Sebastian

Good book, bad reader.

Revisado: 10-29-19

It took me forever to finish this book as John Lee, the narrator, was so infuriating. Lee butchered every single place name and surname in the manner of an Englishman who knows French is another language but has never heard it spoken and then proceeds to pronounce them in a way that makes no sense to a French speaker nor an English speaker for that matter. John Lee has an agreeable voice so much the pity that he was not better coached.
The book itself is good. Factually sound, and largely fair. The bad pronunciation forced repeated rewinds and did break the flow of the story.

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This book is like drinking polyethylene glycol...

Revisado: 03-10-17

... it tastes awful but if you a are lucky you find out you don't have cancer.
The true title should be the administration of the Habsburg empire. Saying the topic is dry is an understatement and the author brings no life, nor humanity to the topic.
First the book starts pretty much at Mary Therese, so Spain, the thirty years war, the empire at its furthest reach not dealt with.
I think I reached a peak of irritation when the Habsburg empire suddenly became the dual monarchy Austria and Hungary. No why no how just poof now lets delve in the new bureaucratic parameters. I did learn that Hungary was really too much for the Habsburg empire to assimilate and eventually caused its perdition. Undeniably the topic was thoroughly researched.
I slugged it out to the bitter end only because I wanted hear about the death of the empire, the death of this story and because I paid for this book.
I Mean I just finished reading Mark Kurlansky's book Salt and it was fascinating, enjoyable sometimes even funny yes a book about salt was more captivating than a book about the Habsburgs. It takes some kind of talent.

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esto le resultó útil a 26 personas

Slow start but worth reading.

Revisado: 06-12-16

This book filled a knowledge gap for me I knew nothing of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. How his intransigent evangelism (which I was surprised to learn was not an exclusively American phenomenon) was key to the abolition to the slave trade by the British -- certainly a positive step for mankind-- , but also to the persecution of the Irish as Catholics, the continued presence of Wellington in Spain (I am a Francophile) and to the war of 1812.
The core of the story revolves around the assassin, but I shan't spoil that here. A most interesting part for me was the author's exploration of the "cui Bono" (Who profited). Sticking to the documented plausible and avoiding going full mad cap conspirationist.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Well and tightly written

Revisado: 05-26-15

Some authors get sloppy when they get to book 19 (Patterson comes to mind), not Lee Child. Story is tight, the clues are there, enjoy the ride.

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Comme si Champollion nous parlait d'outre tombe

Revisado: 05-22-15

Une heure trop courtes de lettres et d'entrées de journal du célèbre égyptologue suivant l'ordre chronologique de son voyage. Très sur de sa science et de lui même. Très intéressant!

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An epic tale and a B+ for René Auberjonois

Revisado: 04-07-15

A good police thriller is made by the quality of the the villain. In this History the victim AND the villains are fantastically callous and despicable individuals , only their remoteness in time makes them safe for reading.
The story is fascinating, wonderfully alien in people's daily dealings of the occult and the holy. At one time a woman brings in a grievously wounded man and rather than tending to the man's wounds, she rushes out to find a priest so his immortal soul can be saved.
This story is made for the big screen, certainly an epic tale worthy of your time.

For me the story matters more than the reader but for this French medieval detective story a person with command of French is appreciated . René Auberjonois, of Deep Space Nine fame, with that French sounding name gives you momentary hope, that it will be perfection. It is not; but René is an American with notions of French so many pronunciations of names and place names are pretty good so B+!

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Great narrative!

Revisado: 03-26-15

I recommend reading a good bio of Winston Churchill before hand it will make this series all the more enjoyable as you will have the pleasure of his thinking within a familiar context.

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Even anglophobes can't help but like Churchill.

Revisado: 02-28-13

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Though i am an unapologetic Anglophobe I just finished and thoroughly enjoyed the 1st volume of The Last Lion on audiobook

What does Frederick Davidson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He Delivers, with the right tone and cadence, the withering sarcasm of Churchill with gusto, and like Winston speaks abysmal French.

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Listened to it twice.

Revisado: 09-08-12

Where does Mirage rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is the best book I have come across on the scientists that accompanied Napoleon on the French adventure in Egypt.

Any additional comments?

The narrator Cassandra Campbell while obviously an American speaker did a creditable job in pronouncing the French names and words which is always appreciated.
There is a freshness of tone in Nina Burleigh, perhaps due to the fact that she is a young journalist rather than a grizzled Historian. She has an obvious affection for Egypt, the Scientists and though she has reservations about Napoleon and the soldiers, but she does not have the usual hostility towards Napoleon found among Anglos.
A good read.

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I wanted to be in 19th century Paris too!

Revisado: 09-08-12

Would you listen to The Greater Journey again? Why?

Yes I will, because I want to come back to the historical passages I am not as familiar with such as the remarkable story of US Ambassador Elihu Washburne, the tribulations of the medical students in Paris, or simply the rise of all those American artists who did their training in Paris.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Oh publishers what were you thinking? Yes Hermann is a good narrator but he butchers French in a book that takes place in Paris! This is the usual complaint about a narrator who does not know the language or regional peculiarities of where the book takes place. There is a passage in the book in which an American's awful accent got him out of a pickle, the joke there got quite lost I can assure you. Fortunately there are long passages in American where one can appreciate Hermann's narration.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

David McCullough does know how to build up tension. There are artist so well known still today that we know how well or poorly they did, but many more whom we are not so sure about and McCullough knows how to take the reader along on the discovery of the outcome of the life of Augustus Saint Gaudens and many others.
There are places such as the Cathedral in Rouen, (on the way from the harbor at Le Havres to Paris), that entranced so many visitors that you want to go see it too, there is the Louvres and you want to discover for yourself what Harriet Beecher Stowe found so mesmerizing in the Raft of the Medusa and go see what James Fenimore Cooper and his friend Morse saw.

Any additional comments?

The book starts off a bit dull, but hang in there by the time you get to the chapters on the Americans students in medicine you will not be able to put it down.

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