C Wisdom

Masterful Storytelling

Revisado: 02-04-23

For some reason I wasn't grabbed at first, but kept on because I had heard great things, and had loved Orchestra of Minorities. Not long in, I found myself compelled to continue by Obioma's deceivingly simple narrative and masterful storytelling rhythm. The novel is devastating and poignant. The narration is superb.

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More Great Bosch/Ballard

Revisado: 12-11-21

Bosch's sidetrip to work for Mickey Haller was a good plot but meh execution overall. Connelly is crisper here, though he gets lazy when plotting the final confrontation with the Bad Guys. But I really like the B/B working relationship; it seems to inspire Connelly.

The narrator is superb; Titus Wellever's contributions lend a richness to their interactions.

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Powerful, thoughtful, complex

Revisado: 08-19-21

I'm not usually a fan of an author reading their own work but Akhtar is superb, and I understood his narrative and ideas better for hearing it in his voice. The story is compelling, heartfelt, and unflinching. Akhtar explores and argues a complex array of issues and ideas central to thinking honestly and compassionately about this country. His final sentence perfectly sums up the spirit of this work. Oh, and, the father is one of the great characters to grace a narrative. I loved the guy so much.

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Secon half is stronger

Revisado: 04-18-21

Both the writer and the narrator are better at their work as the book progresses. The rhythm of the storytelling improves. The narrator's pacing improves quite a bit, although the way he reads female dialogue is never not annoying.

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The reader's only emotion is whiny.

Revisado: 12-06-20

The story is fine but not very creative. Connolly knows how to keep readers pushing to the end even if the story is less lively than his earlier work. He mailed this one in.

The reader is the usual one for Haller books and never my favorite. His version of emotion defaults to whiny, whether it's fear, or anger, or concern--it's all whiny. It's just much more so this time around.

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Great novel, banal narrator

Revisado: 11-17-20

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel but it was read without intellect. The reader didn't think about what she was reading. Also, her default emotion was whiny.

The story itself is thoroughly engaging and well-crafted. I don't play chess but found the detailed passages very interesting.

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Its "flaws" are also strengths

Revisado: 07-06-20

Phuc Tran reading of his own memoir personalizes the sentiment. He's a decent reader--good at conveying attitude, etc. Not being a professional narrator, he is careful to enunciate everything in a way I appreciate but sets him apart from a pro who is able to accomplish it more effortlessly. But because of that I get a stronger sense of the kid and teen he is trying to convey, and that, along with his gift for storytelling/AP student use of precise vocab when maybe emotive words would do better really does immerse me in that world.

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Narrator's voice nearly ruins merely okay novel

Revisado: 06-27-20

The story is not bad. The main character Jack McEvoy is more self-absorbed than usual here, but my experience of him is also tainted by the narrator, who has no sense of nuance or rhythm. EVERYTHING is read in this urgent voice, and conversations (especially between him and his love interest) are whiny, even if there is no indication of such a tone in the dialogue itself. I got so tired of the whininess. I finished the book because a Michael Connelly book always provides a plot compelling enough that I really want to experience it to the end. Connelly has certainly created characters way more compelling than McEvoy.

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put this at the top of your queue.

Revisado: 05-30-20

When I first started listening, with no advance knowledge of the story or the writer, I thought Oh God this is some authorial navel-gazing. But I was hiking so I kept listening, and then...Oh. No it isn't. It's bright, and gently subversive, and not navel-gazing but hugely introspective in a way that pulled me in and held me. The narrator's voice facilitates the whole experience. I'd give more stars if I could.

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Powerful and beautifully written.

Revisado: 10-28-19

A master class in Memoir. Miller's reading adds to the power of her written words. There's a lot of pain in this book, but also a lot of grace, and Joy. The grace and joy made me cry as much as the pain.

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