Kareol

Careless production mars classic thriller

Revisado: 01-26-21

It's a terrific, suspenseful novel. The narration is a problem, though. I'm not quite sure what is going on when an audiobook publisher assigns a novel that takes place in Italy and contains not only Italian place names but also many lines of Italian dialogue to a narrator who mispronounces something as simple as "grazie" (hint: it's not "grahtsee"). Page after page is marred by jarring mispronunciations, and it really cut into my enjoyment of the listening experience. This seems so easily avoidable in a publishing house with access to a professional editorial staff.

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What a disappointing narrator

Revisado: 02-16-20

The delivery of the text by whisky-voiced Caroline Aaron sounds as if Aaron is seeing the text for the first time, possibly in bad light. There is often little sense of how a paragraph hangs together, with awkward pacing and intonation and emphases that seem arbitrary. It's a little better if you slow down the playback a little, but even that doesn't help, in the long run. Wasson's prose is fairly smart, but it doesn't sound it, unfortunately. This isn't the quality I associate with new, high-profile releases on Audible.

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Fun at first, but succumbs to fatal whininess

Revisado: 01-07-17

Would you try another book from Jade Chang and/or Nancy Wu?

I'd try another book from Jade Chang, even if it contains untranslated Chinese. Not sure I can listen to any more of Nancy Wu's voice, though. When the conversations got whiny, she was far too good at conveying that, to the point I just had to turn it off.

What was most disappointing about Jade Chang’s story?

One originally likable character suddenly revealed herself to be spoiled and whiny in a way that pulled the rug out from under me.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Nancy Wu?

Perhaps if the narrator could somehow have delivered the whiny dialogue without such an unbearably grating, whiny tone, I might have survived, but she didn't, and I couldn't.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The book was entertaining and thought provoking for much of the way. I regret not being able to get through the narrative arc.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

So dreary

Revisado: 11-22-16

Would you try another book from Sarah Domet and/or Erin Bennett?

No, thank you.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I can't believe how dreary and grey this book was.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Erin Bennett?

I can't tell. Her dreariness matched the material.

Do you think The Guineveres needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Not for me. I'm not interested in hearing anything else the author has to say.

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Exhilarating, breathtaking book

Revisado: 08-13-15

I could not put this fascinating book down. I was breathless when I came to the end of it. I quickly downloaded the companion novel, A God in Ruins, and was moved to tears by it as well.

I'm now going back to listen to this novel again, something I never do so soon after the first reading. There is so much technique and so much heart, I need to experience it again.

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esto le resultó útil a 57 personas

Poorly read, endlessly rambling story.

Revisado: 06-23-12

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I would have enjoyed this more if the story were less uneven and if the reading was better -- and the reading is quite bad.

What could Karen Russell have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I have never been so glad for a book to be over. The writing is original and colorful, but the denouement is disappointingly ordinary. And I was completely sick of her affectation of calling alligators "Seths" before I was halfway through the book.

How could the performance have been better?

Arielle Sitrick, the female reader, mispronounces far too many words far too many times. Where was the editor? Where was the director? Where was some grownup to go back and correct all those mispronunciations? Sitrick sounds like a high school student reading a classroom essay out loud. This appears to be her only Audible book credit, and really - if I ever see her name on another recording, I will avoid it like the plague.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

The first third of this book interested me, but by the last third, I was thoroughly exasperated. The writing simply wore out its welcome, and the story ultimately disappointed me.

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Good book, unprofessional recording

Revisado: 05-31-12

Would you try another book from Robertson Davies and/or Frederick Davidson?

I have listened to six other titles by Robertson Davies (and read another three in print), so I must be a fan of his work. They're good, though-provoking stories with an occasional touch of the fantastic and lots of tie-ins to topics relating to the arts.

What other book might you compare The Cunning Man to and why?

If you enjoy The Cunning Man, you would probably enjoy the books of Davies's Deptford Trilogy, and vice versa.

How could the performance have been better?

Other reviewers have pointed out the muffled and variable sound quality of the recording. What is really not acceptable in a commercial product are the bad splices: a passage is read once and then repeated in a different acoustic, apparently from a recording take. I've never come across this in any other Audible book, and this book deserves a better recording.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas