DR Harle

Dickens and women

Revisado: 06-04-24

The young pretty women are always just sickeningly sweet. But there were two older women who were striking in different ways in this book. This is far superior to David Copperfield for instance.

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Overblown

Revisado: 01-08-24

I gave up on it after listening for quite a while. It’s a guy’s book really. Action with romanticized violence and stock characters. It was lacking in historical detail which might’ve helped. The reader had a nice Irish accent.

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Not her best work

Revisado: 09-14-23

The characters were not fully developed. The story was a romance that ended sadly. That's OK I guess, but Wharton is capable of so much more. But when I look back over the other books of hers I've read which were most of them, it seems to me that she understands rich people, or people at least in the sphere of wealth, but not poor people. So Ethan Frome seemed dead to me as this one does. Old New York which I recently listened to here was really great, for example.

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Piece of crap

Revisado: 02-12-23

I don’t care what the critics say. This book is full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Not to mention obscene meaningless violence. Richard

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Too hard to hear

Revisado: 01-01-20

I would rather read this book in print. The reader doesn't emphasize the right words in a sentence so that it's hard to understand. Furthermore, the overall sound is muffled and dim.

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His life was interesting, but not his memoir

Revisado: 01-27-19

He seems for forget what he's already told you, For example I got maybe a 3rd of the way in and he'd described his father's rejection of spirituality about 10 times in almost the same words. There is a great interview with one of his aunts about life in Eastern Europe and I kept hoping for more like that, but gave up. He tells you that his father constantly makes bad jokes and then he feels the need to share them with you. There's too much detail! We don't need to know about every item on his grandfather's desk. Once he describes a very ordinary kid lying on the driveway woolgathering in a way every kid on earth has watching the sun set in his neighborhood. He ends up describing in painful detail the exact colors as they change in the sunset. It is absolutely the most tedious passage I've ever read. I heard an interview with Oz and had great hopes, but they were dashed.

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Shown not told

Revisado: 07-05-17

Where does The Year of the Runaways rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The author forces you to pay attention to details by not explaining. It's refreshing: you must learn like a child or a foreigner. The story is tense and dramatic. Wonderful, really. The best novel I've read in a long, long time. The ending was a tad weak, but that can be forgiven.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Year of the Runaways?

Oh God, I don't know. Everything was interconnected.

What about Sartaj Garewal’s performance did you like?

It was just perfect. Inflected with an Indian accent but easy to understand. He stayed out of the way, didn't overdo it as some readers do.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I don't know what a tag line is.

Any additional comments?

Sahota takes Americans to absolutely new places.

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Recording and Content

Revisado: 07-05-17

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Nothing

What was most disappointing about Edith Wharton’s story?

Her superficial treatment of the place and her constant reminding me of how badly the pathetic people there needed the French "help" they were now getting.

Would you be willing to try another one of Anna Fields’s performances?

Maybe, but I would listen carefully first. This recording is faulty. Her pronunciations are incorrect very often.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from In Morocco?

I would suggest that she abandon the project.

Any additional comments?

Terrible recording of a dated and depressing book.

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New York Times podcast

Revisado: 03-11-14

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

No

What did you like best about this story?

The writing is good.

What didn’t you like about The New York Times’s performance?

Everything. The reader doesn't seem to have any sense of what he's saying. It eventually began to drive us crazy.

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

No

Any additional comments?

I want to cancel my subscription to this, but can't figure out how.

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Amazing experience

Revisado: 01-04-10

The story is told by large cast of characters who seem to be responding verbally to questions about two poets, a Mexican and a Chilean. But somehow, these two end up seeming mythical and insubstantial while the supporting characters become full blown companions through their unique voices telling stories combining the mundane and bizarre. A latticework of detail is provided (You always know the date and place of a narration.), but motivation almost always remains mysterious. By some inexplicable means, the narrative tension is sustained through many adventures in Mexico City and Europe.
The readers are absolutely great. I'm sure that their good pronunciation of Spanish words (as well as German and even Latin) and the excellent definition of the characters through their voices and accents made this novel a much greater pleasure to listen to than it would have been to read in print.

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