Paul Z

Move Over King Kong

Revisado: 09-30-23

For the last few years I considered James McBride's Deacon King Kong my favorite audio book, but now comes Heaven and Earth Grocery Store an amazing tale of life on Chicken Hill in 1930's rural Pennsylvania where Blacks and Jews live harmoniously despite poverty, racism and ignorance and Is now my new favorite.

The book follows many unforgettable characters on their mission to right a wrong that effected both communities, it is as humorous as it is heartbreaking, uplifting and inspiring.

James McBride manages to weave great stories about social injustices without politicizing and preaching, Unlike many today He does not marginalize his readers.

Dominic Hoffman may be the best narrator in the business, his ability to make a conversation between 4 different people sound like four different people is awesome.

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Struggled to finish

Revisado: 08-19-23

This story really fizzled out fast, with too many tropes and unlikeable characters, Earthside is a big disappointment to many who like the premise of the story but are let down by the petty politics and generalizing of certain character types.


SPOILER ALERT:
The book is also filled with many unnecessary sub plots , like the serial killer who picks off some peripheral characters, is then caught put on trial and exiled to a certain death, why bother , this added nothing to the story and the outcome was predictable.

Ray Porter is good as usual but he really needs to work on his female voices, they always sound bitchy and indistinctive from each other.

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Better than the TV show, but not by much

Revisado: 05-07-23

When I started watching the Apple TV adaptation of this book I said I like the premise here but I bet the book is much better because the show is awful and after 5 episodes I quit watching and got the book and yes it is better, but not by much, (and of course after all the characters are introduced it turns out that Apple had recast most of them to fit todays diversity standards))

The Big Door Prize is a book that lacks a likeable protagonist and all the characters are whiny, self reflective dullards. What I thought was the premise of the book is never explained ,the sexual abuse angle is never played out and whatever allegory that is trying to made here is murky.

The Big Door Prize was something that started out to be a cool mystery about a fortune telling machine but just slowly disintegrated into a boring mess that I couldn't wait to be over.

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Poetically Unjust

Revisado: 02-11-23

Such a hard review to write because this book is so great on so many levels, Absurdly funny, dark and horrific , poetically unjust, I can go on for a while, Lapvona is like a Halloween haunted house where you are uneasy the whole time you're in it and then come out and say that was great lets do it again. Lapvonas charcters are like no others and there are scenes that will haunt you for days after reading.

Moshfegh is the most genuine and unique writer in some time, her stories lack likeable or sympathetic protaganists overcoming impossible hurdles but feature real people stumbling over the hurdles of day to day life, there are no "you go girl" moments in her stories but delightfully many "oh no you didn't" ones.

Her writing is visual and very descriptive which makes her not for everyone, I find her to be matter of fact where others find her gross. It is easy to imagine Lapvonas world with its unforgettable characters and its many contrasts.

Moshfegh also does a great job narrating Lapvona and am looking forward to her next novel. These days a stand alone story writer who's books are not just trying to get you to the next one in a series is quite refreshing,

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A book that did not need to be written

Revisado: 12-18-22

Not sure what the purpose of this book is, it falls way short of the charm,insightfulness and hilarity that has made Perotta a fan favorite for decades. TFCW does nothing more than revisit an old character sans the overly extroverted zeal that made her so iconic. Many character's are way under developed and we end up with a plethera of cliches and a predictable story line.

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Short Story Long

Revisado: 11-15-22

I am not sure what the purpose of this story was, but entertainment surely was not it. The story starts out going one direction then abandons the plot line and heads in a more ridiculous direction.

Without give out spoilers, I feel this story could of been a 90 minute novella but instead was 10 hour waste of time. In the end I was left shaking my head wondering what was that all about and frankly I could not care less.

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Fairy Fail

Revisado: 10-08-22

Steven King has a huge vocabulary but the word concise is not in it, this book would have been twice as good had it been 1/2 as long. The story which starts out fine never delivers the thrills and chills we were hoping to find when acquiring this book.

Seth Numrich adds nothing to the story and if anything made it more tedious.

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Brutal

Revisado: 09-24-22

What a ridiculous premise and unoriginal story! complete with a smarmy AI named Sheldon (ala Skippy) which has an affected accent, insults the humans while helping them fight aliens, pontificates about global warming and right wing conspiracy groups, makes high tech devices and is an over all McGuffin. This story has very little actual science and is basically a story about 3 kids who find a genie.

PS: This is about as bad as Ready Player 2!

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Cleverly Written

Revisado: 08-28-22

John Boyne has written many remarkable characters and this book gives us another, Beverly Cleverly! pretty much the antithesis of Maude Avery, Beverly and her ghosts provide hilarity as Boyne dissects the world of social media with his keen insights and biting wit! Boyne exposes the toxicity of cancel culture in this hilarious absurdist romp that is nearly 15 hours long but leaves you wanting more.

Richard E Grant is perfect for this book and delivers a stellar performance.

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Spellbound again

Revisado: 07-09-22

I don't usually go for magic and fantasy books much but Luanne G. Smith somehow keeps me coming back for more and doing so she has set herself apart from all the other authors in this genre! So I have come to this conclusion, it is that Luanne G. Smith is using a magic spell on her readers and listeners, seriously! how else can a book about some spell casting women in turn of the 20th century England keep me captivated for 8 hours without the uses of witchcraft?

All kidding aside this book like her other books gets right to the point and doesn't let up until the end, The narration was perfect and it's not an over written story like so many are in this field.

Another great thing about her books is that they are all stand alone books that take part in a series , you can any enjoy of them without having to read the others.

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