Brooke P. Anderson

Tedious start, then mediocre to the end

Revisado: 09-02-23

The first 3 hours or so were dreadfully tedious. As exciting as someone telling you -- in minute detail -- about a trip to the grocery store. Then the story starts at least to progress. But it is a very shallow story, without much to it. I would have been better off bailing out after the first hour rather than slogging through.

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excellent

Revisado: 04-03-23

excellent information, at least until the last third or so, where he strays into moralizing about social issues without any wider exposure outside the academic bubble. overall, i highly recommend this marvelous book.

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All the woke tropes forced down reader's gullet

Revisado: 09-21-22

Narrator is great. And I liked several other of Tchaikovsky's novels.
But the beginning of this book has such a thick, heavy-handed layer of all the most-tedious woke cliches that I couldn't get through it to the rest of the book.
"Would you like some ground pepper on your salad?" "Sure. Thanks." "OK. Here, let me put a pound of on there for you. A nice pound of it. Yeah, there you go. That'll be great."

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Good writing and characters but...

Revisado: 04-26-16

The narrator was very good and believable for both the female and male characters. The writer does a good job with the plot, love story and erotica but frankly there is wwwaaaaaaaaaayyy too much time spent with rape, sodomy, extreme torture, and viloence to the point where I was just grossed out and disgusted rather than affected by the characters dire situation. I've got a strong stomach for such material but this lasted for so long I just wanted the book to end. I will not continue with the series and I will not recommended this to anyone. It's a shame because the basic plot, scenery, and characters were pretty good.

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Excellent book from RAF and RAAF point of view

Revisado: 06-06-12

Any additional comments?

I am very much a WWII aviation enthusiast and read a lot on the subject. This book contains tales from RAF and RAAF pilots and crew who flew in Lancasters, Sterlings, Blenheims, Beauforts, Sunderlands, Fireflies, etc. This material is rare to find elsewhere. In addition, Mr. Veitch is a marvelous writer and narrator. I highly value both the subject matter and the masterful style in which it is presented.

If you are a WWII aviation enthusiast, this is definitely a book for you.

Reviewers often focus on there being comments negative toward Americans. As an American myself, I wish the impression were different. But I keep in mind that WWII was fought by young servicemen, many full of bravado, and it was not uncommon for those of one nation to have some rivalry toward or frictions with those of another -- such was even sometimes the case between one branch and another or even between one squadron and another of the same nation's forces.

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Excellent book for those who like technical detail

Revisado: 04-10-12

Where does South Pacific Destroyer rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book goes into great detail, both about the battles and about the workings of destroyers. For hard-core military-history enthusiasts, this is excellent because that level of detail is rare. I value it because it gives me a good idea what it was like to do various tasks on a destroyer, especially in functions such as firing guns and operating the engine room. A non-hard-core reader might not want that level of detail, but every book has an audience for which it is the best fit.

The narrator is not a good fit for this material. He does not know the pronunciation of various naval terms, ship names, and place names, and his accent is offputting for this material. The material is worth it, though -- so if you don't like the narrator, please persevere. :)

Overall, I definitely recommend this book to readers who are interested in naval history and who like lots of technical detail. This part of WWII is not that well known, so I value a book on the topic with this level of detail.

For those who liked this book, you might also like Neptune's Inferno.

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Marvelous

Revisado: 05-12-10

To me, this book is a "must read" for anyone who loves WWII aviation history.

This book has great stories, and the author is a masterful writer and narrator. I've read (and listened to) a lot of military history -- I loved this one. Also, I liked that many of the stories were from RAAF pilots and crew. There aren't as many books from their point of view, and this book, in addition to being marvelous just on its own without any qualifications, is an excellent source from and tribute to those pilots.

Thank you, Michael Veitch, for this wonderful book.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

I gave up after 5 hours of listening

Revisado: 04-17-09

The summary of this book sounds intriguing, and it is rated well. I liked it at the beginning, as the author does an interesting and admirable job of getting the reader into the mind of a man who is mildly autistic and of developing his likable personality. I think the narrator does a fine job of portraying the main character as well.

However, that portion of the book continues on long, long after it has ably done it's job -- entering and far surpassing the "OK, I GET it" stage.

Finally, after 5 hours of listening, I felt that I was still in the exposition, and the the once-interesting techniques of portraying the autistic thought process had, through this overexposure, become as tedious as reading a parts catalog; and I gave up.

This book might be one that polarizes opinion -- some enjoying it greatly, and some for whom it is not at all a good fit.

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esto le resultó útil a 14 personas

Excellent

Revisado: 11-15-06

This is a great book with lots of interesting information and first-hand accounts of dogfights, compiled by the author through first-hand discussions with the aces written about. It is impressively well researched. I've read a lot of books on WWII air combat and like this one very much. If you like WWII aviation history, I'm sure you'll like this.

I think the narrator is fine -- the problem, though, is that the recording quality is quite bad. It sounds like the tapes they digitized from are much worse for the passage of time (muffled sounding) or that person who did the digitization did a very bad job. Although the recording quality is bad, to me it is intelligible -- but I suggest you listen to a sample first to make sure you are OK with it.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Excellent and hilarious

Revisado: 01-17-05

Upon reading a previous two reviews wherein the listeners expressed dislike for this material, I had to post that I completely disagree. Granted, this isn't for people looking for slapstick comedy or an action-adventure story; but if you like stories about quirky, odd characters, I think you'll find this collection to be fascinating and hilarious -- a lot of it had me and my girlfriend laughing out loud in the car as we listened. It is written and also narrated with excellent style.

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esto le resultó útil a 16 personas