David LM McIntyre

Enjoyed, but why reset in the U.S. ?

Revisado: 02-07-25

I enjoy this series, but wish it had been left in its original British setting. Making everything American flattens the characters, stripping them of their original specific context.
I hate this publishing pressure to Americanize books from the U.K. The books are written in English and don’t need to be translated. And the aspects of idiom and daily life which aren’t immediately recognizable help to make the reading experience more intriguing and compelling.

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Indulgent and Shallow

Revisado: 08-18-24

At first I thought it was just the whiny, petulant tone of the reader’s voice, but as I continued, I realized that the callowness of a narrator who changes the pronunciation of significant proper names matched well with writing, which presented hyperbolic quotes from the time without cultural context.

Poe’s marriage to his 13 year old cousin is just mentioned and accepted. The complete lack of autonomy of most women at the time is completely elided except to portray the few women who do take an active hand in controlling their own lives as scoundrels and villains. (While Poe was off on his binges m, no real consideration is given to his ailing child-wife or his aunt, who seem to be keeping things functioning at home. Or maybe not. They scarcely exist as individuals and more as loving pets.)

There are lengthy passages railing against the abortionists of the era with no context to the role they played in the society. It’s seems clear that the entire abortion issue was a distraction from the original case, but it’s easy to lose track of that given the extent of the quotes included.

TL;DR
A few interesting facts are strung together with a great deal of contradictory research to create a book which offers no perspective or real humanity.

It’s too long
Don’t read

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A wonderful meditation

Revisado: 08-05-24

I don’t know how it’s possible to love a writer’s “voice” so much, but find her literal voice so off-putting. My own idiosyncratic peevishness aside, this book was a wonder and a delight.

It is Bread AND Roses

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A whodunnit that’s also a whoami

Revisado: 06-16-24

I’m delighted to have chanced upon this book and am excitedly looking forward to the next book in the series.

She writes with great humanity and compassion. There’s an amusing scene in which two characters meet each other and start quarreling, but the reader is torn because we are equally on both sides.

The central existential mystery is of someone doing basic detective work to learn the truth of who they themselves are.

I found the journey thrilling.

The narrator did a tremendous job of differentiating each of the characters and bringing their emotions and thoughts to life. The recording is an older one and lacks the polish of more recent audiobooks, but even so, if you’re in the mood for a Victorian existential crime novel with a strong sense of class oppression and injustices, then I must insist that you are looking for this very book!

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Tom Robbins rewriting Illuminati’s Trilogy

Revisado: 01-19-24

I enjoyed this. It’s the kind of hippy-dippy sci-fi I grew up reading.

Many others were thrown by John Waters voice. They obviously did not know who he was when they went in to this.
I agree that, at times, it gets tricky to figure out who’s speaking. (John Waters does not do “voices”.) But his presence as the reader helped highlight the theme of finding value and worth in Trash. I’m glad that had him read this. Else I might not have given it a chance.

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Deeply Unpleasant Bigotry

Revisado: 08-20-23

After the open homophobia and bigotry of the detective was shoved in my face, I had to stop.

Looking back on the callous portrayal of the gay character in Magpie Murders I am feeling there is too much of an ugly pattern in his writing for me to enjoy it.

I don’t want to get into the head of bigots. I don’t want to spend time with them. And I don’t want to read books by them.

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This is a religious book - it should say that on the cover

Revisado: 09-21-21

I was recommended this book by a casual acquaintance and it seemed like exactly what I was looking for. As it began, I assumed the references to “being a good Christian” were just for the initial case study being presented. But it quickly became clear that, although the two authors have “Dr.” before their names, all the arguments, advice and evidence presented would be entirely biblical.
The strong Christian Protestant basis for the book would be an issue for me in itself, as I am Jewish and an atheist.
But the reliance on biblical verse to back up every statement amounts to a long sermon which could best be summarized as “take responsibility for yourself because the Bible tells you to.”
Inherent in the world view of the book is the strong basis in American Protestant Capitalism and a general Conservatism in regards to people’s responsibility to their community and society.

Strongly recommend this book’s description be rewritten so others can avoid my mistake of purchasing it.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Poorly written and read as though at gun-point

Revisado: 08-15-19

As a person with narcolepsy, I am always looking for more stories and information on this incurable chronic disability. I was hoping this might be a source. It failed to reveal any new information while simultaneously garbling information I already had.

I wonder if this wasn’t a hastily thrown together book, given the number of bewildering errors. Or perhaps the reading copy given was just riddled with typos. Either way, it was difficult to listen to and even harder to extract clear information from:

At the very least, I’d hope the reader could have pronounced hypercretin correctly; it’s the neurotransmitter that lies at the heart of narcolepsy and he says the word hundreds of times.

I hope neither this author nor this reader publish any additional work. This book was a waste of my time. And, as a person with narcolepsy, my waking moments are precious. I strongly resent whoever was behind this.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Shallow Jerk who knows a few actual things

Revisado: 04-01-18

There are so many better versions of this book, things you can read which convey the same message but without the self-indulgent whiny, privileged white boy anecdotes.

A recent better choice is The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman. Better written, better researched and doesn’t leave you feeling like you just spent way too much time with an annoying frat boy.

Alan Watts is fun if you’re stoned and in college. And The Denial of Death is great when you’ve graduated and a little more mature.

I did very much like his distinction between “fault” and “responsibility” - I don’t recall hearing that particular grammatical distinction before and I think it’s more useful than ever today.

Other aspects of this book have aged far less well into the post-Weinstein age of Trump. And it gives an unpleasant aura to this text.

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Trundling towards a clunky ending

Revisado: 01-12-17

The internal inconsistencies in this world pile up and overwhelm any charm that the original book may have used to win me over. Overlong, poorly written, and poorly plotted. The narrator tries to make it work, but there's little hope.

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