Kim W

It was different

Revisado: 05-17-24

I feel like the premise was so good but the execution was weird. This is kind of a rebirth story with the promise of a big payoff that never happens, but instead it just quietly ends with the main character being OK after all. Boring, interesting and weird by turns, I feel like there was a larger, richer story to tell.

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Hilarious

Revisado: 05-18-21

She is soo funny. The writing and reading is on point the whole way through and I was only disappointed when it ended. Even the acknowledgements are entertaining!

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Sexist language is disappointing

Revisado: 12-17-20

I wanted to like this book, and I ignored the jarring use of "pussy" and "bitch" throughout because I thought, well, I guess that's how Navy SEALS talk. But then he used the term "hem my vagina" and I thought, oh, this book is only for dudes and bros because he clearly thinks anyone with a vagina is weak. And that's too bad because I was interested until then. It was a disrespectful turn of phrase that could have easily been replaced with something else without losing the point of the story.

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Excellent storytelling but...

Revisado: 10-14-20

I thought this was a well told story and very interesting with a cast of characters each with their own hopes and struggles. It's too bad that some of it was plagiarized; even though the lawsuit was settled over 40 years ago, it does remove some of the sheen from what would otherwise be an extraordinary modern masterpiece.

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I like David Mitchell

Revisado: 11-11-13

What was one of the most memorable moments of David Mitchell: Back Story?

The lobster story. It was both hilarious and awful.

What does David Mitchell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He says things in certain ways, and when he read the Robert Webb bit it did not sound like the way Robert Webb would have said that at all. Which is fine, but a perfect example of why it's fun to have the author also read the book to you. You get their intention and emphasis that you wouldn't necessarily get with a professional voice actor.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes. I thought it was extremely funny. Especially his childhood. I love British humour.

Any additional comments?

I was actually surprised at what a regular guy David Mitchell is. I thought he would be very fussy and very conservative, and maybe that's because I watched a lot of Peep Show and got him confused with his character Mark, but I really wasn't expecting to relate to him so much. His explanation of why he's agnostic, for example, rings true for me.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Important Read for Women AND Men

Revisado: 09-02-13

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When she mentioned that we must sit at the table. I actually remember one meeting where I chose not to sit at the table which was not that detrimental, as it turned out, but I now make a habit of sitting at the table and speaking up, even at the risk of looking like a newb.

Any additional comments?

This is an important book for both women and men to read to understand why we still must fight for equality. I am a feminist because feminism means questioning the current social and cultural norms and asking why is it like that and why does it have to be that way? Gender stereotypes and gender-based predjudices hurt everyone because they keep people from being their true selves and striving toward their true calling whether it be a woman as a CEO or a man as a stay at home dad. Women's rights are human rights and this book is a gentle, relateable reminder why it is important to acknowledge unfair, entrenched practices (for both genders!) and ask how we can level the playing field so that we can all be in the game! Or at the table! Oh and just to be clear: this book is not a feminist manifesto or anything political. It's about how we can all work towards a fairer workplace and home -for everybody involved. We're all in this together.

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From promising start to dismal tragedy

Revisado: 09-04-09

The author may have made a mistake in reading his own book. Maybe it's a cultural thing and I'm used to a different narration style because I'm not from Nigeria but I felt like he just droned on and on. Also, this is barely about an Elvis impersonator and more about a boy who would like to be an Elvis impersonator but has a bunch of truly terrible things happen to him. If it had been sold as such I would have been fine with it but it started out with such promise (and I eventually got used to the droning) and then became dark and depressing and never came back from it. There were scenes in this book which should have been pivotal moments which just felt like yet another tragedy to heap on the pile of pain and sorrow. I can handle stories like that if I am told ahead of time that it's going to be like that, but to sell this book as something which may be a bit light or have true moments of levity is not fair and made me dislike it because I felt tricked.

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Disappointing

Revisado: 07-25-09

Where "The Traveler" was a fun beach read, the Dark River is disappointingly uneventful and has a lame ending (not really an ending because there is a third book in the works). It's really frustrating to read a book that's in the middle of a series that feels like it's just the warm-up for the actual story.

And as for the narrating: atrocious! All of the "foreign" accents sound like stereotypical Transylvanian accents. I've never heard an Italian person sound like Count Chocula before! Don't waste your money on this one.

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Lions and romance and elephants, oh my!

Revisado: 07-04-08

I love, love, love this book so much. The dual narrators are superb. The story telling is excellent. I wouldn`t change a thing, even the niggling question at the end: did it really happen or did he make it up...

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Wanderlust

Revisado: 07-04-08

I listen to this book when I wish I were travelling but don't have the time or money. The first chapter made me wonder what I had gotten myself into, as she rages about how much she hates India. If you can get past this you'll realize that this is to juxtapose next to the spiritual journey the author later undertakes to better understand where her hate and anger come from. And the author is honest about how her western judgments of India soften and turn inside out the longer she is there and the more she tries to understand. This was a really brave but totally fun effort of a westerner trying to come to terms with her assumptions about a culture wildly different (but in some surprising ways similar) that her own. Her descriptions of holi still colour my dreams!

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas