Florida Man

It felt like a lot of snippets without the right type of continuity... terrible narration

Revisado: 09-17-24

I hate to be judgmental when it's somebody sharing a personal memoir like this. I suppose they have to tell it however they have to tell it. And it wasn't poorly written. but I felt like the continuity was weird and it just was like a lot of quirky little stories pushed together. you got an idea of the controlling nature of Dolores but not the full picture.
But it would have been better as well with a different narrator. The narrator would have been okay had she just read the book. but she tried to put all this inflection and emotion and drama into it and she just did not pull it off. the wrong inflections at every point. These ridiculous poised pauses and overacting.... I spent a good chunk of the story rolling my eyes at the narrator.

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I listened to the first and enjoyed this second book

Revisado: 08-15-24

I really enjoy women 's literature about the lives of Indian women. there are quite a few out these days. And so far this series and this author does not disappoint. well, things are somewhat pat and not necessarily as complex as they are in real life, sometimes it's nice to have everything just become buttoned up in a story. I found this on the first one. interesting and entertaining. I'm certain I will purchase the third.
I love the narrator's voice and inflections. Her voice is like butter, And they chose a woman with enough strength in her voice to match the lead character

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Heartbreaking and well done

Revisado: 07-23-24

This particular story was very hard to hear. It wasn't so much graphic gory details, it was the deep emotional pain you knew this child had experienced. For some twisted reason I devour stories of terrible happenings and abuse but this one hit me hard, and differently.
SPOILER - in a lot of big stories, the parent is terrible from the start, or whoever the abuser is. But the thought of having a loving mother who you loved and needed turn on you is something which is unimaginable to me. Because she knew the difference she just kept trying to get back to that place and I can't imagine a child sitting there. wondering for years how her mother could hate her- The one person who is supposed to love you unconditionally.
The other part of the story which was hard is the thought of being shunned inside of your own family. I couldn't handle that as a middle-aged woman so I don't know how a child handles that, especially one in the formative years and experiencing it for years on end. The mother obviously had a deep-seated need for control before she even had the accident. my guess is she already had serious emotional problems before the death of her daughter and her accident.
This books did a really good job of explaining depths of loneliness, The feeling of a lack of control and how the dysfunction affected multiple members of the family. It was really difficult to understand how thefather could allow this to continue but I have to remember that men get abused too and we was also a victim of abuse and control- although it's still kind of hard to forgive that weakness.

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tedious

Revisado: 07-03-24

I don't do a lot of true crime so maybe that's why this wasn't my favorite. but I do occasionally listen to it and I just thought this was really dry and boring. it went on and on with the setup of Houston And while I can appreciate giving background on the people in place, that was over 2/3 of the book. It also didn't translate well to audio because there are so many names to track that. I started confusing all of the victims and their families- but maybe that part is just me

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I love this one!

Revisado: 12-30-23

I adore Lisa Jewell. She has so many books that some are going to win out over others, obviously. I feel like the last few of them really gripping, including this. As always, the production and voice actors are fantastic. The story is really interesting and had me hooked very quickly in. And that's what I love about Jewell- her books are almost like a thriller or there's some hint of mystery, but really the whole while it's also all about the characters. Maybe it's my age. I'm pretty sure her demographic is middle-aged women. And it's funny that the two main characters are 45 and so am I, So I found it very easy to relate to the mindset. I always do.
Anyway, another winner!

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I won't be ordering the third one in the series

Revisado: 12-14-23

I had really enjoyed The butterfly Garden. It wasn't great literature but the story was interesting and engaging. However, book two is just bad. How many times. can you just keep repeating the same theme of the angry yet strong victim? This book and the characters in it were so underdeveloped and one-sided. every single female in the book is the same archetype of the strong yet caring woman and so so angry. at underneath it all they've got a heart of gold. It's an extremely pat view of trauma. You know how a child will tell a joke and people laugh so the child then repeats the joke 50 times? That's what this book felt like. The author just kept repeating the same type of conversation, the same exact type of interaction. The gristled FBI agent who somehow lets these victims in. And how many times did they need to repeat that the mom was terrifying? that was probably repeated about 20 times, not in any kind of show you in the story way, just repeated,ad nauseum.
and I have fortunately never been the victim of a crime where I had to be involved with the FBI. However, I highly highly doubt that they become such good friends with the victims of the cases that they let them into their homes to hang out with their families. None of this actually tracked with any kind of reality. that part would be a little more forgivable if there was actually more development of the characters and the story. It was the one-sided characters. that really did it though.
I have this bad habit of. once I start a book I have to finish it, no matter how much I despise it. I was basically cheering when it finally ended. if you have this same bad habit then do yourself a favor and don't order this book

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Wow! Heartbreaking story but it's told quite well

Revisado: 08-20-23

This story is absolutely crushing at times, and very difficult to hear. You just want to grab this child and hold her and comfort her and tell her it's not her fault. And you will become incensed as the listener as you hear all the unfair and horrific details, not only of the abuser but of the system itself.
but she doesn't sit there and get overly graphic with the sexual details per se. What she does and does extremely well is to give you a sense of what this felt like from a child's point of view. I thought she was absolutely brilliant at giving at least a small window into how confusing this type of trauma would be for a child. For me it is unimaginable. And honestly, there were times where I found the mental and emotional abuse to actually seem more horrible and shocking than some of the sexual abuse. To make a child think she is unloved and to use her own fear against her as a weapon, and this coming from the very people who are supposed to be her champions and her biggest support- It was just heartbreaking. Of course, the sexual trauma was pretty horrific so I'm not trying to make light of that.
But the fact that this woman managed to pick herself up and do the things that she did is amazing. This woman is amazing. After listening to this it makes me just want to hug her and tell her how special she is. This really is a good book. I should also add the narration is impeccable

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Brilliant!

Revisado: 06-07-23

This is one of the best things I've ever listened to. Maybe one of the best books I've ever encountered. I think it might be the sort of thing that people either love or hate. I loved it! I thought the author was so insightful, again and again.Had this been a regular book I probably would have underlined or highlighted passages, which I do not typically do. But St Aubyn touched on so many truths that it was nothing less than thoroughly impressive. And even though the subject matter is quite dark, it was hilarious. Anytime I was listening in public I probably looked a little crazy, appearing to be laughing heartily by myself. I think the humor was probably my favorite part.
I did wonder if I would have loved it the same way if I had read it. I say this because the narrator was also so incredibly top notch in his delivery that it was a true performance.
The entire series was amazing and I highly recommend!

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Heartbreaking story

Revisado: 04-11-23

This is an interesting tale which gets into the details of how she survived her day-to-day ordeal. it had a bit of a slow start but once the story really grabbed me I could feel the day-to-day pressure, the evil she endured and it did a really good job of bringing you into that world, at least as much as possible as an observer. Idk how women get through these situations. However I'm left feeling extremely angry and disgusted by the UK system. On one hand there's overwhelming support and on the other there's punishment for being in an abusive relationship. So I'm left feeling broken hearted for this woman.

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I really enjoyed this King novel

Revisado: 03-10-23

I am not any kind of typical Stephen King die hard fan. A lot fall flat. However, some of his stories really hit for me and they're fabulous. This was one. I've actually enjoyed some of his more current work a lot more than the old stuff. Although books like Four Seasons are still some of my favorites. Anyway, this one had a different kind of idea behind it and I was always eager to see where the story would go. I really liked the protagonist and characters. I also felt like the language and the characters were more up to date than the way they used to speak. Even his characters from the 80s books used to speak like they were in the 1950s and that's changed. He's a lot more current and on point with current times in his settings and dialogue and character's reactions and I like that.
I thought the narration was fantastic. at the very start I sent the narrator seemed a little flat in his voice but as the story went on it really worked.


SPOILER ALERT
One of my favorite parts of the audiobook was how they changed to make it sound like it was really an old man recording on a scratchy old tape recorder in the scene where Charlie listens to it. That was a cool touch and I was waiting to hear Mr Boditch spill it, so that was a neat bit. I think I read somewhere that King himself did that part.

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