D. A. Smith

Familiar Material Sensationalized

Revisado: 04-20-25

Well, Christie's disappearance was sensational, of course. But Christie was intelligent, disciplined, capable of incredible focus, intensely interested in other people, witty in a way that only perspective of one's own faults provides. This author's attempt to catch her inner thoughts and feelings strikes me as dumbed down to average soap opera fare. The reading style is too emotive.

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Vintage Agatha Christie, Excellent Narration

Revisado: 04-19-25

Here is your opportunity to meet Miss Marple before she became a more established character in some of Christie's full length novels. Stevenson does an exceptional job reading.

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Good Writer; Poor Narration

Revisado: 04-14-25

Narrating a book must be so difficult that I hesitate to criticize a reader who at least ennuciates well and reads at a comprehensible pace. However, this narrator's reading is poor -- everything given equal emphasis, an odd inflection for many sentences, little attempt to create different voices for different characters, and with no apparent understanding of the significance of developments to the unfolding of the story. A better version with overlapping content is "Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories: A Miss Marple Collection" narrated by Juliet Stevenson.

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Interesting Plot; Well Written; Proselytizing

Revisado: 01-05-24

Take note that this is described as "Christian Fiction." It's an old-fashioned story with an intriguing premise, plausible characters richly portrayed, and a genuine effort to show character development...although the less religiously inclined reader may not find the direction of this growth and its plot resolution satisfying or plausible. Interior dialogue makes up a large part of the book. For me, that was too much. I felt tempted at times to tell these people to get over themselves. The proselytizing becomes increasingly obtrusive in the final chapters; I found these tough going.

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Not for the Strong Hearted

Revisado: 11-21-23

My first and last book by this author. I was disappointed. I hoped it would center around a mature, strong woman coping with significant life change. Well, it did to some degree, but the mother of the four adult sons is at best a minor character. Her contribution seems primarily serving others food. Most of the book focuses on the predictable and hackneyed romance between one of her sons, an annoyingly perfect strong male, and a young woman recovering from trauma. The plot is a thriller type, one in which the characters assert they have grown together because they have faced danger together -- a good premise, but unfortunately, we don't see that growth happening. If you buy into the philosophy that the right person will solve your problems, this might be the book for you. If you value strong women, look elsewhere.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Not Very Plausible Seniors

Revisado: 11-02-23

These characters are drawn with some perspective of life experience, yet are far too captured by the sturm and drang of their at-times teenager-like relationship woes to be very plausible. Crises seem artificially induced to move the plot along. Mildly interesting plot, witty dialog. No real character growth. Resolution feels pat and a bit patched on, Excellent narration; this alone makes the book worth a listen.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Interesting premise; poor execution

Revisado: 05-18-23

Disappointing. This is more of an outline of a story rather than the story itself. The plot is entirely predictable -- not necessarily a bad thing -- but it seems a shame the author didn't put more work into individualizing the characters. Most annoying to me was the superficial and stereotypical handling of the old people, glossing over real problems, suggesting all you really need in old age is attitude. Young people and old people so rarely spend quality time together that you might hope this would portray an opportunity for learning on both sides of the age divide, and perhaps some growth in character. Didn't happen. A flimsy feel-good without substance.

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Engaging, Witty Tour of Landscape of Generations

Revisado: 02-09-23

This is an entertaining, often hilarious book which accurately portrays our foibles without undermining our faith in humanity. The narration is excellent.

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Dramatisation, not Narration

Revisado: 02-17-22

Very disappointing. I thought I was buying a narration of the book. As dramatizations go, it's well-done -- excellent acting, and it captures plot and principal characters well. Some secondary characters are quite difficult to distinguish. It loses a very great deal by discarding Sayers' excellent prose. There is little left of literary merit, in my opinion. If you want dumbed-down Sayers, this is for you.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Narrator Not a Good Match for this Book

Revisado: 01-30-20

I have several copies of this book read by different readers. This is my least-favorite. The pace is too brisk. The reader's accent often tiptoes into an unwelcome Brit upper class nasality -- possibly excellent in other books, but not appropriate here, The reader may be unfamiliar with American idiom, at least, the idiom of yesteryear. Many phrases have a jarringly incorrect emphasis. The reader is at her best when Alcott is being witty. That comes across well.

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