E Wagner

*Shouting from rooftops!

Revisado: 11-22-24

Best book all year, and one that will stay with me for years to come. Perfectly narrated! For a book that helps me feel and understand the effects of extractive colonialism, bone-deep, this is also a story with so much humor, love, and richness. Thank you for the gift of your story, Nemonte Nenquimo. I will pass this one on to as many friends and family as I can. Your story will help us heal.

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

Needs more than 5 stars

Revisado: 01-04-21

I found things in my house to clean so that I had an excuse to listen to this book for longer. Superb story, flawless narration. I can’t wait to recommend it to friends and family.

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Superb Storytelling

Revisado: 12-29-18

Rarely, I listen to an audiobook that inspires me to find a few more chores to do around the house so that I can have an excuse to keep listening. This was that book for me. Beautifully written, utterly absorbing, Circe's story touches on so many familiar threads, but does so in a way that makes them come alive in new ways. I also enjoyed Miller's "Song of Achilles", but loved this one even more. It's no spoiler to say that the ending, in particular, was just about perfect.

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Loved the protagonist!

Revisado: 02-03-18

Often, I find female-hero-protagonists right now to all be in the "Katniss" tough-as-nails kick-ass mold. Which is fine. But Ingray, with her foibles and her sweetness and her more subtle brilliance is a very refreshing heroine. I found her and the other characters around her to be extremely likable and fascinating. I was glad I read the Ancillary books first because it gave me good context for where to place the story, but I would be interested to hear from someone who read this without having that context... I see that Adjoa Andoh has received mixed reviews for her narration, but I found her wide variety of accents and voices to add depth that I think reflects the diversity of the setting-- all these different types of humans and non-humans from different worlds jumbled up together. It works really well.

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esto le resultó útil a 33 personas

I'd recommend this one in hard copy

Revisado: 12-19-17

I love audiobooks, but wish I would've read this one in its actual paper version. The book has pictures and maps that add some nice visuals to the story. Also, I wasn't a big fan at the way Christine Lakin read Sophie's part (which is a large segment of the story). I thought Sophie's character could use a more "grounded" voice... I get that Sophie has a fervent soul with a wide current of transcendentalism, but she didn't need to be as breathy and girlish. As a woman, I guess I'm a little picky and want all my strong women characters (which Sophie certainly is) to be represented that way. It was harder to respect her. It feels like sort of a petty complaint for a book that I certainly enjoyed.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Horrifying and Delightful

Revisado: 06-21-16

Reader Dan Stevens does a splendid job bringing mean-spirited candy-shop owners and bull-headed prefects to life in these memories of Dahl's childhood. He captures Dahl's voice beautifully-- bubbling with the dark humor and pranskter-pleasure that are such powerful ingredients in all Dahl's writing. I found myself recounting bits of this book to friends and family, and I very much look forward to listening to "Going Solo" soon.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Super-interesting, Moderately Sciency

Revisado: 06-04-16

I very much liked this book, and was really very drawn in by her narration of her experiences with various octopuses and those who cared for them. There were many times at which the science-to-poetics ratio was way too heavy on the poetics for my liking. An example from the conclusion of a scuba diving experience: "I ascend with him slowly, like a dying soul reluctant to leave its body, and we watch the silver trail of our bubbles rising above us like shooting stars." Sometimes, the poetics really worked for her, but sometimes they felt sappy and heavy-handed.

However, the personalities of the octopuses in the book, and their relationships to their keepers were, frankly, fascinating. And the discussions and descriptions of other animals--like the electric eel and the anacondas, were also engaging. The good FAR outweighed the bad. I wasn't surprised when I learned that the author does the audio-narration, because she captures the mood of the book so well. But, I did wince at several mispronunciations-- like "azure"

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Plot, please?!

Revisado: 08-18-15

Great premise, engaging writing, but I kept feeling like it was building up to something that never actually happened. I'd like a little more story arc here.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

A story of INGENUITY, richly narrated

Revisado: 07-06-15

Narrator Chike Johnson's warm and accurately-accented reading of William Kamkwamba's story makes me glad that I listened to it on audio rather than just reading it off a page. The beautiful East African accent is easy to understand and helps draw the listener into the story. Moreover, the endurance, resilience, and determination Kamkwamba demonstrates had me practically cheering through the second part of the book as he painstakingly gathers the materials for his windmill.

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esto le resultó útil a 14 personas

The Abridgment Worked

Revisado: 05-09-15

I didn't realize this book was abridged when I bought it; I just liked the audio sample of Elizabeth McGovern reading it. At first, when I figured out that it was abridged, I was annoyed. I never listen to abridgments! However, for this book, it actually worked out just fine. It is hard to trust whoever is editing it down, but I felt like I got the right amount of story without it getting laborious. The characters were sharp and clear and held my interest for 5 or 6 hours. I don't think I would have found 23 hours NEARLY so worthwhile or enjoyable!!

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas