Meerkat

A Story Worthy of Haymitch

Revisado: 03-23-25

I enjoyed the original trilogy very much. I was initially excited when the next HG book came out and immediately read Songbirds and Snakes, only to find it deadly dull. I honestly did not have any interest in Snow’s backstory and reading the book did nothing to change that. I only mention the previous four HG books because they led to my expectations of Sunrise on the Reaping. I was leery of a book for Haymitch because I was afraid it would get the same dry and dull treatment as Snow with a smattering of HG references to try to make the connections to the already established characters. The story here realistically fleshes out Haymitch as a young man, giving him an authentic voice, with all the snark and swagger one would expect from him. The new characters are compelling additions to the Hunger Games world that make the readers want to know more about them and to care about their story arcs despite the fact that we ultimately already know the outcomes (based on character conversations in earlier books). There are a few inclusions of characters already known to those familiar with the HG series that are a little clumsy and gratuitous (I won’t mention them here so as not to spoil the book for anyone), but the good far outweighs the bad and makes the book an excellent read. It can’t have been easy for Collins to construct a story that would ultimately lead to an outcome already known from the beginning. I don’t know that backstories for others (Finnick, Mags, Johanna, Cinna, etc) would work as well, but I’m happy Haymitch’s story turned out so well and hope that any other potential books from the HG universe will be just as compelling.

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Narration is less than stellar

Revisado: 10-18-24

I already knew the story, but the narration made listening awkward. The female narrator pronounces Kulti oddly, and the male narrator’s accents were strange. He sounds like he’s concentrating on the accent so much that he doesn’t pay attention to the actual emotion or humor of the scenes in question. Sal’s dad often sounds like Speedy Gonzales and Kulti sounds like Colonel Klink from Hogan’s Heroes. Disappointing.

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It could have been organized better.

Revisado: 12-05-23

There was a lot of interesting information, but as the history of the family, it left something to be desired. Instead of presenting information from the beginning of the family, the chapters bounce back and forth between different times. One chapter is referring to the death of JFK, only to have a different later chapter of the book refer you to Marilyn Monroe and JFK is still alive. This happens throughout the book. Different family members’ lives are explained. Their deaths are mentioned, only for them to be alive once more in a later portion of the book. It’s all over the place.
Additionally, the expression of the narrator’s voices for different female figures is…not good. It would have better for the narrator to have used his own voice instead of trying to imitate Jackie Kennedy’s voice and accent. It had a lot of good information, but the organization of the chapters and the imitations of women’s voices altered the enjoyment (for me.

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I’ve always liked this story, but…

Revisado: 10-15-23

I remember reading this story when I was young and loving it. Truth be told, I still do so I was happy to see it available on audible. I must admit I found the narration a bit off putting. I understand that the narrator was trying to differentiate between the different character’s voices, but the accents and different tones detracted from the story rather than enhancing it. At the first “line” the narrator spoke in Tia’s voice my immediate reaction was “that’s going to get really annoying really fast.” And it did. I listened all the way through and in my humble opinion feel the narrator would have been better served by reading sans accents and simply expressed the actions of the story with voice intonation. A grown man trying to speak like a little girl, then switching to an Irish brogue, and than to an indeterminate European accent did not enhance the story. I still liked the story but I think the narration could have gone better.

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I know it’s a pastiche of R&J, but yeesh…

Revisado: 02-13-23

I came to this title after watching the film Rosaline. I know it’s a pastiche of Romeo and Juliet, but yikes!
SPOILER AHEAD:
I foolishly figured that because the title was YA, that the ending might be a little bit of a bummer, but I didn’t think it would go full on mass destruction. I know anyone can ask what I thought would happen since it’s a Romeo and Juliet story, but it strayed from other aspects of the story so I had no reason to think the ending would be so grim.
The narration was okay, but tended to slip into monotone quite a bit. A little more life and vocal expression in that department could have improved the delivery.
I don’t care if it makes me sound shallow, but I am happy that Rosaline (the film based (very) loosely on this book) did not take the same tack as this novel. I know tragedy can happen any time, but as someone who experienced the suicidal of a close friend/classmate two weeks before high school graduation, I think this book could have done a little bit better job of a slightly less morose conclusion, showing a little bit more specificity of the main character beginning the process of moving forward.

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Disappointing work from Erickson

Revisado: 02-05-23

I am intrigued by the Tudors and have read many books about the various Tudor members. I have read Erickson’s other works centering on Henry VIII’s wives, Elizabeth I, and others. The information presented here is interesting and relatively well presented, but the problem with this title is it does not center on Princess (and later Queen) Mary. At least three quarters of the book is a regurgitation of the Henry/Katherine/Anne situation. Each of Henry’s wives and their lives are revisited. For a book that is supposed to center on Mary, a lot of space is taken with information about other Tudors already covered in other Erickson titles. The presenter does a fine job reading the book, but when the book is called Bloody Mary, it really should be about her and not just a rehash of Henry VIII’s exploits.

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The book is wonderful - the narration is a little sketchy.

Revisado: 12-29-22

The book is a wonderful and fascinating look into the incredible lives of the Mitford sisters. The book is well researched and entertaining as well as being informative. My only complaint is relatively minor. The narrator pauses in awkward places, as though parts of the sentences being read are on an awkward page turn or were re-recorded later and inserted so the voice doesn’t entirely match. It gives the impression that the narrator is not as familiar with punctuation or how to appropriately follow it verbally when reading aloud. There are pauses and then the reading continues as though a new sentence has begun only to realize after a moment that what’s being said is a continuation of the previous sentence.
Example: “Unity spent a great deal of time in a cafe she knew Hitler liked. (pause-pause-pause). Because she admired him greatly.” This sort of reading style happens throughout the book. Thankfully, the book is interesting enough that it is possible to overlook for the most part.

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The story is great, the narrator is a little over the top

Revisado: 06-10-22

As mentioned, the story is great, but there are a few issues with the narrator. The attempt at an English accent was terrible and should not have been left in the performance. Also, from time to time, the narrator sounded like one of those announcers who advertise the next new action thriller movie. Other than that, it was a great story and I enjoyed it very much.

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The information is quite interesting

Revisado: 05-14-22

The information about the Gilded Age is quite interesting. The only real issue I have is the presentation. O’Donnell is very passionate about his topic, but he stumbles over his words a great deal. At times he has to go back and start his sentence again because he’s saying the wrong words. At one point (Ep 4) he stumbles over his words and the audio is muted entirely for 5 seconds (at least). Perhaps if he had slowed down slightly, the dialogue would not be jumbled up quite so much.

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Wonderfully done!

Revisado: 01-31-22

I read this novel a while back but chose to listen to it as well. The story is wonderful. I was skeptical as to how Kitty could be made into a sympathetic character and this pastiche does a wonderful job of doing just that.

The performance of the novel is very good. The only noticeable issues I came across were minor. At one point, the narrator (Mary Sarah) refers to Kitty when she meant Mary ( I doubt the character Kitty would refer to herself in the third person). There was also one point where she continues to use an accent meant to express the dialogue of the midwife brought in to assist Jane. Even though the speaker changed, Ms. Sarah continued to use the midwife’s accent. These issues, although noticeable, do not detract from the enjoyment of the story.

I was extremely pleased with the audio version of this book.

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