JaneMD

Excellent story by a skilled biographer marred by idiotic AI poetry readings.

Revisado: 08-31-24

This is the last book on earth that should have been narrated by artificial intelligence. I was amazed by how accurate AI is while reading prose, except for its butchery of any language but English. “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” is one lamentable example. But to allow it to recite Keats’s poems in the final chapter was a horrific mistake which ought to have been predicted before it was allowed to happen.

On a happier note, this biography of John Keats was fascinating and well presented. I couldn’t have been more pleased to read new and fresh details of the poet’s life, so very well composed by this author.

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The Russian story: fascinating, absorbing, highly credible. The American story: none of the aforesaid.

Revisado: 10-07-22

I was drawn to this book by the title. I love the piano and piano music. And as other reviewers have said, the description of the construction of the instrument was fascinating. The elderly Jewish pianist who “disappeared” into the jaws of Soviet Russia, the little girl who was mesmerized by his music, the deprivation and fear imposed on her family by a cruel and unpredictable regime, all of these rang true. The escape to the west and to freedom was inevitable.

As soon as they touched down in California, however, the story degenerates into a series of implausible characters in soap opera predicaments. The narration, which was never more than adequate to begin with, becomes downright annoying. The narrator portrays men with a thin, nasal, and somewhat sarcastic whine. Most men are bad, most women are good.

The ending in downright predictable and downright preposterous.

This is an easy book which would appeal to romantics who like pianos. I would not call it literature.

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Just couldn't get into this one

Revisado: 03-02-20

After 7 hours of trying to follow this disconnected story, I've given up. The narrator is not an actor. He drones on in a monotone, and every character is delivered in the same voice, which makes for a boring narration; and it's difficult to tell the characters apart. He only really gets your attention when he mispronounces something, like "hey-den" for "Hayden." He should have done his homework instead of trying to wing it.

After 7 hours, I still don't know what the subject matter is supposed to be. Right now I'm in the midst of some legal trivia which is of no interest to me whatsoever. I know that somebody in the story is suffering terribly, but I can't tell which character it is or why.

I see that 11,000 people seem to have loved this book, so the problem is mine, obviously, neither the author's nor the narrator's.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas