heather, the author has created a character that invokes both sympathy and disgust. This is a book about complex relationships and misguided passion.

What I took away most from this book was how much depth of feeling I was able to have for just about all of the characters. Even minor characters such as Edie's neighbor and Edie's Uncle found a way into my heart.

The ending is not explosive and the twist is neither earth shattering nor underwhelming. When the reader is given the full story it is emotionally draining. By the time all the loose ends are wrapped up, the reader is definitely ready to get off the roller coaster.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

Not really worth a credit!

Revisado: 09-21-16

Bird Box is a post-post-apocolyptic sort of novel that revolves around one woman, Malory, and her two children, boy and girl. Literally. She has named them "boy" and "girl". Why? We don't really know but I am sure I'm not the only one who kept listening with the hopes of finding out - only to be let down.

The premise of this novel is intriguing even though it's been done before. There is something deeply disturbing about the concept here; wherein harm comes from unwillingly seeing something. Stories like this exist everywhere from Medusa to The Happening. In this rendition they are creatures. That might be terrifying. But I have questions. What are these creatures? Is there a reason for them to be here? If all you have to do is stay indoors why can't all the brilliant minds stuck inside of hight tech labs come up with something to facilitate the restoration of humanity to some semblance of civilized?

Our main character is pregnant and that should have made this story more interesting. Instead it pushed the limits of my imagination. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief to a point but we are talking about giving birth, raising kids, taking care of animals and having to do it all blindfolded. Wait, there's TWO pregnant women. Who blindly find their way to a safe house. And they are the same months pregnant and they go into labor together, and give birth together and both babies survive. But the creatures can actually come in the house if you open the door. But if you have your blindfold on they won't try to pull it off. Actually that's a lie, they might tug at your blindfold but if you hold your ground they'll only pull it halfway down.

This book wasn't terrible. It just didn't really take me anywhere, which is sad because it was such a good idea. Most of the story is told in present tense with Malory paddling down a river blindfolded and yelling like a maniac at her children. I wasn't bored but that's because I was constantly questioning what I was reading. I was mulling over every sentence to make sure I didn't miss something. By the end I wasn't really rooting for the main character to get down the river. I wanted her to rip off her blindfold and face the world for purely selfish reasons - I was dying to know what the hell these creatures look like!! In the end we have to assume, through some clues, that they are mysterious and beautiful. The book was not so enigmatic.

The narration was average to good - she was a little too much at times. In the times of distress her voice didn't seem to emote right, it didn't feel genuine. Kind of just dramatic. If I can picture the person reading the book pulling faces and waving their hands spasmodically then it's a miss. I give this book a 3 star. It was a good and quick read but I am stingy with my credits and would've liked to burn it on a 4 star at least.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Narration is brilliant! Story starts strong but...

Revisado: 09-21-16

The Woman in Cabin 10 is a good, but not great book. Ruth Ware is excellent at atmosphere and character development. I really loved her first novel (In a Dark, Dark Wood) so I was eager to snatch this up. Unlike the first book this one took me a lot longer to finish. In fact I stopped at the last 20 minutes and ended up finishing a different book before coming back to this ending.

The plot is solid - there's a lot of head scratching going on. I particularly adored this main character, Lo, and her boyfriend. The endearing thing about our protagonist is that she is damaged but not in the same overwrought, overdone way that so many other female leads are. She wasn't abducted, tortured and escaped - she hasn't walked in to see her family slaughtered and been blamed for it, etc, etc. Lo is like a lot of strong women I know; she suffers from a few different types of anxiety disorders and relies on cognitive therapy and medication to keep balanced. I enjoyed that she wasn't a horrific trauma surviver (at least in the beginning) and I feel like the author definitely has some experience in this perspective. The patient, loyal and resilient boyfriend from New York was also quite refreshing.

What I didn't like about this book was much of the last half of it. After the mystery comes full circle and we are given the twist, the book loses steam fast. At times I felt like I could skip ahead and not have missed much of the plot. I remember distinctly feeling like the timeline in the book did not match what the story made me feel - like "oh she's been through this hell for a week .... oh no, wait she just said "it's been 4 hours".... well that dragged on". For a book that was so interesting and jam packed with solid characters, I was definitely a little bored by the 3/4 mark.

That being said, Imogen is flawless. I have yet to listen to a narration that wasn't in some way made better by her voice. Church is by far one of my favorite narrators and the thrill of getting to know someone through her inflection never gets old. If you love the author and the narrator as much as I do you will read this regardless of any negative reviews. If you are on the fence I would say the bulk of the story is definitely worth the read. The relationship between Lo and her boyfriend, though not a main plot vein, is still a well written and touching one. The twist is not jaw dropping but the intricacies of said twist are still very enjoyable. I'd say it's a solid 3.5.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Audio version is SO much better!

Revisado: 09-20-16

What did you like best about Psychophilia? What did you like least?

The narration of this book was not only superb, it was totally necessary to enjoy this book. I started with the text version and was struggling to connect with the main character. Not to mention the book was riddled with errors. Joy Nash brought life and dimension to otherwise garbled and confusing dialogue. It was written in rambling, run on sentences which make perfect sense in Charlotte's mind but translate poorly to written word. I wouldn't have been able to appreciate the main character's psychosis if it weren't for Joy's exceptional narration.

Has Psychophilia turned you off from other books in this genre?

No not at all. I found this book randomly on a search and the description intrigued me. As a sufferer of postpartum psychosis myself, I am always interested in reading other experiences of female psychotic episodes, even if fictional.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Charlotte sneaks into her maid's room and meticulously snoops through the maid's things, plays her music and steals random items to analyze later. That particular scene, with Megadeth playing in the background, is very well written. In that scene you can feel how undone Charlotte is, and how bizarre her desires are.

Do you think Psychophilia needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It does not need a follow up as all the answers (if there really ever were any questions) were all summed up. Albeit poorly. What this book really needed was a clever ending - or a poignant ending.

Any additional comments?

The downside to this book was definitely the ending. We suffered along with Charlotte through her twisted rituals, her loss of memory and her bizarre marriage. We are rewarded with a thinly veiled twist that involves an affair that has no background, a diagnosis we pretty much already assumed existed and a Japanese maid we don't know whether to love or hate. Her husband, Gregory, was as like-able as gout and the ending did nothing to warm me to him. There was nothing concrete in the ending about who Charlotte really was and whether or not the reader should get behind her or just get away from her.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña