Tsk's Valentine

A terrific book by a talented author

Revisado: 02-17-21

I loved this book. I purchased it in both paper and audio format because I didn't want to stop following the story even when I needed to stop reading. The story is compelling, the characters are intriguing, and the writing is lyrical.

Ruth, the protagonist, is an isolated historian who has lost momentum in her professional and personal lives, has suffered a serious physical injury in a car crash, and has very little in her life except for her inquiries into Annie Oakley, about whom she is writing a book. As she pursues Annie Oakley, Ruthis also drawn into trying to figure out what happened to her own younger sister, years before.

This book involves puzzling over two different mysteries, one having to do with what happened to Annie Oakley when she was sent to live with a couple as a child, and one having to do with what happened to the protagonist's sister. Through a number of unexpected encounters, Ruth's world expands, and the story lines about Annie and Ruth's sister move in an interesting counterpoint, raising questions about whether time is linear, or whether past and future times are perceptible. In includes reflections about sisterhood, marriage, time, love, and the courage to heal in an uncertain world. It is an addictive read.

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Brilliantly written and brilliantly voiced

Revisado: 09-23-20

I started listening to this book again as soon as I had finished my first hearing, because the visual description of the environment and the expedition and because the extraordinarily sensitive performance was irresistible and unlike anything else I have ever heard. I can’t recommend it too highly.I bought a copy of this book for four of my friends who need a chance to leave the current world for a breather.

I did not think I would like this book, and avoided starting it, but I was wrong.

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Gruesomely violent, formulaic, beautifully read

Revisado: 11-23-15

What would have made Career of Evil better?

The problem this book has iis that J.K. Rowling wrote it. She, the creator of truly evil characters, so skillfully crafted in the Harry Potter series, resorts here to the tools of those who don't have her skill - serial killers, men who hate women, a man who cuts off the breasts and fingers and ears of women, etc. From someone on the thriller shelf, this is average fare, feeding our apparently bottomless tastes for sadism. From Rowling, though, it's just so deeply disappointing

It would have been much better without the terror, the brutal sadism, the usual use of the woman as victim. These plots hurt us women. They plant a lifetime of fear in us. They foster a sense of normalcy in sadists. Why would such an artist stoop to this? And a woman?.

Would you ever listen to anything by Robert Galbraith again?

Yes. I love Rowling - and I like the characters she draws. She is a brilliant writer. I just hope she focuses on character and not on sexual brutality.

Which character – as performed by Robert Glenister – was your favorite?

I like Strike, of course, - and I like his little crazy friend, previously rescued by Strike's mother.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment, disgust, dismay, ...

Any additional comments?

Robert Glenister is simply astonishingly good as a reader. Hearing him was like listening to a large cast. He is wonderful.

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A dissappointment

Revisado: 03-01-14

What did you like best about Sycamore Row? What did you like least?

Grisham is great, occasionally, and often not. This was not great. The book should have been cut by at least a third - there was a tiresome level of unnecessary detail and a plodding quality in the main character's thinking that just irritated me dreadfully. The story had interesting aspects, but it had not been labored over enough. The legal aspects of the tale were unrealistic and improbable.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Michael Beck?

Almost anyone else. I would have cast a man who could narrate women's voices without making them sound like pathetic children, and a man who could figure out how to read a book, with dialogue between white and African-American people, without making the black people sound like pathetic children, too. Hire an actor who knows how to act, or a reader who knows how to read, but listening to this book was extremely frustrating because the performance demeaned women and non-white people. It was like Monty Python meets Fried Green Tomatoes. But it wasn't funny.

Did Sycamore Row inspire you to do anything?

Read book reviews before picking Grisham, and avoid Michael Beck.

Any additional comments?

Can I have my credit back?

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Everything I hoped for

Revisado: 03-01-14

Where does The Invention of Wings rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of the best audiobooks I have ever heard.

What did you like best about this story?

The narrative is compelling, and well-developed. The characters are intelligent and interesting, and the historical aspects of the book are compelling

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

There were two narrators, which was wonderful - because one of the main characters was a white Southern woman, and the other main character was an African-American slave, and each character was given complete legitimacy by the double narration. It was terrific.

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