Shawn

Powerful

Revisado: 08-30-20

Short and to the point. The interaction with Kurtz is gripping, I wish there had been more.

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Avoid this Performance

Revisado: 08-30-20

I seriously thought about asking for my money back because this performance is awful. The recording is muffled and low. Was this narrator wearing a mask giving the performance? I could barely understand him. I tried turning up the volume but the sound quality was so poor it quickly distorted. What little I could understand and follow in the book was good, but quite frankly I was lost trying to listen to a narrator with cotton balls in his mouth. I have over 200 titles in my library, this is the worst performance by far of any of them.

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Gripping from cover to cover

Revisado: 08-02-20

Very strong performance of an engaging novel. The book paced well, the story kept my attention throughout.

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Didn't Live Up to Expectations

Revisado: 04-19-20

I do not share the same opinion as those who feel this book is in the top 100 greatest novels. It is a fine novel, quirky, and enjoyable on several levels, but nothing special compared to other great novels. Perhaps it was the reading which was uninspired. I never really got into the novel and before I knew it, the reading was done.

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A Timeless Classic

Revisado: 04-18-20

A timeless classic. This book has so many layers, yet the construction is quite straight forward. Even though a lengthy listen (49 hours), the book's pace was solid throughout. . I especially enjoyed watching how the characters grew and responded to significant events. Though there was only one point of view character, Scarlet, the author made you understand the other character's motivations. The book was not as good as War and Peace or Anna Karenina, but the overall plot devices and writing is similar. My only regret is that I wish I had read the book sooner.

The audio book reader, Linda Stephens, gave an amazing performance. She had an excellent range of voices, dialects, and most importantly nailed the nuances of the main character, Scarlet. I was very impressed when she switched languages and even sang some of the dialogue. Truly impressive.

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Better than Expected

Revisado: 02-29-20

I liked this book more than I expected.  Going in, I expected to struggle with the non-linear timeline (which I find can be difficult to follow in an audio book) and Annette Bening's performance (some reviews commented negatively). I found the non-linear timeline manageable and felt it added to the narrative. I have mixed thoughts on Bening's performance. She has an amazingly clear, emotional, and articulate voice that kept me engaged, but she has only voice that she uses for every character. I found myself having to divert attention away from just simply enjoying the book to focusing on whose head the dialogue was coming from. What I liked most was the 1925 perspective on post-war PTSD.

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No

Revisado: 02-07-20

I've never given such a low rating for such a well-written book with an amazing performance. I do not think the book translates well to an audio book format despite a truly amazing narration by Sean Pratt. I have never abandoned a book before, but had it not been for Pratt's performance this would have been my first. The book is not one book but rather 5 stories that have parallel ideas co-existing in the same time frame and similar location. The book travels randomly through these 5 stories as if someone mixed up all the chapters and got some of them out of order. Then there are the over 300 footnotes that require a stand-alone PDF to be referenced while you are listening to the performance. There is no conclusion, the book just ends, which after 56 hours of listening was quite disappointing. If you like great stories, this book is not for you. If you are going set out on the quest to finish this 56 hour book, I recommend reading it in paper form.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Great Techniques for a Narrow Field

Revisado: 06-12-19

The author has distilled some very impressive experience into a very impressive book. Her graphs and charts help move this book from an experience report to a book that has plenty of experience and some theory. She does a very good job giving verbal descriptions of those graphs and charts. The book paces well and is constructed well. Where the book falls short is that because it is based on the author's experience, it draws from a narrow field, that of highly paid, highly skilled knowledge workers. If you are managing your local pizza store with employees turning over every other month, you may find little that you can apply. Also, I did not get the sense that these techniques could work within an organization unless the organization was open to candor. The author seems to address the latter situation by advising people to change companies if the company is not. Again, if you are a highly skilled manager in a market or area with lots of job opportunities, that may be the best approach, but if you value things other than candor more highly, the book provides no advice--so again my complaint that the book applies to a very narrow field.

The book is read by the author. Even though she is not a professional reader, she does a decent narration. Not polished, but clear. Books like this benefit greatly from the author reading it. Hearing her voice and the emphasis she places adds to the book.

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Good, not Monumental

Revisado: 06-04-19

For a Pulitzer Prize winner, I expected more. Overall I liked the book because it was well constructed and interesting characters that you see grow. I especially like how we saw the younger characters grow in their understanding of life and death. However, I found the pace and excitement level to be like shipping news. I guess I can't fault it for living up to its name. In an era of YouTube short attention spans and over the top GoT characters, this book is a pleasant retreat to what seems like a forgone era. The plot is not complex and the characters feel realistic -- and that is not a short coming. The book is like a quiet companion on a slow and steady hike on a pleasant afternoon.

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Watch the Movie First

Revisado: 01-02-19

Here is why I recommend watching the movie before the book. The book timeline spans multiple years, has many characters, many twists and turns, and sometimes focuses on the minutia of being a cop (such as reading a daily report verbatim). It is easy to miss important points and confuse the characters. Watching the movie is a great introduction to this book. I think you will follow the plot better and enjoy the characters more by watching the movie first. Also the movie has an all-star cast with many great actors at the beginning of their career. The movie is a fantastic adaptation, staying true to the characters, dialogue, and key events. The book's timeline is many years, the movie's timeline is a couple of weeks. There are enough differences in the plot so that watching the movie first does not spoil the twists in the book.

Some parting comments about the reader, Craig Wasson. He does a good job of keeping book interesting even when reading inconsequential details on the daily police report. He handles the huge cast of characters and accents well.

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