Leslie

Interesting story about a controversial woman

Revisado: 03-22-17

I chose to listen to this audiobook in preparation for a trip to China, and finished it while there. Quite a different take on the Empress Dowager than the tale told by the tour guides and what I assume is official party line, but it was really interesting to visit the Forbidden Palace and other sites with this point of view in mind. Really enjoyed it.

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Dated but worth a listen.

Revisado: 02-24-16

If you're interested in this period of history, and you think you can get past the homophobic vitriol, this is definitely worth listening to.

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Tried twice but just can't stand it!

Revisado: 01-29-16

Apparently I have an irrational prejudice against plummy English accents. I found it particularly irritating when the narrator put on a difference voice for the quotations. I'm going to have to actually read this one!

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Not quite as secret as I'd hoped...

Revisado: 11-17-15

But pleasant enough listen. My only complaint would be the ending, when I felt like the author was trying to make us feel sorry for the Romanovs after spending so much time detailing how they rushed headlong into a disaster so many others saw coming.

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An interesting idea, well done, but too long....

Revisado: 05-05-13

I did enjoy it, but I kind of got bored and eventually just moved on to something else. I may go back some day, but I'm just has happy to find out what happens by looking it up on Wikipedia.

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Entertaining

Revisado: 02-28-12

I really enjoyed Mr. Bryson's reading and writing style. Droll. I also like the way the story meanders from one thing to another and you get tidbits of information that may be of use when you least expect it. For example, shortly after listening to this book, I was reading Mansfield Park, in which the ha-ha features significantly. I'd never heard of it before and wouldn't have had any idea what it was if I hadn't just finished At Home.

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All I could do to finish this!

Revisado: 10-30-11

The story of Nancy Wake is amazing, and deserves a better telling.

I found it a very hard slog to get through this--and I blame the writing rather than the content or the narrator. I was mildly irritated by the regular intrustion of French (not because I didn't understand it, but because I think it's pompous, distracting and unnecessary, especially when it's followed immediately by an English translation); more than that, I felt like hitting my head against the wall every time the narrator read "secreted", meaning hidden. I suppose if you're reading that, it's not so annoying (although, see above: pompous, distracting and unnecessary, since hidden is a perfectly good word). When you're hearing it (over and over and over again) it's just gross.

This is an amazing story of an amazing woman, but it's the worst audiobook I've listened to so far.

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