Elizabeth Grainger

Fascinating and inspiring

Revisado: 10-02-16

What made the experience of listening to Dakini Power the most enjoyable?

Each life story was so unique and so inspiring. I felt that every biography was a gem waiting to be discovered, and I found myself listening longer than I had intended, each time, simply so that I could continue to hear more.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The book is far too long to listen to in one sitting, but I sometimes found myself listening to a whole biographical portrait/chapter at once (which was longer than I'd planned, on more than one occasion) simply because the narratives were too fascinating to stop.

Any additional comments?

The book does suffer from some significant drawbacks. One, there are no portraits of women of color and no mention of this oversight. Additionally, there is no insightful discussion of the Tibetan traditional practice of the lama and his wife -- the female partner gaining status and insight through marriage, which would have been very helpful since many of the women in this book are in such traditional Tibetan Buddhist arrangements. It would have been very helpful to have had a deeper context spiritually, historically, and culturally -- and also to have had some background on the struggles, potentially, faced by women who forge ahead solo, without an 'enlightened' male companion.

There were times I felt that the author was so enchanted by aspects of her subject's life that she simply did not or could not ask questions that would have illuminated much of the story, and this was to the detriment of the book, overall. I felt this most markedly in the chapter on Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel -- to me, it felt as if the author was so enraptured by the glamor (spiritually, romantically, materially, and narratively) that she did not do her job as a writer here, at all.

That said, I simply loved the book, overall. I found the narrator to be unique in her manner of reading and would enjoy hearing her again, but she seems only to have read a rather odd series of detective books, at this point. I hope she reads more books like this one! (Actually, I hope there would BE more books like this one!

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Fascinating book, terrible, robotic narratior

Revisado: 03-25-16

Would you try another book from Carol S. Pearson and/or Callie Beaulieu?

I found the text itself -- as written by Carol S. Pearson -- to be very interesting, illuminating, and unusual. I was so drawn to much of what she said that I will purchase this book as a book so that I can enjoy it on the page.

The narration by Callie Beaulieu was absolutely bizarre. It had all of the qualities of a hurried robot, such that I had to go back and check that there actually was a human involved in the reading. I gave a quick listen to a couple of other audible titles with which she was involved, and she sounded perfectly lovely -- so why on earth she did her darndest to sound like a computer on double speed with this subtle, nuanced work is beyond me. I had to stop listening partway through because I could not bear the terrible narration. It is that bad.

Do you think Persephone Rising needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

The idea that we are acting within large, powerful archetypal energies is not original to Carol Pearson, but what she does with it is really unique. I'd love to see her continue to apply her ideas.

Any additional comments?

This is a wonderful book and it deserved careful, attentive narration. Instead it received one of the strangest readings I have ever heard -- truly, I absolutely believed (until I went back to check) that Audible had foregone a human reader and used a computer prototype that just wasn't working well. Siri would have done a much better job, and I don't like Siri.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

Surprisingly upsetting -- bizarre premise

Revisado: 09-22-15

What did you like best about Disclaimer: A Novel? What did you like least?

The first half or so of the novel felt suspenseful and kept me listening. The narratation was quite wonderful.

Would you ever listen to anything by Renée Knight again?

No, I will not. This book ended up being deeply upsetting in a way that makes me think I simply would not enjoy anything by this author. I am more than willing to engage with heavy or dark material, but there was a bleakness and hatefulness (not even that of individual characters, but of the narrative arc in general) in this book that I found distressing. It simply did not work for me.

What about Michael Pennington and Laura Paton ’s performance did you like?

The narrators did a fantastic job conveying a wide range of emotions.

Could you see Disclaimer: A Novel being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Sadly, I expect this book will be made into a film -- or at least a Lifetime movie.... It will be a bummer.

Any additional comments?

I don't want to give away any plot points, but the worldview of this author is quite dark. The range of viciousness, misunderstandings, and lack of empathy and compassion were hard for me to take. What connection there was felt like glopped on sentimental dreck.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Exceptional book, VERY inappropriate reader

Revisado: 06-29-13

What did you love best about Iron Curtain?

This is a precise, detailed, nuanced look at the carving up of Eastern Europe following World War 2. The intimate details of the domination of nations on a community (and often familial) level allowed me to gain a far better understanding of precisely how the Soviet Union achieved the isolation.

What other book might you compare Iron Curtain to and why?

Anne Applebaum's Gulag makes an outstanding companion volume, providing the history of the slave prison empire that ran through the Soviet Union.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Cassandra Campbell?

Someone more familiar with the history, or perhaps more accustomed to narrating non-fiction books.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely not.

Any additional comments?

The narrator (Cassandra Campbell) was dreadfully miscast. I kept thinking "she sounds like she thinks she's reading a novel by Gillian Flynn" -- and then I saw that in fact she's done exactly that. From putting the emphasis on the wrong syllables in words to mispronouncing proper nouns, and generally sounding like she had absolutely no idea of the meaning of what she's saying, Ms. Campbell robbed this book of gravity in her reading. She is not a bad reader for a novel but she was absolutely terrible for this particular work.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Love the book -- REALLY don't love the reader

Revisado: 03-08-10

I absolutely loved reading _The Magicians_, and was delighted to try the audiobook version. Oh dear. I am sorry to say that the narrator, while not actually ruining the wonderful story, greatly detracts from any enjoyment of it. I don't know what was the worst aspect of this performance, but I suspect it may have been the "foreign" accents he affects for any non-native English speakers; with the exception of one female francophone, all others sound like a combination of Apu from "The Simpsons" and Boris from the Rocky Cartoons. Then there is the insufferable "dude, where's my car" sort of drawl utilizesd for Josh. But really, I cannot count the ways this narrator seems to have been hell-bent on making a marvelous, inventive, magical (if flawed) novel as unenjoyable as possible. If only someone else had narrated....

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