adrienne yancey

Great story

Revisado: 10-20-24

I looked forward to every minute of this book. I enjoyed the story, the characters, some unexpected twists, and the narrator was very good. I hope there’s a sequel.

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Fundamental Misunderstanding of the Text

Revisado: 06-18-20

Apparently, the people who recorded this saw the word “Meditations” in the title of the book, and assumed that this meant Aurelius intended for us to cross our legs and find inner peace.
However, a simple google search would have informed them that meditation, in this context, means, “a written or spoken discourse expressing considered thoughts on a subject.”

Marcus Aurelius is outlining and explaining his thoughts on a variety of topics. His intention is to convince us that Stoicism is the most prudent and logical philosophy, not to help us manifest calmness through breathing exercises.

The fact that the people who recorded this don’t understand this should tell you that they are utterly ignorant of both this text and philosophy at large.

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

Good Until It Isn’t

Revisado: 06-11-20

This book is well-written. The renditions of real-life political figures, political mood swings, etc of 1917 seem to be alive as you’re listening. The whole of it has a distinct feeling of being thoroughly researched. Everything is detailed down to the descriptions of meetings of ineffectual interim governments.

However, after many chapters filled to the brim with the particulars of slow and seemingly unimportant events, readers will be surprised to watch an entire civil war between the white army and the reds come and go in a few paragraphs. The achievements of the Soviet Union in electrifying the entire country, rapid industrialization, expanding literacy, diminishing poverty, and defeating the nazis (to name a few) are mentioned in passing and quickly dismissed. Mieville brings these successes up and then hand waves them away by saying that they were “quickly reversed” by the likes of Joseph Stalin. This is laughable considering that some of these achievements are not possible to reverse.

Seeing this quick shift from thoroughness and nuance to sloppiness toward the end of the book is disheartening to witness. It also calls into question the accuracy of the rest of the work. If Mieville isn’t willing to treat post-revolution history with the same diligence and nuance as revolutionary history, he should have just left those events out altogether. Overall, October is good but could have done with a great deal more care for the portrayal of events after the revolution.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

A fun idea executed by a political idiot

Revisado: 08-05-19

The premise of this book is interesting to say the least. What a connected multiverse would look like holds unlimited potential. However, this story is crippled by its author’s determination to take uneducated pot-shots at anything to the political left of Mussolini. For instance, people majoring in humanities are bound to end up in a call center, and should consider doing something honest like accounting. People working in call centers are disposable idiots that annoy people on purpose, not victims of a bad system who are forced by their economic situation to perform undesirable work for meager pay. Occupy Wall Street was simply entitled millennials with no real sense of what is happening in the world.
Joe Biden, a centrist even by United States standards, is insinuated to be a communist. Overall the political messages here are at best totally incoherent.

1/4 of the story is set in a science-fiction/fantasy convention and seems to be in part dedicated to showing people who attend conventions as one-dimensional losers. This entire portion reeks of utter disdain for anyone that finds joy in things the author does not.

Unfortunately I would not recommend this title.

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A masterpiece

Revisado: 06-24-19

I have never before heard a more real story about grief, loss, and the past. A truly moving book. I enjoyed every minute.

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Compelling

Revisado: 05-09-18

This was such a compelling story! I couldn't stop listening. Wonderful narrator too. I was sad when it was over, and I know I'll think about the characters for a long time.

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captivating story

Revisado: 05-05-18

First off, the narrator of this book is incredible. I loved the story and how the author intertwined WWI and WWII. The characters were relatable and fascinating.

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Cheesey

Revisado: 04-24-18

I love history, and I feel like the premise was good, but the story was so cheesey. I wouldn't recommend it and I'm surprised I made it through the entire book. I kept hoping it would get better, but it didn't.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Heart Wrenching, Hopeful, Beautiful

Revisado: 12-18-17

I loved every minute of this book. I loved Margaret Walker's perspective of slavery, the civil war, and reconstruction. I also deeply connected with main character's ability to lean on her faith.

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Excellent!

Revisado: 04-10-17

I loved this story! It was so much more than I anticipated. I loved the way the author weaved the elements together.

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