soup cook

fascinating story ruined by bad narration

Revisado: 12-27-22

The author, a native English-speaking American, states, "I tried to be transparent about the fact that I view things through a foreigner's lens." Inexplicably, however, the chosen narrator is clearly a native Spanish-speaker with what can charitably be described as an idiosyncratic, extremely distracting way of reading English: odd cadence, ill-timed pauses in almost every sentence, strange emphasis on conjunctions, personal pronouns, prepositions, and other random words, making the narration exteemely difficult to follow. And her melodramatic scenery-chewing only further obfuscates the meaning of the text. Much easier to understand if the listener bumps up the speed so all the weird pauses merge into the flow. Also, a pdf of the one-page list of personnel in the printed book is more or less essential to following the story but not included in the Audible version. Disappointing, and in places infuriating, production.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

fascinating overall, too much drama

Revisado: 11-27-22

I would have preferred more focus on the content of the works and theory and less of the often tedious minute-by-minute reconstruction of fraught interpersonal relations. For example, reader is left with the clear sense that Freidrich Schlegel was an egocentric ass, without a clear sense of his artistic and philosophical contributions. Also? heavy emphasis on positive impact of German Romanticism on European and American culture without any discussion of its influence on German Nationalism. Still, well worth a listen.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Brilliant

Revisado: 11-14-22

Tour-de-force performance, brilliant prose, but long so settle in. (Listener tip: "Tholokuthi," meaning something like "verily," occurs in almost every sentence.)

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

So much more than I remembered!

Revisado: 10-31-22

After listening to Hester, I felt the need to reaquaint myself with the story that inspired it, and am so glad I did. What operatic intensity, so many layers of narrative, such amazing style and vivid language, convoluted as it is, what brilliant characters-- well worth a listen.

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Not my favorite O'Farrell

Revisado: 09-26-22

Just not as compelling a character as her previous female protagonists; consistent with the author's sympathy for a non-neurotypical heroine, but everything in the plot is telescoped from page 1. Also, I object on principle to giving characters the ability to empathetically read the minds of and communicate with wild creatures--a dangerous misrepresentation of animal intelligence that encourages idiots to get out of their cars and approach bison or reach into zoo enclosures, with unfortunate results

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Science as a worldview

Revisado: 09-26-22

A gifted narrator as well as a brilliant mind. interesting to compare his framework for understanding the world with McGilchrist, Master and Emissary, critique of the dominance of left-brain analysis

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A painfully vivid, profoundly insightful history

Revisado: 09-07-22

Wonderfully detailed, gut-wrenching trip back in time; the major players as well as forgotten heros and miscreants are engagingly brought to life. Told with great compassion for the place and all its people. Highly recommended for students of colonial history, Native American affairs, or anyone with a family connection to the Mohawk Valley--made my own Palatine ancestry much more meaningful to me. Readers will benefit if they come to the book with a fair grasp of the larger story of the two wars, and the time line of events, as the narrative structure focuses in on a series of key characters and is not strictly chronological.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

might be a better read than a listen

Revisado: 03-23-22

fascinating reframing of the subject, interesting companion to 1491 on the same theme. author's poor ear for non-English pronunciation is distracting and undercuts her credibility, but i appreciated her obsession with the ethics of science intersecting with indigenous communities. anyone who has attempted to hike across arctic tundra will immediately see the logic of focusing on the sea coast route out of Asia

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

read along with Graeber-Wengrow Dawn of Everything

Revisado: 03-17-22

provocative rethinking of the "prehistory" of the Americas based on recent archeology and an understanding of pre-Columbian economies and culture -- not 100% in sync with Graeber, he still sees cultural evolution in a line from forager-hunter-gatherer to agrarian -- but very interesting insights, especially into the state of current indigenous cultures and environmental uses as reactions to colonization, and not as timeless static holdovers from time immemorial. slightly awkward narration does not detract from the impact of the content

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Great performance, engaging story

Revisado: 03-02-22

an interesting collection of vividly drawn characters in a small Georgia town in the first days of reconstruction, beautifully written and masterfully narrated

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