Todd Albert

Sharply written, pleasure to read.

Revisado: 04-08-24

This novel was a breath of fresh air, while it is a classic story in the sense that it revolves around the experiences of a spaceship racing pilot in our solar system. some 320 years in the future, it stood out to me as something finely crafted and different from the worn out tropes that so many SF authors lazily indulge in these days. It was brisk and tightly written, polished. I recommend. And I am immediately moving on to book two. As I write this review audible's "virtual voice" is something new, and after tackling a couple nonfiction works with virtual voice, this was my first work of fiction. The story was compelling enough that the virtual voice was not a hindrance. I found listening at 1.25 playback offered the most natural sounding narration.

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Pointless picaresque drivel.

Revisado: 02-27-24

",,, a dazzling, tragic, and profound novel that belongs next to the greatest works of his contemporaries Melville and Dostoevsky" promises the audible description. This does not hold a candle to the writing of Melville. A classic? (of Brazilian literature) Perhaps. Profound? Not in the least. Good? No. The reader will not come away energized and with mind afire after reading this. If you are panning for gold, look elsewhere, you won't find it here.

High production quality, good translation.

If you decide to listen to the novel anyway, I suggest starting with Chapter 9, marked by the author with the word TRANSITION, when the narrative shifts gears to faux-autobiographical with the narrator's birth. The preceding eight chapters are as revealed by the narrator himself in chapter nine, a deathbed or post-death "delirium". Those chapters are easier to parse, if you read them after reading at least three-quarters of the novel, once the names the narrator refers to have become familiar to the reader.

Favorite turn of phrase from the novel: "While this idea worked on the trapeze in my brain..."
Favorite simile from the novel: "...as pallid as the magpies painted upon a ceiling in Sintra."

Suggested better alternative: Leopoldo Alas "La Regenta" (1884, Spain) translated by John Rutherford

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This audio version (7 hr 43 m) is an abridgment,

Revisado: 01-17-23

I was wondering why this just wasn't as good as other works by Jaume Cabré I've read. I thought perhaps I just wasn't paying attention well enough, so bought a copy to read along - and aha! had my answer. This 7 hour 43 minutes German version is an abridgment of the 443 pp. German translation currently available from Suhrkamp.

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Good story right to the last second

Revisado: 11-10-21

This is the first book I've listened to by this author, and now I will definitely turn to other titles he has written. This is the best listen I've had here on audible in several months.

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A work of non-fiction, for...non-readers?

Revisado: 09-26-21

In this book Andreas Eschbach tackles some of the tropes often found in (bad) science fiction- and discusses if authors responses to these Gedankenspiele are appropriate. Except he handles each topic in the most superficial manner, with just a layman's knowledge. No insights, no new information brought to the table, and the scientific information is already at least a decade out of date. I can't imagine who he was writing for - middle school science fiction enthusiasts? Lazy writing by a gifted writer. the occasional flights of fancy of your high school science teacher were more informative, fun and thought provoking than these essays.

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Extremely Lame, Slow Moving Story.

Revisado: 09-26-21

Eight hours of extremely unoriginal story telling. As if someone had told a precocious thirteen year old who had just discovered narrative formulas to write a novel. I'm a fan of Eschbach, I have over thirty of his stories in my audible account, and this one belongs to the weakest of his works. I only stuck it out to the end because it is the first of five (?) volumes. Something at last did happen in the very last chapter, without explanation, So mabye the reader can hope that in volume two the story will begin? If you are just starting Eschbach, look elsewhere, this read is not rewarding.

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Upbeat Story about a 1910's Travelling Saleswoman

Revisado: 12-10-20

An eye opening story about the life of Emma McChesney, a saleswoman in her mid-30's, divorcee, with a 17 year-old son, who has been on the road for ten years in the Midwest representing a petticoat company. Published in 1913, it was startling to read how safe Emma felt in overwhelmingly male environments. When a hotel was fully booked, she immediately suggested they put up a cot for her in the hall to sleep on. She described how the dress code in sleeper cars at night was relaxed, so women could walk about even in the presence of strange men, in kimonos, standing at the open balcony at the end of the car to cool themselves on summer nights. Emma earns more than her male colleagues, and is recognized by all as a great saleswoman. Wonderful turns of phrase and great writing. Excellent performance by the narrator. The first of three books about Emma.

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Alcoholic is given a second chance? Paris

Revisado: 10-11-20

A homeless man who has been sleeping beneath the bridges of Paris, is one evening given 250 francs by a stranger. Although he promises to repay this beneficence, the stranger declines any debt and says 'should you wish to repay, then give the money someday to the statue of Saint Teresa.' In the next hour and some minutee, of this short story, we watch how this small sum of money causes this man to improve his life, and backslide, to win fortune and friends, and lose them, a half a dozen turns of the wheel of fortune. Very interesting, never predictable. A recommended read. Not for beginners of German. Setting: Paris after the invention of movies.

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NOT a book about LIVIA Emperor Augustus' Wife

Revisado: 05-12-20

I avoided this book at first, thinking it was about Livia, wife of Augustus - both because her life is certainly worth a slew of novels and because the current (2020) kindle versions etc. of the book, have a cover showing a laurel crown of gold. In fact, as you've surely read elsewhere, this is a re-telling of a portion of the Aeneid, from Lavinia, Italian wife of Aeneas's point of view. Well worth the listener's time.

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Richly Textured, I've Re-listened Multiple Times

Revisado: 05-11-20

This is a top quality novel imagining the years Aristotle spent in Macedonia as tutor to Alexander the Great. The writing is a pleasure, full of well thought out details (the kitchen servant plucks a gray hair from her head, and uses it to slice a hard-boiled egg, King Philip sweetens his breath by chewing parsley, the field medic in a quiet moment, shows Aristotle the wooden soldiers he has carved and painted in the colors of the opposing armies). I own and have listened to seventy-one novels of historical fiction set in the Ancient Greek or Roman world here on audible, and dozens more not available here, and I rank this novel near the top with my favorites by Mary Renault and Colleen McCullough. What other reviewers have noted about the narration - that the narrator does not do well at distinguishing voices is true, but it's only a minor inconvenience. In the seven years I've owned this novel, I find myself returning to it again and again. There is a sequel to this book, focusing on Aristotle's daughter, which I wish audible would record as well.

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