Mindful Reader

Great story but audio terrible

Revisado: 04-29-22

I enjoyed this story but often I became distracted due to the poor recording process used here. It sounds like the narrator is in an echoey hallway wi

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Not his best

Revisado: 06-13-20

Short on suspense and long on lengthy and unnecessary sidetracks. Hester Crimstein, or “Heather” as the narrator sometimes mistakenly calls her, is an annoying character and Wild an empty cardboard cutout for the handsome actor who will no doubt play him on the made for TV movie. Silly plot. Sorry Harlan, this one shouldn’t have made it past the editor.

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Excellent listen!

Revisado: 05-23-20

Clara Salaman is an excellent narrator, and she had great material to work with. Salaman uses her voice expertly to portray a woman who is at times funny, sarcastic, sometimes frightening, insightful, and pitiful but also like able and relatable for anyone who has gone through the end of a marriage. And the ending is fresh, not cliche as many authors would be tempted to turn to when winding up a story like this.

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Fun and easy listen

Revisado: 08-15-17

This is a domestic comedy taking place in India and the U.S. The book explores themes such as what community really means, high parental hopes for the next generation to be successful and the pressure that brings, and how money and status can change us. There are many laugh out loud moments, and the characters are all likable in their own ways. The father, Anil, is my favorite. In some ways he seems overly naive, yet his positive and curious outlook on life make him lovable if not a little maddening at times.

Parts of the story are weak, and the ending a little too pat, however the author had me rooting for her characters happiness.

The narrator is great, giving each character a distinct voice and personality, and she switches effortlessly between them. I recommend this for people who enjoy family dramas and those who like to immerse themselves into a different culture.

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Nice change of pace

Revisado: 07-22-16

Tired of all the "get happy" books out there? Then try this. I enjoyed listening to Oliver Burkeman's narration and appreciated his dry sense of humor and his sincerity. His main point is that trying too hard to be happy can actually result in being less happy. It's truly a novel idea that you don't have to love what you are doing at all times every day, or that you can make the pain, sadness and disappointments in your life just magically disappear by following one method or another. Or that it is necessarily good to always look on the bright side. Burkeman's isn't telling us that we all have to go around being grumps, but when things go wrong or we get too attached to the right way for things to be, we are running away from thoughts and emotions that if we felt them and didn't resist them, would help us grow and maybe reset our whole idea of what "happiness" is.

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Not sure at first, but I was pleasantly surprised

Revisado: 02-26-14

With his slightly gravely and strong voice I wasn't sure I would be able to listen to the narrator for a whole audio-book. How would female characters sound speaking in that voice? But then I decided to give it a shot and as the story went along I felt that he did a great job reading the story and performing the characters. My one small gripe about the narrator is that he seemed to swing between a standard British and slightly Aussie accent, oftentimes making me forget momentarily that the main character is a Brit and not an Aussie.

As for the story itself, it's a good balance between the detective Cormoran Strike's back-story, the mystery he's trying to solve (did she fall or was she pushed?) and Strike's ambivalent relationship with his temporary secretary. The range of suspects is wide, and this being a British novel, the British class divide is almost a character in its own right. The middle section of the book is the best and builds some good momentum, but toward the end, the pace slows as the author conveys too much detail as Strike follows his leads to the end of the puzzle. The big reveal is bogged down with a recounting by Strike of how he solved the mystery in a confrontation with the killer.

Note to Author: I'd like to search the text for a count of exactly how many times you mention Strike's "camp bed"--it could be a drinking game.

Overall a satisfying story and characters, though it could have reached 4+ stars if the story were tightened up.

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Hilarious

Revisado: 07-09-12

I love Max Barry's sense of humor, and if you worked for a dot com during the late 90s boom and early ought's bust, you will have a special appreciation for the absurd situations and characters Barry weaves into his story. Enjoyable listen.

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Had me in tears

Revisado: 07-09-12

I loved listening to this on summer vacation. I laughed out loud and laughed till I cried at some of these stories, and Sedaris is the master reader of his own material.

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Stream of consciousness baloney

Revisado: 07-09-12

You will not spontaneously awake by listening to this book. There are some great inspirational books and audio-books out there that one can read to develop a path to spiritual awakening and this is not one of them. Adyashanti speaks a lot in ellipses, where it would seem you have to know what he is actually thinking, not saying, to understand what he is getting at. If I were to summarize this book in one sentence it would be: "You may or may not spontaneously awaken if one day you happen to truly understand that there is no you, your thoughts are not real, and you are not special."

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Riveting

Revisado: 07-09-12

I don't use that word lightly. I've stopped listening to audio books that didn't keep me interested, and this one literally kept me riveted to my headphones. Kirby Heyborne is great as Nick, his narration is truly what makes this book so listenable. He uses a variety of different voices for the different characters he voices, and a few times I thought to myself that it was yet a third narrator, but no, it's just the remarkably versatile voice of Heyborne. Julia Whelan is excellent as well, and definitely conveys the dark side of her character convincingly. The story with it's twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat and scratching my head as to how Flynn was going to convincingly pull all the threads back together. The four stars for the story is because I wanted a different resolution to the story...I wanted justice. But ultimately, the ending is in keeping with the events and feel of the book. If you enjoy a dark psychological thriller with characters that are more like real people with multiple dimensions both good and bad, I highly recommend "Gone Girl". You will not be disappointed.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona