CAS

Original parts are good

Revisado: 04-12-24

I head a lot of buzz about this book and was influenced by the positive NY Times review.

As a child my mom read us Huckleberry Finn over many many bedtimes and I remember liking it. To prepare for this book I relistened to Huck Finn and was struck, now as an adult, by the difference between how we perceive things as kids (white, from Colorado, child of white north eastern parents) and what we now notice as adults (widely read, college degrees, curious and engaged in the world). Now I know what 'bitters' are. I was also struck by how good of an adult Jim was written -- loving, protective -- and how short of an intellectual hand he was given to show. I can certainly feel how that should unsettle and grate on people. Huck struck me as a pretty good kiddo. I don't like him thinking of turning Jim in, but I can see that as a part of his southern view point of the time. Tom Sawyer was hugely grating. What a little &^%$.

So, in Mr. Everett's retelling, the opening parts where he is orienting his story to the material he has chosen to reinvent are limited. It was tempting to just discontinue.

I did appreciate his observation that, to Huck and Tom, he was just a toy. That is very much how Tom treats him in the end of Twain's work.

The code switching speech and secret classes teaching idioms were very unlikely -- I understand Mr. Everett is telling a fictional story that he wants to tell, but the problem with fiction is that is has to make sense. Real life can be absolutely insane. Anything can and does happen with out reason or rhyme. Not fiction. It pulls you from the story.

Maybe midway is where the original parts of Mr. Everett's work begin and those are fluid and interesting. I won't ruin them for you. I wish that he had, maybe, written a sort of sequel instead, with limited flashbacks to tie the narrative into the work he was sourcing. Based on the original parts I'd say he is a good writer and his other works are probably very engaging, I will read another of Mr. Everett's work, but think he should maybe stay away from trying to save things that already exist, offensive, grating, or not.

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Fun right up to the "Red Indian" scalpers part

Revisado: 08-22-22

Inventive and well read, was enjoying it with my daughters (6 & 8) very much right up to the final 10 minutes when one of the sons wishes there were "red indians" in England. These are predictably racist stereotypes -- a product of the times. Sadly, it ruins the whole listen. I skipped over it and talked to my older, more aware child about it. We live in the West and my kids go to school with Native American children. It's not ok. Would be a great book to 5% rewrite, or to study for systemic racism. Otherwise, not for general consumption.

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Compelling

Revisado: 07-22-21

Interesting and gripping. One of the best books I've listened to this year. Be prepared to cry for the last two or so hours.

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Just as Hilarious and Unpredictable as John Dies..

Revisado: 08-06-18

Loved it. This is not normally my genre, but I appreciate a good story that I can’t predict and I enjoy the characters. This one was possibly even better than John Dies at the End. Same reader and very well done. Compelling story. Hilarity of the innocence of the dog. I couldn’t stop telling people about what I was reading and how funny it was.

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Delightful book for a child with a new baby sibling

Revisado: 08-06-18

Emily Jenkins has a great feel for dogs and captures wonderful stories. This one is also very well read. It’s very simple, two dogs are the original “kids” of a family, but then there is a new baby and they do not care for it. A child who has just found his or herself in this position will definitely identify. All ends well.

Good as just a real physical book, but the reading of this one is excellent.

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Not fun

Revisado: 06-09-18

The first two stories in this trilogy were hilarious and dark and delightfully unpredictable, but this one just lacked everything. The reader is different for this book as well, and much is lost in that. This narrator’s voicing choices turn the Dr into a jerk, and make David and Amy nearly indistinguishable in parts. The plot line is deeply unsatisfying. I was unable to be amused by child monsters.

I’d say skip it. Maybe read the other books being written by this author, or wait for a 4th John Dies at the End book and try that one instead.

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Waste of Time, Waste of Time

Revisado: 01-04-18

The blurb sounded somewhat interesting, but if this is supposed to be fantasy fiction -- who would want to hear about such stupid people in such an awful place? and if this is supposed to be realistic fiction -- who would want to know that the world sucks this much?

I gave this about 2 hours on a long drive and found that a few days later I couldn't even remember what book I had been listening to. When I found it again in my audible app I gave it another 20 minutes, but life is too short to care this little.

I found that while I was abstractly somewhat sorry that fictional people had fictionally died I cared nothing about anyone in the story.
The clincher was the fact that the story was so unengaging that I couldn't remember it existed, but the first thing that drove me away was definitely that the cop character had a bottle of liquor in his glove box. Really? A cop with an open container in a vehicle? I realize the writer was trying to illustrate that the cop was self-medicating with liquor (how original), but this is something that no relatable or respectable law officer would do. Even when your marriage is on the rocks there are professional lines.

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You have to really want it

Revisado: 05-28-15

This book seems (3 hours in) well-researched and no doubt very educational, but I just can't maintain interest. I even tried skipping ahead, searching for something that would be engaging, but could find nothing other than more grinding academia. I listen to a lot of nonfiction, and many writer or readers can make that nonfiction interesting, but that is not the case here.

It's like the Illiad. You know you should read it, you know it is important, but you run the very real risk of falling into a stupor of duty and running your vehicle off the road.

Sorry to have to skip it.

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Sounded interesting, but...

Revisado: 01-16-15

I thought this would be heavy on the true crime side of things with lots and lots of fascinating clues and impressive deductions.
It was about 50% what I was hoping for and 50% a loving biography of the pathologist and the lab guy. Yes, they were interesting, and they sounded like sterling fellows, both of them, but it was not a thrilling listen. The organization of the book was a little strange as well.

It was ok, but I wouldn't recommend it.

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I understand why people dislike this book

Revisado: 10-09-14

Despite many poor reviews I kept coming back to this title in my wish list. Yes, it is a novel that doesn't satisfy, but it also does not completely let you down.

The narrator does not add to the story, neither does the main character, who is whiny and constantly making the wrong choices. You do want to reach out and strangle him.

What saves the story and keeps you listening is the writer's occasionally perfect pieces of figurative language and 1 or 2 universal truths like a person might find when reading a piece of higher literature. I liked the idea that we are all, at some level of consciousness, hoping we are not in our own lives a specific character that we have read. Also, it's intriguing to consider the idea that many people who love to read despise the classics and would relish burning the homes of these classic writers to the ground.

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