Byron Annis

Awful narrator detracts from a good story

Revisado: 10-10-22

The narrator employs a weird speech pattern for most of the male charactors which I guess is supposed to indicate that they are taciturn hayseeds-- something generally associated with rural Maine. I found it incredible annoying.

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Exceptional short stories very poorly narrated

Revisado: 01-14-15

Ron Rash is a master of the short story form. It is unfortunate that the very poor performance of this audio collection detract from what is written.

The problem is the reader's over-the-top attempt at dialect. To my ear it is egregiously exaggerated and inauthentic. His attempt at narrating female speech is also way off the mark. Don't the producers of audiobooks review the performance? Isn't there anyone who can convince the overembellisher to dial it back?

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Interesting Presidential Biography

Revisado: 05-18-14

Garfield's biography and the story of his assassination are not well known and are fairly well told in this work. However, as sometimes happens, the reader's performance is annoying and it detracts for the overall quality of the experience. The reader gives most male charactors a strange whispery and gravel voice as well, in some cases, totally unauthentic accents. Note to those who choose the readers: Less is More with gender and accent especially if the performer is not an exceptionally skilled pro.

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Compelling mystery, poor narrator

Revisado: 09-21-13

I am reluctant to harshly criticize the narrator but am doing so because her performance detracted considerably from how I experienced a very good novel. Ms. Gavin has an unusually pleasing voice and is excellent when reading in the author's voice. However, when she tries to perform in the characters voices she really falls flat. Her attempts at accents are totally inauthentic (I grew up in Detroit in the 40s and 50s and never heard anyone speak her accents). She also does the male voices poorly. In my judgement the good narrators-- and they are the majority-- understand that "less is more". The ones that try too hard and overdo generally fail.

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Wonderful story, truly great narrator

Revisado: 10-18-12

I found the story to be intriguing and moving and, as often the case with books I find compelling, was really sorry to see it conclude. But the noteworthy joy was the extraordinary skill of the narrator Edoardo Ballerini. I've listened to many dozens of books and my observation is that most readers are good and thus mostly unnoticealbe. A few, however, stand out by having exceptional skill or the lack of it. This narration is the best that I have experienced.

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Listening experience ruined by awful reader

Revisado: 08-02-12

What disappointed you about Top Producer?

There is a kernal of an interesting novel here but, in my opinion, it is not well written. It is remarkably cliche ridden and the charactors are cartoonish.

Would you recommend Top Producer to your friends? Why or why not?

No

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I have listened to dozens of books. Some narrators are better than others but Mel Foster is in a class by himself. What is with his inappropriate attempt at a Southern accent (the protagonist)? I've never heard anyone, Southerner or not, who sounds like this . In this narration most males speak in a phoney gruff voice and the female voices are off ridiculously off kilter. Mr. Foster's natural voice is actually rather appealing but he really needs to improve his acting chops.

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