Stella Thomas

Half baked triple size flop

Revisado: 08-24-22

Unethical medical abuse in Quebec during the Cold War and with the COVID pandemic, with a murder to solve. Those are the positive elements of the novel.
The negatives… the text is verbose and three times longer than it should. Characters are not well differentiated. They have idiosyncratic idioms that they all use, they think the same in the same words. The worst part is the reading. The reader has a wonderful deep male voice that works for one or two or three male characters but it is terrible with female characters. They all sound effeminate rather than feminine and unnervingly cartoonish. The attempt of the reader to handle a dozen or more characters of different ages and cultures is commendable but sadly insufficient.
As it is, this is a very bad text. It could be good, if shortened, the characters more distinct and a reading with at the very list a man and a woman.

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Few if any redeeming qualities

Revisado: 01-30-22

Both narrator voices are good, specially Pressley. Brick’s rendering of the serial killer’s thoughts are cartoonish though.
The story and text are just not good enough for a final product. They need a serious editor or a workshop to correct the pervasive inverosimilitudes. The sixth sense of the detective is gratuitous and the reactions of people around her are just unbelievable. Characters and story are superficial at best even for a beach thriller. I waited until the end for a redeeming quality that never came. The placement of products such as apple PowerBook iwatch and kindle are too conspicuous.
Renee Jones is on my list of texts to avoid like a plague.

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Buen texto, abominable lectura

Revisado: 09-16-21

Como siempre Vargas Llosa tiene una prosa limpia y una construcción cuidadosa. El texto está lleno de referencias a lugares de Europa y Asia, así como de autores y comidas. Un placer acompañarlo.
La lectura en cambio es verdaderamente terrible. Un suplicio llegar al final. Los intentos por hacer voces femeninas, extranjeras o decir vocablos en otros idiomas y hacer acentos son no solo chirriantes sino estereotipadas. La lectura en Español (dejando a parte el intento de un acento peninsular en los últimos capítulos) no sigue el ritmo del texto ni a veces el de la gramática. En fin, si Vargas Llosa pero nunca más David Michie!!!!

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Excellent!

Revisado: 06-23-21

The novel is a carefully constructed whodunnit where all parts fit together. The work of Joe Jameson is incredible, doing at least 8 different voices, male and female. The title is unfortunate and should have been changed. I wouldn’t be surprise to see this novel made
Into film.

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Más horas con Mario

Revisado: 06-09-21

Versión contemporánea de 5 horas con Mario de Delibes en mucho más horas. Una reflexión de 40 horas mientras se incineran los restos del padre del autor que es indistinguible del escritor. Un texto donde no pasa nada y se describe el mundo desde el punto to de vista de un observador que no tiene gran cosa que decir. La lectura soporta todo el texto. La única razón para llegar al final es descubrir por qué ha sido un éxito comercial.

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Unexpected

Revisado: 04-09-21

Well performed, thought provoking material. I was expecting actual stand up monologues/routines but they appear only as relatively short quotes. After a few minutes I expected an essay. It is not that either. At the end I realize it is a journalistic piece with quotes and a few commenting sources. To me it stays between genres and offers just a brush stroke. Not what I was expecting so will have to read more closely the information provided and rely on slightly longer reviews elsewhere to get a better idea of what the book is.

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