Matty N

Too much

Revisado: 06-14-19

This book needs editing. It hops around so much it is hard to follow. It is well written and sporadically interesting but I finally gave up about half way through. Too many characters. Too many continents. Too many sub plots. Two stars.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

It's the Journey!

Revisado: 01-15-19

Although we don't learn anything too shocking about August Ames, it's an interesting ride. No pun intended.

Ronson is overbearing at times. Still, total deal for free. #goaudible

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Not Great.

Revisado: 01-12-19

This book chronicles the tales of two separate men lost in the woods.

One is a guide who falls and gets a concussion and makes some major errors as a result. This, at least, is understandable. Alas, it doesn't make for much of a story. Slightly more interesting are the decisions that his group makes with no guide.

The other lost man's predicament is so foolhardy that is hard to listen to. He first walks, alone, in late late autumn, deep into a back country of crisscrossing logging roads and trails. He does so while paying scant regard to his map or his whereabouts. After a day or two, he finally realizes he is lost. He then spends the better part of another day walking in circles with his compass in his pocket. When he finally pulls out his compass, he makes a very questionable decision to start bushwhacking due south. While bushwhacking he immediately loses his map. Now, extremely lost, he sets up his tent and at least manages to get warm and dry for the night. When he wakes up the next morning he makes the confounding decision to abandon his tent, stove, lighter and backpack so he can move faster. Soon, you guessed it, he is lost in the woods with zero survival gear and can't find his way back to his tent.

The author does a fairly poor job of chronicling these misadventures. The lost hiker makes many assumptions about his whereabouts based on his map (before losing it) and a guidebook (after he loses his map) but the reader never learns which, if any, of his route finding decisions are in any way accurate. At multiple points he thinks he is seeing one specific lake or another. Was he right? I still don't know. Since he ends up frost bitten, sleeping in tree stump covered in snow with no food, and being rescued be sheer luck, I suppose we can assume most of his assumptions were wrong.

If you need to teach someone (perhaps a youngster) that the back country needs to be respected and why... this might be a good place to turn.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 20 personas

Sometimes Entertaining Trail Ramblings

Revisado: 03-23-18

Any additional comments?

This book starts by proclaiming it is not a thru-hiking narrative of which there are many. It then tells many random tales peeled from various thru-hikes. It explains the thru-hiking mindset. It has fun with thru-hiking trail names. It has some interesting stories and some "why did he pick this?" stories. Because it isn't the tale of one thru-hike but rather scattered stories from many, the narrative is disjointed. It is sometimes fun that that the places jump around. The reader gets a feel for places as distinct as the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Cascade Range of Washington but this doesn't make up for the books lack of cohesion. Sometimes the writer, trail name Disco, is by himself. Other times he is with his wife, Prince of Darkness. When they are not together is it before they met? Are we jumping around in time? Hard to say. I fell asleep listening to the end and didn't bother to rewind.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Another bad review for the narrator

Revisado: 06-13-16

Any additional comments?
I will read this book again. I may even try to listen to it again. But there is no debating the degree to which the performance takes away from this audio book. It's not so much that Fiona Hardingham (somewhat comically) mispronounces words like Akron, its that she rarely delivers Klosterman's thoughts with the proper cadence. She constantly ruins his jokes and worse, she often makes his complex ideas very difficult to process. When Klosterman takes over the narration for the final minutes it is such a (short lived) relief.

The narration compounds the problems of the book. Unlike most of Klosterman's nonfiction this is not a book of essays. It would be fair categorize the book as philosophy although at times it comes closer to semiotics. I have no problem with this. These are both subjects I enjoy immensely. Unfortunately the book has a bad habit of raising interesting questions and then drifting away from them without addressing them satisfactorily. Gusty winds may exist.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 42 personas

A Vonnegut Classic

Revisado: 06-02-15

Any additional comments?

This probably KV's most self indulgent novel. Depending on how you feel about him this might be a good thing or a bad thing. Personally I think it is fantastic. Genius in its simplicity. Heavy handed on purpose. A farewell from Vonnegut to many of the characters he has sprinkled about previous novels. A tour de force for Mr. Kilgore Trout.

When I was scanning the reviews before purchasing I noticed at least one review claiming this book was racist. If you read this book and come away thinking it is racist you clearly have zero idea how to read/interpret a post modern novel.

I have read it before and was worried that the whimsy of the "illustrations" would be lost in audio and while that is kind of true it doesn't really detract from the listening experience.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Entertaining

Revisado: 05-03-15

Fun read. Goofy at times but kept me engaged. If you grew up around classic arcade games it ads to the fun.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Intriguing but Goes Steadily Downhill

Revisado: 03-25-15

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the first half of the book. The character development is shaky but the plot unfolds at a pretty good clip and the mystery at the center of the novel is initially compelling. Unfortunately, as more details emerge the book goes downhill fast. Things start getting far fetched. Then they get ridiculous. Then they get laughable. If you can read this book without rolling your eyes, your ability to suspend disbelief is far more powerful than mine. I couldn't get through the last couple chapters.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 15 personas

Very Solid

Revisado: 03-02-15

This is some of Klosterman's best work. Like all his good audio books, it is read by the author. Highly recommend.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Amazing Trip to Nowhere

Revisado: 02-27-15

Any additional comments?

Escape to rural North Dakota where everyone dreams to venture. Follow the lives of an underachieving High School kid, a saucy young female social studies teacher and stoic old widowed farmer. Sounds terrible right? It manages to be quite entertaining. The narrative device (each chapter of the book is broken down by character and delivered in third person limited) lends itself extremely well to audio (there are multiple narrators). The story is all about the bringing the town to life. This is not a plot that races forward. Like the town of Owl, the story trickles ahead with one day bleeding into the next. A trip to nowhere. It sounds terrible. Somehow, it gets 5 stars.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas