Susan Gardner Bowers

I just kept hoping it would get better

Revisado: 08-23-22

Somewhere in here is a book. But the timeline is disjointed, the narrator’s role and motivation seem non-existent. No suspense. No drama. And last bit about the narrator is meaningless and a bit self-aggrandizing. Save your credit.

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Those wandering accents!

Revisado: 11-21-21

I liked the story. A little too chick lit for me but entertaining. But gosh, the narration. The women’s voices were all so squeaky and lightweight. And were the accents southern, or British, or?? They kept changing. Most annoying.

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What’s with the narrator?

Revisado: 07-02-20

I am enjoying this, but the narrator for Holly, the private detective, is WOEFUL. He makes her sound weak and whiny and stilted. So distracting. Couldn’t they have chosen a woman narrator for this section.

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Geez the narrator

Revisado: 07-05-18

Good, inventive story. But the narration is woeful. Just a few examples: Canopies for canapés? Cah-John for Cajon? Diminitive for diminutive? Wasn’t anyone in charge listening? It really took away from the listening experience.

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Sigh

Revisado: 07-10-16

I am getting tired of books that have a political point of view (even if I agree) and construct a fairly lame story on which the opinions hang. Are you listening, Barkskins? Ms Haight is a great writer but she's sold herself short on the one. In addition, the narrator mispronunces words. My current fave? Macadam with the accent woefully misplaced.

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Wow

Revisado: 01-15-15

I just finished this book. It is intense and reads like an amazingly well researched historical fiction book of 1800s Great Britain. I loved the intricate characters and detailed history of magic

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Sigh

Revisado: 05-01-14

I really wanted to like this book. I should have liked this book. But I simply couldn't. The characters lacked any depth. The end was incredibly unsatisfying. Who ARE these people and why do I care about them?

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Meh

Revisado: 02-11-14

Predictable. Saccharine. Disappointing. Plus, the narrator was the same as for The Help, which was disconcerting throughout. I really really wanted to like this, and did listen all the way through, being ever hopeful of a real plot twist.

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More meh

Revisado: 03-22-13

HAL (of 2001 infamy) meets the 21st century financial markets. Takes over. Makes billions. Destroys lives. Kills people with elevators. Crashes planes and the stock market. All in 24 hours. Then the book ends.

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Who knew?

Revisado: 03-18-13

Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World, by Matthew Goodman is a darn good story, full of little known facts, offering a more than a snapshot of late nineteenth century America and the journalism and prejudices of the time, and providing a bit of a cautionary tale.

While the story of Nelly Bly’s “race” around the world is the center of the book, there's good context provided of the run-up to the event. Indeed, much of the meat of the book is life after the race. I hadn't known about Elizabeth Bisland (who’s actually a much more likable character – especially in the sense that I’d have liked to have been like her).

PS: Nelly did the trip with but one dress. Elizabeth a good bit more!

There are beautiful descriptions of the places that Nelly and Elizabeth visit and an interesting perspective on how steam power (ships and trains) changed the world so quickly.

Much of the book takes place after the race, and does drag a bit; there’s some repetition and the book could probably have been edited a little more firmly, but the way it addresses celebrity, and its impact on Nelly Bly’s life, is thought-provocative. B+

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