OYENTE

Chris Sitko

  • 26
  • opiniones
  • 25
  • votos útiles
  • 97
  • calificaciones

Holy crow!

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-28-25

Everything was fine-tuned to produce terror in the listener. For my part, I nearly suffered a panic attack at multiple points.

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The story and its reader are brilliant.

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-18-25

The story, though long-spoiled, is compelling and well-written. Armitage is hella talented and capable of amazing subtlities.

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Good stories, good performance, a lot of reprints.

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 11-26-24

Harlan Ellison is a great writer. Luis Moreno is a great narrator. But this collection has a lot of reprints.

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Not the best narrator, but great stories

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 10-27-24

The stories are great, but the narrator, Matt Godfrey is decent, but not great.

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Stephen King at his best

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 07-10-21

I think my title pretty much sums it up, but I think I'll expand on it. This is a skillfully told tale with heart, humor, horror, character and, yes, boatloads of suspense. King took Dickens as his model in crafting this novel, and that's evident in its episodic nature with brief recaps at the beginning of each part. It's also evident in the book's social concerns. Systemic racism and our flawed criminal justice system are crucial elements here, but subtextually. There are no lectures, but it's a flavor, a malevolence as subtle as the magic. Neither King nor the narrator tell you what to think, but you walk away with certain feelings nonetheless. Also, you kind-of have to hand it to him for making some very guilty death row inmates sympathetic figures. I was on the verge of tears before and during Eduard Delacroix's execution. His unabashed love of Mr. Jingles really won me over. That's not to say that there aren't evil characters. Percy Wetmore and Willam "Wild Bill" Wharton are, for my money, among King's most frightening creations. Partly because, as Americans, many of us know or have heard of such depraved psychopaths. They scared me more than Pennywise, the Crimson King and the Overlook Hotel all rolled into one. The Green Mile is among King's best.

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Huh?

Total
2 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
1 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 07-02-21

This has to be Stephen King's most bizarre book. For him, anyway. (I'm reading his novels chronologically, so I apologize for sounding as if this is his latest novel.) First off, he ditches the mythology he's been developing his whole career and replaces it with Greek mythology. Second, the supernatural is mostly subdued. With him, it's either there in force or totally absent. For the former, just look to Salem's Lot, The Shining or The Stand. For the latter, Misery, Gerald's Game or Dolores Claiborne. He can excel either way, and I love all of the above. Here, he introduces the supernatural halfway through what at first seems like a dark, but somewhat realistic psychological horror novel about a battered woman escaping her abusive husband. Third, the unusual vagueness. Part of why King's books are often so large (and why I, as a reader/writer, love them so) is because he lavishes us with character development, rich in back story and circumstantial detail. The characters feel real, but they're missing the extensive backgrounds King usually constructs for them. At times, it feels like a Poe story. You know, "In the year 18--, I, the Count D---" and so forth. Rose leaves an unnamed Northeastern city and heads to a large, unnamed Midwestern city. That's just one instance, it was alienating, which isn't a sensation I associate with King, who imbues even his darkest creations with heart. This just left me cold. I don't hate it, but I concur with his assertion that this is a "stiff, trying too hard book."

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Crisply written, claustrophobic and devious

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
2 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 06-22-21

I came to Ira Levin via Stephen King's Danse Macabre, which praised him to no end.
It's a creepy story in which you can't trust anyone, but - to us voracious modern media consumers - fairly predictable. Unlike Levin's debut, A Kiss Before Dying, not one "twist" blindsided me. Also, I know Rosemary is young, in love and a resident of a different era, but good Lorf is she stupid! Granted, I've watched countless true crime shows like Evil Lives Here in which women wrote off truly sinister behavior by their husbands, so this is not implausible and Rosemary is depicted as one of those wives who ignores her husband's predations, but I don't think that makes for a very interesting protagonist. Even as a straight white male, I found her baby hungry kind-of insulting. However, she does grow a little bit by demanding a place in her child's life.

As to the performance, Mia Farrow was a horrible choice. For a famous actress, I expected more. For example, Hutch, an English expat, is depicted with no discernible accent, even though it's fairly clear through diction that he has one. I normally prefer actors to authors, because the former have a wider range of voices they can employ. Farrow is, apparently, an exception. Thankfully, Levin used a lot of "saids," so I knew which of the surprisingly large cast was speaking.

Two other things:
1) The chapter divisions were arbitrary. The announcements for Parts 2 and 3 were hidden midway through two hourlong chapters.
2) The volume. Was I the only one who had to crank up the volume? I know I had my wall unit AC on, but it was still a problem when I listened in quieter settings. It was like Farrow was standing far away from her mic when recording.

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A poignant tragicomedy

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 06-18-21

Yes, there is obnoxious music throughout, which can be so sudden it startles you. Also, the chapter divisions are arbitrary and as accurate as a child's coloring book.

If you can get past all that, you've got a very fine tale on your hands. The characters are complex and interesting. The premise is intriguing. It made me laugh, cringe and, at the end, cry. It's a beautiful, if long supernatural thriller.
Oh, it's extra rewarding if you've read King's other books in chronological order. It's not necessary, but it certainly adds to the experience for longtime fans.

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Strictly for Liu-natics

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
1 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 06-09-21

First off, I love Ken Liu, but if I had to pay for this I'd be majorly pissed. It is a bloated self-indulgence on his part. Very little actually happens, but his verbosity stretches this out past two hours, which, even at 1.5 speed, felt like an eternity. It's as well-written as the finest literary fiction, but to what end? The main characters escape the city in one fell swoop, wait around for a while eating rats, go under the city, where they get injured, then up a pipe and straight to their destination. Why was that dragged out to novella length? I zoned out for long periods, but didn't seem to miss anything. The characters were dull archetypes. Oh, and I really hated the "Guess-this-allusion" game. This could've been a thought-provoking short story, but lost its charm as it increased in word count.

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Free thrills and chills

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 06-08-21

I feel it's only fair to say that I got this book free with my Audible membership. Also, I'm a Gnostic atheist and skeptic, who is well aware of the fact that this story was fabricated by Ronnie DeFeo Jr.'s defense team. Yes, it is complete and utter fiction, but it's an effective little chiller, with as many cheap shudders as a few of the scariest pages of The Shining. The story's inherent falsity was reinforced by the B-movie dialogue (it is what we writers call "idealized speech"), the little details (The Amityville Historical Society doesn't contain records about the murders or the "Horror," so I very much doubt they'd contain info on Shinnecock burial grounds and Satanists), the adult Lutz's stupidity and the over-the-top action of the specters. And yet, I willingly suspended my disbelief and was so creeped out that I would've left the lights on if my girlfriend would've let me. It's an entertaining little farce.
But before I go I want to say shame on Jay Anson for passing along a bull pucky excuse for Ronnie DeFeo Jr. He wasn't a victim: He was a greedy parenticidal child killer, who deserved to die in prison. He didn't hear voices and he wasn't driven to murder his family. I will never feel anything but contempt for him.

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