nyog

Good book, terrible narrator

Revisado: 10-08-24

This is a strong Warshawski novel, with a nice dose of fixing the history around certain older injustices. But Susan Eriksen is almost impossible to listen to. Her voice is harsh at all times. That might be meant to represent the protagonaist's Chicago roots. The biggest problem is that she has essentially no emotional range, and very little ability to conjure voices. Most of the men sound almost identical. She does a little better with the women. On the emotional front, every kind of anger sounds essentially the same. It is all at the same pitch--a very high one. It's wearing, and boring, and people in fact express anger in a million different ways--from near silent menace--to being overly calm given the circumstances, so any given character should be able to react in multiple ways. I won't be getting any other books narrated by Ericksen.

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Performance loses the humour

Revisado: 11-27-23

I love Bellingham's work, but this performance seriously diminishes the humour. i laughed out loud reading this one on the page, and not at all when listening. I am not a voice actor, so can't tell you precisely what has gone wrong, but I can point to narrators who get it right in similar circumstances--Morgan C. Jones for Caimh MacDonnell's work, or Frank Muller for Elmore Leonard's books, for example--who somehow make room for the dark humour without overdoing it. it's a delicate art, but that is what we are paying y'all for.

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Stunning alternative history

Revisado: 07-26-21

This book has deep characterization, taut plotting, and intriguingly realized alternatives to history. The prose is precisely suited to the story, and maybe best of all, Ford doesn’t over-explain. Doyle’s reading is outstanding.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Great book, terrible narration

Revisado: 05-05-20

One would think it impossible to drain the acute, droll humour from this book, but Ms Entwistle somehow pulls it off. She is bad with accents, and even with distinguishing voices in believable ways. She resorts to class- and education-inappropriate decisions, rather than having the skill to distinguish people in other ways that would indicate character. Unlike her work on the Alan Bradley novels, where she chews up the auditory scenery shamelessly, here she mostly sounds bored with what she is reading. Don't listen to this book, at least this version, but DO read it. It is minutely observed, full of authorial irony, and sharp without being vicious.

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TY LOL: NOT Bridget Jones meets Devil Wears Prada!

Revisado: 11-11-18

I was utterly caught by the book almost instantly. I am not normally a chick-lit reader (I actively disliked the Bridget Jones books), and I never read fashion magazines, so I grabbed this title for reasons I can't remember, though the technology angle was undoubtedly a part of it. This book somehow meets but exceeds the expectations of the genre; it has the slightly mythic or fairy-tale vibe, but the characters go beyond mere stereotypes. The plot, with its real-world reflection of the disruptions caused by new technology and new technologists, is deft and well-laid out. And the author's evident familiarity with the world of high-fashion and fashionistas drew me like a tourist to a strange land. Well worth the read. #FemaleProtagonist #NewYork #Clever #Witty #SocialMedia #Disruption #Publishing #Fashion #Tagsgiving and #Sweepstakes

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Structurally interesting, annoying re: drugs

Revisado: 12-13-17

Warning--slight spoiler alert. The through-lines involving the core characters are strong yet again. I also liked the structure here, with its alternating, interlinked time-lines. I did find her plot, for the first time ever, I found her plot thoroughly unbelievable, in a hugely unhelpful way. While drug dealers are scum, the "war on drugs" as waged in both the USA and in Canada has not just lost, it has helped create the disaster we find ourselves in. The complicity of governments and drug companies, as documented over the last several years, suggest that the course taken by Gamache in this book would just be one more failure in the war induced by fighting entirely the wrong battle. The book is all supply-side, when the real-world addictions are mostly, or almost entirely, demand-side. Alas for the opportunity lost and for the untrue prior assumptions confirmed.

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I feel like I should like it more than I do

Revisado: 04-19-17

This book takes on a fascinating period and geographical area about which I knew very little. And my feelings about the book are mixed. I am writing this review a few weeks after finishing the book. Many scenes are still gripping, and the sense of learning about a new world still strong. But I simply didn't fall enough in love with the characters. And the solution to the ongoing mystery-which I will of course not ruin for you--simply fell short. I didn't believe the motivations provided.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

One of Kay's best

Revisado: 04-19-17

I think this book ranks up there with the Sarantium pair, or perhaps exceeds it. The female characters are much more fully and believably drawn, and the plot rollicks along beautifully, with just a touch of the trademark other-worldy incursions we know and love from Kay's other books.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Such a fine book!!! and great narration

Revisado: 04-19-17

Mr Ide's book is amazing. It opens up a world I am unfamiliar with, that of poor, mostly black parts of LA. It has characters that could be--indeed in another book would be--cartoon cutouts, but instead are fully realized, not a cutout in the bunch. Somehow each is fully human, good and bad, understandable in certain motivations, and perfectly batshit crazy in others. Mr Ide has complete control of the addictive plot of this thriller/mystery, but what sets it apart is Ide's utter refusal to condescend to or misuse his characters, somehow even when they condescend to and misuse each other. Bravo! Read this book.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Mr Furst has lost whatever edge he had

Revisado: 04-19-17

I am actually commenting on two books, Mission to Paris and Spies of the Balkans, because my comments are essentially identical. I read quite a few Furst novels over a few years. Then they started feeling a bit stale, so I set them aside. Recently, I tried the two mentioned here. I got through Spies with effort, but had to stop reading Mission. Mr Furst has settled into so much of a pattern that it's impossible to stay interested. Some aspect of European confict in or around WWII. A suave, sophisticated, male European protagonist. A succession of sexually available women. The characters, taken individually, lack real emotional resonance and depth. And taken together they are very much from the same few cookie cutters. Too bad. His first two or three Midnight Soldier novels promised more.
The narrator does his best, but even he seems a little bored on these recent outings.

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