Steven L. Wilson

Drenched in Atmosphere

Revisado: 09-08-15

Furst's novels are subtle, elegant and evocative. They summon the inter war world to life and call forth the character of that time with all the attendant hope and desperation as specter of tyranny casts long shadows. Even though we, as the readers well in the future, know how it ends and how their efforts are doomed to be overwhelmed, we are with them and are somehow hopeful that this time with a twist and a turn these people, Mercier and Anna, and Vyborg will somehow emerge into the post war world and find themselves in a secure place together and spared the worst of the horrors.

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Once Again Wodehhouse in His Prime

Revisado: 08-02-15

brings his enormous gifts as a stylist, concocter of seamless plots, and deployer of metaphors and similes to bear on golf which was one of his pursuits. Wodehouse came to golf in his thirties and like some of his characters was bitten hard by the golf bug. As a first rate humorist and third rate golfer Wodehouse was able to delve into the heart of this obsession and to get even with the game on the written page in a way he never could on the course. As I said in an earlier review, if you are a golfer with a smidgen of self awareness you will find aspects of your personality in thee stories. Wodehouse knew golf but he knew golfers even better.

I was not as happy with with narrator as I was with Cecil who did Heart of a Goof, but it is well done. Highly recommended.

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At His Very Best

Revisado: 07-31-15

In the golf stories, Wodehouse despite being a humorist, as mediocre though avid golfer at this period of his life, brought a deep understanding of the game and those who are devoted (hooked on?) to it. Employing the exaggeration, the mock heroic and the seamless plots that are characteristic of his finest work, in these stories Wodehouse pokes gentle gun at the sub culture of golf and golfers. If you are a golfer and self aware, I defy you to read these stories without being able to see yourself. Whether you are the helpless hack, the preening scratch man, the instruction obsessed, the rules lawyer or ab insecure being who has too much self worth dependent on what is after all a game, you are here. In the finest of these stories Wodehouse, as is the wont of truly great humorists, gets to kernel of the nut as well as any golf writer ever has and moreover he provokes smiles and the occasional guffaw.

Johnathan Cecil's reading is masterful with the appropriate heightened dignity layered onto the mock heroic and faux melodramatic stories.

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One of the most compelling

Revisado: 06-10-15

Of all of histories dramatic events. The Loss of the Titanic remains forever fascinating. Replete with heroism, a villain or two, and an overwhelming number of what ifs. So much had to go wrong for the tragedy to unfold, but go wrong it did.

Drawbacks in this performance are some jarring mispronunciations just as there are annoying repetitions in the text that competent editing should have caught.

With the book itself I feel he spends too much time beating up on Stanley Lord's character. It is time that should have been left to refuting the revisionists who have attempted to rescue Lord, and less on detailing Lord's shortcomings. I think Lord's actions speak for themselves and do all the major protagonists his is the character that is revealed as the most flawed.



Wo

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Dialogue, a wide range of characters

Revisado: 06-01-15

Not many of whom are very likable, and an ingenious set of murders.

It's a very good Heyer thriller. A period piece certainly, but that it is one of its primary appeals. It's also refreshing to hearth rollers and alas an author's viewpoint seeping or sometimes blaring through that isn't the reflexive unthinking political correctness that has progressively infected writers nowadays.

I think I've now worked my way through her vintage thrillers and so as do all others this good things come to an end.

I think Ms. Birve's readings are well suited to the Heyer works and I'll miss gearing her read as well.

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Another sterling performance by Heyer's and Birve

Revisado: 05-29-15

It helps of course that I tumbled onto the key to the solution as soon as it appeared, but this is belongs to the English village murder mystery of which I am so fond. The cast of characters and likely suspects is wide and they well drawn, and Heyer's characteristic humor is on display. I like her slightly jaundiced eye. If you're a fan you've probably already read this, but if you are looking for a fine example of the classic murder mystery genre try this one.

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Great entertainment. Upper class follies.

Revisado: 04-25-15

Witty, urbane and typically Heyerian. Secret identities an arrogant hero and a spirited heroine. Well performed by Ms. Ulli Burve.

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Between Heyer's Deft Characterizations

Revisado: 04-06-15

And Ulli Berve's skillful narration this is an outstanding example of a genre that flourished in the heyday/golden age of the English murder mystery. Although Agatha Christie was the better known and best selling practitioner of this type of book I find ther is more depth and nuance in characterization in Heyer's works whereas Christie manipulates card board cut outs through her admittedly ingenious plots? Highly recommended for what is, an adept version of a type of mystery so frequently written in the day it virtually qualified as a cottage industry. The narrator is the icing on the cakes at the cream teas.

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One of the better readers

Revisado: 03-31-15

I've had the pleasure of listening to. Seeing that Ms. Breve is the reader, particularly of fiction, would be a significant factor favor of purchasing said book. Her interpretation of Roger was so distinctive, amusing though exasperating it made me smile whenever he appeared.

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What an Impressive Debut

Revisado: 02-26-15

A cast of distinct "characters", action, great dialog, well written. I'm looking forward to the next one. I made the mistake of trying the tv series on Amazon Prime midway through listening to this.

They are very different animals and I suspect that those who came to the books via the television series will be as disappointed as I was by TV as I came to it through the book.

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