Harry Haller

The Author Ruined a Good Premise

Revisado: 06-25-23

The premise of the book interested me very much. A populist, reactionary President who leads an intrusive government, with the blessings of the vocal majority, sets out to protect "normal" law-abiding citizens from dangerous (morally and otherwise) individuals, oppressing the said individuals in various ways, including identifying them with extra shadows,

This is an excellent premise, except the author shoots herself in the foot by how she delivers the message. She choses to explore only one aspect of the lives of the characters: sex, sex, and more sex. She doesn't just use sexual orientation as a jumping-off point, Instead she rubs it your face, and beats it to death, long after the point is amply made. As a result, a potentially good work turns into porn.

The story is developed in such a base, self-centered, and sexually graphic way, that I ended up disliking the protagonist, losing all sympathy for her. I am very disappointed by the author for how she developed the story, destroying such an important premise in delivery.

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Personal Baggage on a Trip to the Milky Way

Revisado: 04-02-23

Frankly, I was very surprised and disappointed by the tone of this book. The author clearly brought her personal issues into the discussion to such an extent that it affected the substance of the book. Popular science books need not be dry or overly technical. Humor, or even self-effacing sarcasm are sometimes welcome. But smearing the whole book with hints of personal issues are only distracting, and take away from the substance of the book.

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A Collaboration with Ayn Rand and Bill Maher

Revisado: 02-12-23

Good Lord! What a travesty of science fiction. Ben Nova, in this suppository of a book written in 2005, is still running on the fumes of the tragrdies of 9/11. The book begins when despicable Muslim Arabs and African terrorists cause the crash of a plane flown by the heroic Jewish test pilot Hannah Aarons over California ... and it goes downhill from there.

Ben Nova, whose approval of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq under false pretenses shines through, has a clear message for the reader: Arabs and African Muslims are bad, American capitalists are good. Sadly, this message meets with the enthusiastic approval of many readers, but I found it to be rather revolting.

The monotonous and boring narration doesn't help things much either. My advice: don't waste your time.

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Huge Kudos for the Narrators!

Revisado: 08-20-22

This is an interesting, and at some level, a thoght-provoking book. But what really put the punch in it, was the performance of the narrators, specially Luke Daniels. These performers are true actors. Of course, the premise of the book is imaginative. But it was the narrators who made the whole thing compelling and kept me listening hour after hour.

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A Preachy "History" Book with an Agenda

Revisado: 06-29-22

Do yourself a favor and do a bit of research on Richard Pipes. The man a sworn enemy of the Soviet Union, working actively in CIA's anti-Soviet Team B under its then chief George H.W. Bush and reporting to Donald Rummsfeld,. He didn't even let up after the fall of the soviet Union. The reason I looked him up is that by chapter 5 of the book, I had heard so much of his "conservative good, liberal bad" that I knew something was up with the guy. In chapter 5 he talks about the intelligentsia who he holds to be unproductive parasites just looking to make trouble. Also he loves to blame the liberals for everything in Russia and elsewhere, putting them in the same group as socialists and terrorists! You can't make this crap up. Well, clearly an reactionary could, and that's who Richrd Pipes is. Avoid this travesty if you're looking for an unbiased account of the Russian Revolution.

The narration by Michel Page was OUTSTANDING. He is the reason the book got two stars instead of one.

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Masterful Narration of an Incredible Novel

Revisado: 04-25-22

This is a terrific narration of a magnificent book. It's too bad that Frank Muller's beautiful performance did not age well on tape (I assume), and the whole narration is marred by a barely audible low-pitch background humm. Besides this version, I have two other performances of this novel, one free and one purchased. As fantastic and sophisticated as this novel this, it is the narrator that makes or breaks it. Having heard the two other narration of this book, one realizes what a MASTERFUL narrator Frank Muller was. It is too bad that he is no longer with us.

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Excellent Book, Poor Narration

Revisado: 02-19-22

Conrad is a master of the "turn-of-the-century" English literature. Truly peerless in expressing some of the most difficult concepts in human condition. IMHO, The Secret Agent is one of Conrad's better works. It is a measured, thoughtful, and ultimately devastating book.

Unfortunately the narration is not very good. The narrator sounds like he is giving a history lesson or reading a political pamphlet. Hs performance definitely diminishes the Conrad's work. Much better performances of this eork are available on Audible.

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Will Wheaton Ruins the Book

Revisado: 12-15-21

This is not a review of the book, but a brief feedback on the narration. When it comes to audio books, the narrator can make or break the book, specially if the book itself leaves something to be desired. "Vicarious," is an average Sci-fi novel with a good premise but mediocre development. The story has a lot of untapped potential, which was IMHO wasted.
But Will Wheaton's narration brings the book, and the whole experience of listening to it down a notch or two. Wheaton is basically a one-speed, and one-tempo kind of narrator. He uses zero differentiation of accents or voices for different characters, so that frequently you can't tell who is doing the talking. He does use exclamation, but at the most inappropriate times, etc. All in all, the story is o.k., but listen to if you've liked Wheaton's "performance" in the past.

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Story: 5, Performance: 0, Overall 3

Revisado: 09-20-20

Good grief! Who picked this narrator? His performance was a failure, and he ruined the book by his inflection and pronunciation. I wanted to scream every time I heard him say EYE-ran. You would think they would tell the guy how to at least tone down his over-the-top performance and pronounce the name of the country correctly. Otherwise, it is a very good, well-researched and informative book.

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A Magnificent Tour de Force

Revisado: 01-31-20

I can't believe twenty seven hours of listening went by so fast. I wanted more. This is Gore Vidal at his very best with all his wit, charm, eloquence, funny sarcasm, irreverence, defiance, curiosity and love of his fellow men. These attributes are all present in the protagonist of the novel, Cyrus Spitama, as well. In fact, I think Cyrus Spitama IS Gore Vidal to a large extent. I think, Cyrus Spitama is the avatar of Gore Vidal in the Persian Empire.

I won't bore you by repeating the synopsis of the story given in other reviews and the book description (take a look also at the Amazon reviews of the book). Suffice it to say that if you like historical novels, works of fantasy based on real history, thought-provoking what-if books given in beautiful prose, and narrated beautifully, you'll love this book. You will also enjoy this book if you are interested in ancient history or philosophy.

Finally, the narration was outstanding. Malcolm Hillgartner IS the older Cyrus Spitama, narrating an account of his life to his young nephew. So Hillgartner doesn't change his voice and accent much, but he does a FANTASTIC job of projecting the emotional content, humor or gravity of conversation by his intonation and the cadence of his speech. The perfect narrator for this book.

Overall, listening to this book, even after having previously read it, was a very enjoyable experience.

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