Valerie

Predictable

Revisado: 10-18-24

There was nothing original in the plot. I knew the murderer as soon as the victim was revealed.

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Prepare for a powerful experience

Revisado: 02-21-19

I learned so much about politics, people, the world, and Michelle Obama. What an amazing book! Try not to gasp at parts (the presidential motorcade) and cry at many, many others as you read this memoir of love and dedication to service. Should be required reading for every voter in America.

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What a delight!

Revisado: 09-18-18

I stumbled on this book and decided to give it a try. The parallels between it and “A Study in Scarlet” are multiple and kept me grinning every time one popped up. The story is fascinating and kept me guessing as to what was going on. Lots of twists. The performance was excellent. Reading did a wonderful job of making each person have her/his voice. This is a fun book with a fantastic feminist and fresh take on a familiar character.

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Faulty Pronunciation was Extremely Annoying

Revisado: 08-21-18

I enjoy historical fiction and have read several of Margaret Atwood's books, so looked forward to listening to this book, which is based on an actual event. That said, I must resoundingly echo previous reviews that cite the horrendous mispronunciation of countless words.

The first time I heard one, I honestly thought I had just heard it wrong. But it happened over and over. I about choked when Gadon said "ennui" and pronounced it En-u-WEE. Seriously?

To me, this represented shoddy and lazy production. Maybe Gadon couldn't be bothered to look up words that were unfamiliar to her, but wasn't there someone--a producer or editor or anyone--to say, "Wait! It's DECK-or-us, not dee-CHORus."

If I were Atwood, I would be furious that my book was so poorly read. When the reading is that distracting, it detracts from the entire experience.

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Loved everything about this!

Revisado: 03-01-18

The story was engaging, the characters were captivating, and the performance was wonderful. I’ve already told several people about it. I smiled, I cried, I cared.

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Liked the story, but performance was irritating

Revisado: 02-13-18

I chose this because it was supposed to be one of the funniest books of 2017. Although I enjoyed the story and smiled several times, I wouldn’t say it was laugh-out-loud funny.

However I very much enjoyed learning about a culture and part of the world with which I was unfamiliar.

Although there were a lot of characters, the author did a good job of reminding us of who was who, so I could follow the plot and character development. Perhaps the ending was a bit too pat and happily ever after, but that didn’t bother me.

What did bother me was the inexplicable performance of conversations. The first time it happened, I thought it was a misread, but the problem was pervasive and hindered my appreciation of the story.

Lydia Look read conversation like I’ve never experienced. She treated the commas as periods. Instead of:
“The sky is blue,” she said with a smile.
“I love the clouds,” he agreed with a nod.

It was:
“The sky is blue.”
She said with a smile.
“I loved the clouds.”
He agreed with a nod.

We had no idea who said “I loved the clouds.” Was it a continuing comment from her or did he say it?

When long conversations took place, I actually was often bewildered by exactly who was speaking.

This was a huge negative for me and significantly marred my enjoyment of the book.

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Story fine, but reading was irritating

Revisado: 10-07-17

I wish I would have read this book instead of listening to it.

First, the positive. It was an enjoyable, fairly predictable story. As an avid reader, I found it fun to identify book references. I also developed a list of books to check out thanks to this novel.

On the one hand, the author got some details about Iowa right (“pop” for soft drinks), but others were laughable. Cowboy hats in eastern Iowa? No way. Feed caps. Harvest not happening until October? But given that she was Swedish, I give her kudos for her efforts.

What REALLY irritated me and honestly almost made me quit listening was the incredibly inaccurate portrayal of how people in Iowa talk. It’s the MIDWEST. The only time it sounded as if an Iowan was talking was when Amy’s part was being read.

I was fine with the British-sounding overall narrative, and I have no idea if the Swedish accent was correct, but anyone from Iowa sounded southern. And what a mishmash! Texas, Tennessee, Georgia. I’m not exaggerating when I said I winced inwardly whenever someone “spoke.” The inaccuracy was atrocious.

The irony is that people in Iowa speak fairly standard, dictionary-defined English. At one point, they kept saying “the law” and it was pronounced “the lor.” I literally laughed out loud when I heard it.

No, I’m not from Iowa, but I lived there for seven years and am a Midwesterner myself. That’s why I know Amy sounded perfect and everyone else sounded so very wrong.

Perhaps I might have found myself enjoying the story better if listening hadn’t been so frustrating.

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