Rachel McLaughlin

We need to talk about Hobart

Revisado: 12-06-21

We Australians are great at coming together after a catastrophe. We are weak when it comes to preventing them. Hobart is a beautiful city. Are we just going to wait until it is destroyed by fire? The scientific evidence is clear: “of course” it is going to burn. The only question is whether we’re smart and brave enough to accept the science and make the big changes that it demands.

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A timely reminder of the dangers of unrealistic optimism

Revisado: 10-30-21

An astute and evidence-based assessment of the events around the Battle of Kiev, a human-rights tragedy of astounding proportions. TV documentaries may breathlessly praise the daring and power of Hitler’s decision to risk a battle at Kiev. But as David Stahel points out, this decision was entirely divorced from any sustainable strategy. Stalin’s stubborn and inhumane insistence on directing tactics was in fact the real “genius” of the Nazi victory.
Although it’s not the focus of the book, Stahel does shine a light on the crimes against humanity committed by the Nazi rank and file, as well as by their officers, and how the fascist philosophy blinded its adherents to the realities of the challenges they were facing. I would have liked to learn more about the experiences of the civilian population. The people of Ukraine are mentioned only as victims of Nazi crimes, rather than real people with culture and agency.
Two stars for the reader. I’ll avoid any books read by this guy. Stultifying intonation, toe-curlingly bad mispronunciations of German words. He diminished my enjoyment of an otherwise good book.

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Terrible narrator

Revisado: 01-15-20

Peter Joyce has a strange and inconsistent style, making this story - almost exclusively populated by heterosexual male characters and written in an adolescent style - very difficult to listen to.

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Better than the original English!

Revisado: 11-24-16

A masterful performance by Matthias Lühn and excellent translation by the translator. I was curious to discover a German adaptation of the concept of "Forging", based on the name of the village Forge, and was a little disappointed that the translator side-stepped that wonderfully evocative concept that Hobb invented. But apart from that, I loved listening to this excellent reading and high-quality audio. Bravo!

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Dreadful narrator, weak book

Revisado: 11-17-16

Sorry, but Anne Flosnik made this audiobook very difficult to enjoy. Breathy, overly dramatic and unsubtle, her narration only served to emphasise the weakest elements of this book. As is often the case with Robin Hobb's last-in-series volumes, Blood of Dragons loses its narrative trim, becoming flabby, discordant and wandering. Even the most well-meaning reader's narrative commitment is taxed. I almost wish I'd stopped after the first three in thus series: the writing and the other narrators are much better.

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Classic sci-fi but unmodulated reading

Revisado: 03-22-15

Perhaps it's a result of the writing style of Isaac Asimov, but this reading eventually got on my nerves. There was too much forceful, dramatic pronunciation, and not enough variety and modulation in tone. I was left feeling that there was one main character in the book: that of Scott Brick, the narrator. More nuance and colour would have made it more enjoyable.

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Superb reading of a superb novel

Revisado: 03-09-15

At times disturbing, even nightmarish, yet also rich in redemptive kindness and acutely-observed human love, The Buried Giant is an allegory for a generation that is dealing with the intensely personal pain of Alzheimers while also struggling with loud, public arguments about ignoring history. From Australians' denial of their genocidal history, to Japan's school curriculum on WW2, to the southern USA's refusal to mark the locations of white lynchings of African Americans: this novel is as timely as it is deeply touching.

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