Sean

A vivisection of our time

Revisado: 05-28-23

A vivisection of our time. Incredible, as only to be expected from Kuang. Perfect narrator too.

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Masterpiece

Revisado: 07-31-22

I can't really assess just this book and the impact it had outside the whole epic series, but this finale itself was an unrestrained sea storm of delicious Grand Narrative. I was constantly taken by the charisma of the characters, for whom I felt alternately tender admiration, physiological disgust, distant and reluctant sympathy, childlike delight, and nostalgic familiar love. I hated the plot bitterly around halfway into the book, but then the oldest of threads started to weave together, and I was sobbing tears of joy by the end. What a wonderful storyteller Ken Liu is.

I think the third book in this four-part series was the weakest, but it was still decent and I'm very happy I trudged through the difficult parts of that for the immense reward of this final book. Speaking Bones is a grand romantic epic, ever curious, satisfying, unexpected, and deftly told.

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Riveting and Extremely Informative

Revisado: 02-12-15

What did you love best about Homage to Catalonia?

Orwell's narrative gives a strong narrative to which he can attach the political intrigue and strategic differences, clearly presenting the stakes of the differences over strategy within the Left at the time. Orwell's narrative brings a degree of concreteness to what are sometimes abstract discussions over principle, and this really helps to understand why different parties and groupings took the positions they did, and what the consequences were.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Homage to Catalonia?

Probably his descriptions of the Barcelona fighting, and his fierce denunciations of the lies in the press.

Any additional comments?

The narrator sounds quite snobby and repulsive to the American ear at first, but I quickly got used to it and was pulled into the story rather quickly. I think the narrator is fine, there is certainly nothing to complain about in his actual reading of the text.

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Exciting book!

Revisado: 06-19-12

Would you consider the audio edition of Railsea to be better than the print version?

Definitely different. I know many people reading the paper edition have been frustrated initially by the extensive use of ampersands, but I think that is an intentional Verfremdung technique so listeners may miss out. Otherwise I felt like I could follow it better as an audiobook.

Any additional comments?

The performance was great, it certainly added to the experience.

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What an adventure!

Revisado: 06-08-12

What did you love best about Terrorism and Communism (Revolutions Series)?

Bertolt Brecht, in his time, once said that Trotsky must be the greatest literary writer alive. I've read other Trotsky books and I wasn't prepared to contradict that, but not until I heard this performance was it made absolutely clear how true that is. Trotsky's constant wit had me laughing aloud at the ridiculous attempts of poor Kautsky (Trotsky's target in this polemic) at slander. Add to this Trotsky's moral high ground, and his masterful command of metaphor and literary subtlety, and this book should be studied in literary or theater courses at the university. Aside from this, there are actually many good arguments made which wouldn't appear obvious to many on a first glance, and I found Trotsky's argument itself quite insightful.

But I am not sure this would have been so apparent had it not been for the audio performance by Sean Barrett. From beginning to end, Barrett gives full life to the polemical text; it is as if Trotsky himself were thundering down from the speakers' platform. This is without a doubt the best recording of a book that I have ever heard, it is a rare indication of the potential of this format.

What about Sean Barrett’s performance did you like?

But I am not sure this would have been so apparent had it not been for the audio performance by Sean Barrett. From beginning to end, Barrett gives full life to the polemical text; it is as if Trotsky himself were thundering down from the speakers' platform. This is without a doubt the best recording of a book that I have ever heard, it is a rare indication of the potential of this format.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas