Billie P. Sessions

Double Down Dialogue

Revisado: 04-14-23

WAY WAY too much dialog & very very little action. Pages & pages of explaining characters & backgrounds for loooooong story line. I think I’ll use it to lull me to sleep. Seriously.

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Hell and Back , , ,, You Got That Right!

Revisado: 11-03-22

OMGosh . . . I'm THE biggest fan of this series. I recommend it ALL the time . . . but what the heck was Mr. Johnson thinking? And the editors and publishers? I felt like I was wading through a quagmire of sludge for . . . hours! So bleak, foggy and depressing, not to mention hard to follow!! . The ONLY thing that kept me going to the finish . . . was to find out if Longmire was dead and the series was over. Sure, Johnson has gone off on a few Longmire tangents of Native American lore, dreams, nightmares and experiences. OK. Fine. I merely listened (marked time) through those short 'stories', as I knew Longmire would then need those 'lessons' he learned in the main story line. But for goodness sake - this was ridiculous and 9 hours and 40 minutes of my life I will never get back!. There was NO point to this morass . . except . . . knowing there probably will be another Longmire . . . where I hope there will actually be a plot. But best title ever!!! - listening to this was like to Hell and Back.

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A Big To Do About . . . not much

Revisado: 04-19-19

The long and short of it is . . . it's long . . . a bit pointless. A lot of build up, for not much pay off. Maybe none. The 'star' of the show was not the friend you'd like to have. In fact, she is a cool cucumber AND judgmental to the lives of the friends she claims. Nevertheless, the main reason I saw it though to the end, was to get a glimpse at life for the women left behind in Germany after WWII; and to learn a bit about their way of life and how they needed to tick along to move forward. If you are looking for how 3 women could have bonded raising their children while living in a delapidated castle after the war . . . try another book. If you want another account of life in Germany after the war, and have nearly 13 hours to spend . . . well, you be the judge.

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. . . and . . . by the way . . . THE END. . . .

Revisado: 03-19-19

I loved the series. . . Didn't know about the Kevin Kerney mystery series, who is the last 'star' of this book. . . . However . . . all 3 books just really really good; all the way around. Interesting things happen to these Kerney men; a little bit rugged, mostly good men . . who take care of bad guys once in a while and we are all hoping our good guys manage to stay out of jail. However . . . the books ends WAY before it should. After all 3 books; great story telling . . . and we can tell there REALLY needs to be WAY more to this story . . . . the author writes . . . THE END . . . ABSOLUTELY drop off the cliff . . . THE END. Whaaaaaat?????? What do you mean . . THE END???? So totally unexpected that the author stops in mid-everything!!! And just ends the book. The End

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Soo o o o o o o Slo o o o o o o o w

Revisado: 12-20-18

My goodness. That's 23 hours I'll never get back. This would have been a much more intriguing story and situation had it be 8 - 10 hours long. Since I'm not a quitter, and have only not finished 2 things I ever started in my life . . . I kept at it. Hoping against hope that it would pick up - be worth it - have a point, other than where the book gave me enough time to figure out what was going to happen. Not only was it Sooooooo Slooooooow. I am sooooooooo sooooooorry I didn't give in and quit!!

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The Tale of Too Many

Revisado: 10-21-18

The story felt like it was abridged in that more interaction with a cast of characters might have helped instead of their constant introduction and then immediate exit. Characters popped in and out with tiny roles to support the twists and turns that really weren't all that intriquing. Too many played tiny parts, their purpose seemingly to tie this tale together. Which they barely did. Additionally, their physical descriptors gave a space for the author to put his literary hat on with way too many metaphors and analogies. The book was a struggle through all the situations and characters that in the end revealed a barely interesting tale. It was okay . . . but a quagmire. Not bad enough to ask for a return --- but darn close!

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Worth It In the End

Revisado: 09-21-18

This book was a slow but a steady 'mover'. All along I kept thinking, let's get a party started. When does this ramp up? Well. . . . it really never did. Determined to stick it out, I did -- several times asking myself "is this worth it"? The main character vacillated from: get a back bone, to feelings of sympathy, to 'what a witch (with a B)'! But I hung in there. It wasn't boring - lots of interesting factoids I had not known. And pictures were painted with words - sometimes too much. And then . . . eventually after a slew of children a boy was born named Jacob Camille PIssarro. . . . bells went off! WhAAAAAAATTTTTT!!! I had purchased this book through a Sale a while ago & obviously had forgotten why I had selected it. This was the background of Pissarro's life, particularly his mother. I had read Irving Stone's historical fiction or bio-fiction of Pissarro, Depths of Glory, decades ago (one of my very favorite books), so this fit more of that puzzle together. Anyway - if you have any interest in the art world, or a description of how complicated & difficult life could be for displaced Jews in the Caribbean (who knew? who are actually Danish citizens!; maybe everyone but me?), it was well worth the ambling nature of this historical fiction about Pissarro's family. I'm so surprised I decided to write a review for this strolling story.

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The "Other" books are better

Revisado: 08-13-18

I am a huge fan of Silva's books. I eagerly await a chance to follow Gabriel's life's ups and downs . . . . . and especially, when the stories are more about art restorations and events surrounding that work. And even though the last several books have had less of that, and more about "The Office" work . . . . the earlier and 'Other' books are better. This book was literally all over the map, which usually is a good thing; but this book never settled down. It felt like completely new characters were being introduced ALL the way through it, nearly 'til the end. The reader could not settle in to the story, as new people & places were being introduced over and over and over. Usually that makes for a great complicated story . . . but I had to keep going back to the first of chapters to latch on to "Now, who's this? And what's going on?" Of all the books in this series, this was my least favorite. I'm hoping for more continuity next time around. It was too much work trying to keep up and connect everything to enjoy like I'm used to with Silva.

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Be Prepared . . . .

Revisado: 11-29-17

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not really. In the end the plot was somewhat involved . . . but not terribly. Additionally, the horrific bad language, which is how I'm sure certain groups speak, was so vile. If all the F, N, and B words were taken out, this book would have been 1/2 as long. It was just too too much.

What could Joe Ide have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The constant back and forth flashbacks and then back again farther made the plot hard to follow, as well as a jerky flow. It was a constant annoyance to keep track of which flash back we were on. Way too many characters with too many flashbacks. It would be much more efficient to keep track of the plot, characters, and which flash back we were on if the book started back in time and moved forward to explain why and what, with only a few flashbacks. This book was as much about flipping back and forth from past and deep past events to the current problem, as it was about the outline of the plot . This style of writing and/or editing might work better if reading a tangible book, but annoying in this audio version.

What three words best describe Sullivan Jones’s performance?

Nuanced accents and warm tones

Did IQ inspire you to do anything?

Yes. To ALWAYS listen to the audio clip!

Any additional comments?

If I had known the language was this degrading, inflammatory and downright annoying I would not have selected this book.

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Hope you 'like' Analogy's . . . 'as if' . . .

Revisado: 02-01-17

What would have made The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie better?

Leave out hundreds of analogies! Seriously - nearly every other sentence throughout the entire book was an analogy. "Like" - Bradley must sure be the King of Analogies! They were so tiring, in nearly every other sentence. Soon I was just waiting for what he would come up with next. Many were clever - but so distracting. The book would have been half as long without them. Someone should count them for the Guinness Book of World Records. The book was written from the viewpoint of an 11 year old. Maybe an 11 year old would like it. I can't believe I didn't push delete. I was tempted so many times. Listening to it was 'like' dragging fingernails down a chalkboard.' I will be asking for my money back. I kept thinking there would be a redeeming quality. Not so much.

Would you ever listen to anything by Alan Bradley again?

NO, only if he gives up 98% of the analogies!! But then the books would be short stories. (He must have gotten A's in high school English for his analogies. They are 'like' the gift (or plague) that keeps on giving - or distracting as the case may be.)

How did the narrator detract from the book?

OMGOsh. Are you kidding me? The reviews warned me. They were so right. At first the voice was 'cute', then very soon it was so irritating I could only listen for about 30 minutes, then I would need to switch over to another book I had recorded. And many times, you could tell she was adding a smile to the tone in her voice in places where it was not appropriate. Just annoying. The voice would put me in a bad mood, it was "like dragging fingernails down a chalkboard." Oh - did I use that before? You bet I did.

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

Hmmmmmm. The premise was okay .. . . but what a waste of time, energy and good mood all around.

Any additional comments?

Be sure to listen to the narrator before you buy! Then consider again. And again before you buy.

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