Barbara

Overly complicated

Revisado: 02-15-24

It starts off as a good story, but descends later into a crowded mess of characters and incidents. By the end, I no longer cared who did what, nor could I follow the resolution of the plot. 

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A quirky character I truly cared about

Revisado: 10-01-20

I love Fredrik Backman's other books and this was no exception. He has a gift for quirky characters who are at first blush very unappealing. But as I got to know Britt-Marie better, I found her to be surprisingly sympathetic and in the end, I was rooting for her all the way. The narration is outstanding. The best audiobooks keep me walking more laps than I had planned to, just to hear more of what's coming next. This was definitely one of them.

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Not sure the point of this book.

Revisado: 06-17-20

First, the author (who is also the reader) is a writer who worked at The New Yorker. But there are so many mispronunciations
that it's hard to imagine how he got hired in the first place. His literacy level is shockingly low, considering his chosen field. In the end, I really couldn't figure out the point of his story. He comes across as immature and whiny, and I really didn't care about his father, or about his own life.

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The reader ruins it.

Revisado: 01-24-20

The story itself is interesting and a little bit different. But the reader is so wooden that she hurts the book. She frequently puts the emphasis in the wrong place, or pauses mid-phrase in a way that is distracting and disrupts the flow of the story. I found myself repeatedly "rephrasing" a line in my head to restore the author's intent.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Unlistenable.

Revisado: 04-06-18

The reading is so poor -- like listening to a 13-year-old girl try to read a book out loud to you with no sense of the meaning of her words. The subject sounded interesting but I simply can't listen any longer, and have given up on this book.

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Terrible reading ruins the value.

Revisado: 02-06-17

I was hoping to get a good immersion in India's history before an upcoming trip. Alas, while the prof clearly knows his material, his dry, sometimes halting reading of his notes made it almost impossible to listen for more than a few minutes at a time. Some of The Great Courses are presented, rather than dryly read, but this one's a real snore. I really can't say I got much from it after pushing myself through all those hours of listening.

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esto le resultó útil a 13 personas

So gloomy and go-nowhere I quit 3/4 of the way in

Revisado: 08-19-15

I have listened to many, many dozens of Audible books and have a reasonably high tolerance for a slow story. But this one is so bleak and relentless, with so little insight into its characters and virtually no story line at all. I kept hoping for something more and finally realized how depressed I felt every time I listened. A good book must deliver more. I stopped listening more than 3/4 of the way through. If something finally happens in the end, I won't know. But life is too short.

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Great reading of a dull book.

Revisado: 10-04-14

My book group read this book and I enjoyed it more than the women who read it in paperback or ebook form. That's a credit to the readers -- a male and a female voice whose excellent performances add dimension to a very flat book. Basically, nothing happens because the story is one of past secrets revealed and attempts to atone for past mistakes. It is weighted down by too many (and too implausible) parallels in this depressing story of madness, betrayal, family lies, the Holocaust, rewriting one's personal history.

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So well read, it's like going to the theater!

Revisado: 07-03-14

What a treat to listen to Cynthia Nixon PERFORM all the parts, rather than just read them as so many narrators do! I lived in San Francisco when Tales of the City ran in the Chronicle each week so this is a walk down memory lane for me. I doubt it will resonate with a young reader (it's set in the 1970s and boy, have times changed) but the story is vivid, the characters quirky and appealing, and the reading, superb. This is light but very satisfying listening.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Interesting history but ho-hum story

Revisado: 06-23-14

The best part of this novel is the history that inspired it. The author paints a vivid portrait of how Asians were treated in the 1930s and 40s and how they adapted, and occasionally flourished, in the face of ignorance and bigotry. The 3 women whose lives are intertwined in the world of theater and dance are not clearly drawn, however. Each is a "type" but the author assigns a generic voice to all 3 so it's hard to keep straight who is speaking.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas