Skeptical

A Century of Drama and Catastrophe

Revisado: 10-19-23

Monumental telling of the calamitous 17th century. The first couple of hours are a little bit dry as the author goes into detail on all the climate changes taking place in the century and its ramifications.
Then he goes into a detailed, dramatic and detailed historic account of every country and region from Britain to Japan, and if you read Parker’s superb biographies of Charles V and his son and successor, you are in for a good read,
Don’t let the 50 hours scare you away, it’s a great entertaining listen, past the first couple of hours (which are not bad, just dry).

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Riveting epic of Poland’s history

Revisado: 10-19-23

Absolutely superb history of Poland. Epic and entertaining, knowing about Poland’s complicated history is key to understanding the history of Russia, Germany, the Habsburg Empire, Turkey and ultimately Russia.
Dabrowski makes it all both clear and dramatic. Highly recommended

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Superb

Revisado: 03-01-23

Magnificent, chilling account of Hitler’s rise to power. It’s specially disturbing to realize how no one thought Hitler and the Nazis could be as monstrous as they became. Pencil in Trump, Putin, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, etc

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Magnificent history of the Habsburg Empire

Revisado: 10-25-18

First of all, I want to say that the narrator is terrific, as is this book. I had been looking for a history of Austria for some time, and Simon Winder's spellbinding history of the Habsburgs is perfect. Before reading it, I had some reservations as I thought it was a mix between a travel book and a history book, but the reality is that Danubia is a history book in which the author happens to travel to some of the most significant places of the former Empire and see history for himself in person. The travel part always support and reinforces the main narratives.
Additionally, Winder is a witty, sarcastically and erudite narrator, who provides some ironic comments now and then, but his voice never overwhelms the history being told, which is nothing less than fascinating. The Habsburgs were at the heart of Europe for centuries, in the middle of the religious wars, preventing the Ottomans from overwhelming the Continent, decisively tied to the history of Spain, fighting the Napoleonic Wars. As Winder points out, most of them were bores, but the history of the Empire was never boring, as from the beginning the Habsburg King was also the King of the Holy Roman Empire (until Napoleon and then Bismarck ended that). Winder not only recounts the history and the politics, but he is also immensely knowledgeable on the culture of the Empire, from the operas and the music created during the reign of Marie Therese and her son Joseph, through the novelists (like Zweig and Joseph Roth) and composers (Janacek) who witnessed the catastrophic end of the Empire.
Winder covers the immensity of the Empire, making stops in Hungary, the Balkans, Galizia, Bohemia, all places which were part of the Habsburg empire and which to this day are heirs to its greatness and haunted by its collapse.
I can't recommend this highly enough. Although I recently listened to Iron Kingdom, a history of Prussia, I can`t wait to listen to Germania. And then again, pay no attention to the guy who said the narrator is terrible, James Cameron Stewart does a great job, he is authoritative but sarcastic and witty when the narration calls for it. Perfect book.

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Absolutely brilliant, a knockout

Revisado: 07-14-18

Gabe Habash presents himself as a major talent with his debut. I'm amazed that this book was not on all the best of the year lists of 2017. The intensity and precision with which Habash goes into the mind of the lead character, the lonely, brilliant, borderline crazy and determined Stephen Florida is dazzling.
Stephen is the narrator, and he is as human and real a character as you are likely to come into contemporary fiction. In this day and age of literary and politically correct stereotypes, Stephen is a full fledged human being, alienated but not crazy, determined to win because winning is meaning. Through Stephen we see a whole universe of the troubled and troubling people which surround him, his peers, teachers, his deceased parents, his crazy aunt. The narrator is Stephen himself, and one of the great merits of the novel is that you never know what is going to happen next. Even if you could not really call this a thriller, it is written with that crazy intensity. The brilliance of Habash is reminding us that life is a thriller, especially for a young man involved in college competitive sporting. You don't have to like sports to like this novel. This novel is up there with recent great American novels like Billy Lynn`s Long Halftime Walk, The Sympathizer and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
Will Damron`s performance is a big part of the success of this recording. He is the perfect voice to give life to Stephen. It's one of the best performances for a fiction audiobook I have ever listened to.
Jump right in. Unforgettable experience.

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Good introduction to the Ottomans, bad narration

Revisado: 06-06-18

This is a book with a terrible narrator. I must say Im not very picky about narrators, but this is a very extreme case, as the voice is not only terribly slow and flat but also sometimes hard to understand. This is especially bad in the first hour.
As I'm very interested in the subject, I soldiered on and got through the end, the narrator got better, but never really good. If you can stand the defective narration there is a very interesting book here, as the history of the Ottoman Empire is both fascinating and crucial as we are talking about one of the biggest empires in the world from the 15th century onwards. Its an epic story which encompasses the history of Europe in the fateful clashes of the Turks with the West, and the history of the Ottomans is crucial to understand the modern world today from the Balkans to the Middle East to the North of Africa to Russia and World War I.
The book is well written and stylish. However, it is also somewhat haphazard in its structure. The writer is not a professional historian but a fiction writer, so sometimes the writing is a little more impressionistic. Also the book is chronological, but the writer chooses his chapter by subject or by theme, and then in the same chapter he flashes back and forward through time so the order of events is not always clear, and sometimes the book is more poetic than thorough. To go deeper this book in audio form should need to be at least 20 hours as the history of the Ottoman encompasses so many centuries and territories. Sample the audio before buying to see if you can tolerate the narrator, and if you do you will have a decent, but not definitive history of the Ottoman Empire.

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Spellbinding history by master historian

Revisado: 06-08-17

If you want to know about the story of Russia, get your ears on the Romanovs.
The book, by the great Simon Sebag Montefiore, has the special distinction of being read by one of the great actors of the British stage, Sir Simon Russell Beale.
When approaching this, its very important you keep in mind you are reading the story of the Romanovs, and not the story of Russia. Yes, they are pretty much the same, but the book emphasizes the history of the rulers of Russia from Peter the Great to the ill fated Nicky and Alex, in a much bigger way than the social or political issues of its respective eras.
But you get good enough context, and considering that Russia has always been pretty much about the autocracy, you are in for a spellbinding introduction to Russian History.
It's all here, the larger than life Peter the Great, the sexually voracious and power hungry Catherine the Great, Czar Alexander's epic fight against Napoleon and the tragic fall of the Romanov dynasty at the hands of the Communists.
Sebag Montefiore has written acclaimed book on specific aspects of Russian history before including Catherine the Great and her relationship with Potemkin, and the life of Stalin, so you are at the hands of a master historian and storyteller.
The book is insightful enough to show how Russia and its rulers have always swung between greatness and catastrophe and the fateful consequences that vertigo has for the rulers and the ruled.
One of the best books of 2016

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Wannabe Great American Novel

Revisado: 06-08-17

Deeply flawed novel which bites more than it can chew.
This was a major disappointment after the reviews heralding it as a Great American Novel. And yes, it wants to be a Great American Novel but it falls flat on its face.
The problem with the novel is that it all seems to come out of ideas and thesis about history, rather than as an effort to tell and original story. Then the weak, sometimes melodramatic and predictable story can't carry the weight of the symbolisms with which its burdened with.
The books main Big Idea seems to be that violent begets violence (not precisely a novel concept) and then all the plots and characters are made to adhere slavishly to this Big Idea.
Unfortunately, with the exception of one of the three stories which comprise the book, the other two stories are mediocre and one is mind numbingly bad and boring.
Meyer should have stuck to the most interesting story, which is actually riveting, about a kid whose family is slaughtered by Indians, and he is kidnapped by them after that. This part of the story is fascinating.
But this story is alternated with stories from the kid`s descendants in the bloodbath that is the history of Texas. The author's heart is in the right place and the story dealing with the Mexican Americans in Texas is interesting, but its burdened by a protagonist so passive as to be incredible. And then the third story is a disaster, following the life of a rich and completely uninteresting woman, whose story is to banal to deserve to be told.
It was a trial to get to this book, but I finished so you don't have to. With many greats book around, don't waste your time.

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Brilliantly read by J Northam, even with the music

Revisado: 06-08-17

The complaint about the Cuban music in this audiobook almost kept me from a great listening experience.
Mind you, the addition of the music is unwelcome and tacky, and if you are very neurotic about this type of thing, yes, it might well ruin your experience, but only if you are very neurotic
Well, the music comes between every chapter, and with Greene doing short chapters that's quite a bit, but the music rarely intrudes in the narration except for a couple of times.
On to the book, Jeremy Northam is absolutely brilliant, as a matter of fact he is so good that he made me appreciate him more as an actor and wonder why he hasn't had a better career.
The book itself is brilliant, nasty, funny, and with razor sharp insights into human nature, politics and the espionage game. Graham Greene must be one of the most astute writers when it comes to the folly of the spy game. The plot of Our Man in Havana might be viewed as absurd or impossible if it didn't resemble so closely the road to the Iraq War. This is a brilliant book with an absolutely brilliant performance with Jeremy Northam differentiating each character, with especially fabulous work when he does Millie, Captain Segura and Spy Chief C.
Do not miss it. With the dearth of good Graham Greene readings on audiobooks, get your ears on this asap.

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Extraordinary telling of the Bronte novel

Revisado: 02-14-15

Janet McTeer brings to violent, passionate life the legendary tale by Bronte.
I was mostly familiar with the story from the film and TV versions, which do not do justice to the novel's unearthly intensity and powerful feelings. Despite the familiarity, the story managed to surprise you at every turn, and the neglected second half of the novel is every bit as good as the first half.
Heatchcliff is as much a Shakespearean monster as Macbeth or Richard III, but he more than meets his match in Cathy, the daughter of his beloved.
There is some joint narration by David Timson, which is annoying, but soldier on to the point where McTeer takes over as Nelly Dean and recounts this astonishing story.

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