Just Penelope

Don't be put off by the new narrator!

Revisado: 02-13-25

I start with the headline comment because I had been - and I was wrong. Jean Brassard is wonderful!

I'm an OG Louise Penny listener and I have to admit I had a very hard time with the Cosham-Bathurst transition though I got to enjoy Bathurst's readings on their own terms. And I've not done well with either of the actors assigned to play Gamache in on-screen adaptations, though I happen to like both of them very much in other contexts, Brassard is not only geographically correct, accent wise, he also captures the oscillation between stern and caring that makes the Gamache character -- and the whole series -- so alluring.

As some others have said, I am a little frustrated that I have to wait for the next book for resolution of some loose threads in this story. That said, the not-clean resolution feels like life - and I only care about the loose threads because I was entirely hooked by the story - both the specifics of the crimes to be solves, and their context.

Give Brassard a chance; you'll get to spend time with some surprising old friends along the way.

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Every name that can be mispronounced is!

Revisado: 01-13-25

The performance is so terrible I can barely believe it. Wolfe and anyone interested in this bit of history, deserve much better!

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Move fast and lose things

Revisado: 02-28-24

For those not already familiar, her writing deserves a performance she did not give it. There are places in which she is much more thoughtful than her speedread invites anyone to take in. Even her well placed snark would be zingier if she didn’t slide through it. I didn’t find slowing the speed to help much because it’s not just the speed of the words, it’s also the absence of breaths and pauses. In the cascades of words, though, I think there are more of them in the writing and the thought.

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Women wielded as weapons

Revisado: 01-05-24

By Sisman, not by Le Carre. This could have been sly or sexy or insightful. It certainly should have been more empathic toward the women in the relationships Cornwall (Le Carre) wanted not to be made public while he and his wife were alive. But it isn’t. Nor is it anymore than superficial in its discussion of how each of those relationships contributed to Le Carre’s fictional creations. Mostly it is a flat and peevish presentation of material Sisman had to leave out of his 2015 (interesting and enjoyable) biography of Le Carre, with much too much attention on Sisman’s dealings with and anger at Le Carre and too little attention to the stories of the women themselves. He’s certainly entitled to his judgments of how Cornwell lived his life, but his own lack of empathy for the women whose stories he reports made me feel that it was pretty cheap judgment and tawdry in and of itself.

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I’d read it instead of listening

Revisado: 11-26-23

I don’t generally review and I’m a big audible listener. I’d read this one, not listen. I think the quality of the information is lost in Stetler’s delivery. Very interesting reporting, good reporting. But tone detracts.

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Still horrible and even more fascinating

Revisado: 09-07-22

Auletta always great even with horrible stories. Narration very odd at 1.0x but flow is much better at 1.2x. Auletta deserves a first-rate narrator but at least is listenable when speeded up.

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He oughta be ashamed!

Revisado: 04-17-22

I don’t write reviews. Most of this book is interesting and sounds to be well researched. An odd marriage, possibly; but, so what? But then the last 2 chapters are tabloid bs. They may be true, but the choice not to merge them into the main story with its research and documentation is a BIG RED FLAG for anyone with any training. Wait a couple of decades; maybe the story will be rotted out without the tease of gossip.

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This is extraordinary (and I do not review)

Revisado: 12-24-20

About everything: creativity and music and Covid and love and anxiety and life. Oh my!!!!! I’m blown away.

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Turn up the speed!

Revisado: 03-01-20

It’s a fascinating story, well written. All the comments about the performance are correct but it SOUNDS COMPLETELY NORMAL AND WELL READ at 1.25x.

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