Iva L Riddle

Took WAY too long to get any where

Revisado: 10-20-23

The basic plot is unimaginative - an evil entity approaches the main character and gives him something that will 'fulfill all his dreams' and like anything else that sounds too good to be true, it is. In this case its an apple without even a nod to Snow White. He plants 7 trees, sells the apples and if you eat an apple to fall under his spell and become part of what amounts to an Apple Cult. Its up to an intrepid band of strangers to band together and defeat this evil. Where have we heard that before? And there is an assortment of flash backs to remind us this is An Ancient Evil. The story was a 22 hour listen. It could have been cut in half and still told the entire story. There was way too much introspection among the heroes. The two main female characters spent most of the book just being annoying. And why the semi orgasmic experience of eating one of these super magic apples was interesting once, hearing essentially the same thing over and over and over again got tiresome. And the image of someone chewing open mouthed, eyes rolled back in their head, and juice dribbling down their chin is just nasty and gross, not scary. And of course it had to have an unfinished, unsatisfying ending. I most assuredly will not be looking for anything else by this author.

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Unbelievable

Revisado: 09-29-23

On the plus side, the book was well crafted and the characters feasible. One character who was supposed to be very admirable came across as a positively dreadful old woman, selfish and mean spirited. The book was divided into two sections, 1959 and 2018. The main character in 2018 had to 'solve the mystery' of something which happened in 1959. The 2018 portion was ok. The 1959 portion hovered between unbelievable, ridiculous and absurd. We are supposed to believe that a heavily pregnant woman, about to give birth 'at any minute' decides to travel to the wilds of Australia to give birth at her brothers home with only his rich upper class wife to help with the birthing. Is she a doctor or a nurse? Of course not! They are VERY RICH! but they have no servants. Guess what? In 1959 there were doctors, and women had children in hospitals. Of course the brother takes off for parts unknown even if it is Christmas. And the sister in law dies mysteriously with three of her kids, leaving the pregnant woman there alone. Cops show up of course. Does anyone say 'you cant stay here alone, you need to come into town because the murderer may still be around'? Like cops WOULD DO? of course not. They leave her alone, with no phone and she gives birth in the middle of a storm. Never mind who would have taken care of cleaning up the newborn, never mind who would have cleaned up the mess from giving birth. The explanation for who killed the sister in law and children, why they were killed and how they were killed was totally unbelievable as well. The 'solving the mystery' part was tolerable. But it took way too long to get there. I was literally counting the minutes until this absurdity was over and done.

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Boring Boring Boring!

Revisado: 08-30-23

If I wanted to listen to a long, long story about a neurotic, insecure, conflicted newly minted minister and her tediously stereotypical teenaged daughter, in exacting detail, this would have been a great book. That is NOT what I was looking for when I chose this title. There was supposed to be a murder several centuries old, a haunted parsonage and multiple mysteries. I kept listening out of sheer stubbornness, waiting for something TO happen. The book was a 16 hour listen. I was literally 10 hours into the book before ANYTHING happened. The entire story could have been told in 8 hours time and still cover all the bases for the story line. And while the book was well written, it was NOT interesting. This is the first in a long series of books so obviously some people enjoy them. I am not one of those people.

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Feeble Attempt

Revisado: 07-07-23

The writing style was ok, the premise is solid, Look at the outrageous number of Native American women who have disappeared, but the way the story was presented was maddening. Each chapter had a date - day one, 7:00 a.m., , day five, 3:00 p.m. etc. But the author skipped all over the place, bouncing from day one to day 35 like a pachinko ball. It was impossible to keep up with what had happened or was happening and the book was so packed with foam peanuts - meaningless details, events, characters - which had nothing at all to do with the story - that meaningful information got lost in the mix. I wound up skipping entire chapters as a result. The last couple of chapters redeemed the book, giving a credible explanation and a moderately happy ending, at least for the main character and her sister. But the book itself was not worth the time it took to listen. I will not be choosing anything else from this writer.

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Disappointing

Revisado: 05-24-23

Typically I love the Guido Brunetti mysteries and one of the things I enjoy is his family life. The author never takes cheap shots at his family so their suffering is a mere plot device. And one of the constants is his brilliant college professor wife, Paola. But when she learns of a local tourist agency selling sex tours to Thailand and is horrified by the prospect, as well anyone would be, what does she do? Does she write letters to the paper? picket outside the agency, with signs saying they support pedophilia? organize a campaign to protest these tours? No. She lobs a rock, through the window, like a 10 year old kid having a tantrum and her justification is the whimpering whine 'I want it to stop' So would we all. But adults know that throwing a rock through a window isn't going to 'stop' a thing. Then she tries to justify her position by insisting ALL women are ALWAYS in abject terror at the prospect of some day being victimized by a cruel, brutal, random man. Well, I never have been and I dont know any woman who regularly is prey to that level of quivering terror. And her little melt down was only tangentially related to the meat of the story, which was a murder but she still needed to feel guilty about it BUT she would have thrown the rock anyway. The character of Paola deserved one whole helluvalot better treatment from Dona Leone. If I were Paola Id be outraged to be portrayed in such an insulting, infantile, patronizing and offensive way. .

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Disappointing

Revisado: 05-10-23

The synopsis sounded promising, the first couple of chapters were good. But. The main character was about as unsympathetic and annoying as possible. He had a huge childhood trauma and it had a profound impact on his personality, but droning on and on and on in self pity and introspection which did not accomplish a thing just got tedious. And he just had to keep doing it every few chapters. If the author wanted to create a character who was essentially a expletive hole, she succeeded. The plot just thrashed around with no clear purpose much of the time, the main characters obsession with a couple of characters was uncalled for and rather absurd. Time after time a plot device cropped up and it was just stupid. The peripheral characters were just shadows. And by the time I finally found out 'who did it' I didnt really care While the motivation made perfect sense, how they went about it was absolutely ridiculous. And the book was long. The story itself could have been told in about 3 hours less than it was. The one redeeming quality was the performance. That was well done

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Enough already!

Revisado: 03-16-23

For starters the performance was bland. She sounds like she's about 12 years old. Secondly, while, in the beginning the information about Buddhism was interesting, the constant Buddhist references and lectures turned into the same 'Everyone would be happier if they just believed in .....' fill in the blank, that every 'believer' preaches about their own religion. I did not read this book to be converted. There were insightful bits but the author was beating the reader over the head with them. Then there was the relationship between the main character and her unfaithful boyfriend and all the 'dumb' involved in getting involved with him again. The plot was painfully predictable. And it ended with a half our lecture on - you got it! - how wonderful and healing Buddhism is. It was a total waste of time.

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Oh yeah!

Revisado: 10-13-22

Plot is totally unbelievable, character is totally unbelievable, no one is that good, that tough, that perfect and I DO NOT CARE! I want to believe Reese IS a real guy. I love these books. Its about having a Seal Team Superhero. And I love all the military bits and bobs thrown in for authenticity. These books are like the action hero movies I watched with Arnold and Sylvester and Jean Claude. I loved them then, I still enjoy watching them, doesnt matter than it just doesnt work that way, and this book reminds me of those movies. Its just GOOD to have over the top heroes who can handle anything, destroy the bad guys, and come up shining.

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Truly love her writing

Revisado: 10-13-22

Louise Penny's writing is lyrical. I adore her characters, I love the settings, her descriptions make me feel like I can actually feel the weather and smell the snow and taste the food. I believe Three Pines could actually exist. But when it comes to plots ... at the very end when all is revealed Im sitting there thinking - Wait? WHAT?!? But that doesnt make ANY sense! and it happens over and over again. Its like taking this incredible journey in a luxurious tour bus, with wonderful scenery and wonderful company and finding your destination is a McDonalds.

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WHY?!?

Revisado: 10-13-22

In British mysteries why are grown women so often portrayed as having the emotional maturity of a neurotic 13 year old? I've known women who were raised in England. They are not like that, not at all. But the main character was a grown woman who constantly was dealing with social anxiety, sweaty palms, a dry mouth, bereft of anything to say, and social anxiety at the very thought of saying she didnt have children. Thrown in the inevitable DEEP DARK SECRET FROM HER PAST - does everyone in England have 'a school prank which went terribly wrong and someone died'? - three murders which do not even begin to make sense - characters and events which have nothing to do with the story - one of the most absurd murder plots Ive ever read - throw out construction debris on the road where he drives and HOPE he will have a wreck AND it will kill him (not just give him a flat tire?) - and a villain who goes from perfectly normal to raving psychotic in 30 seconds - and you have a complete and total mess. Eversham will be on my list of 'Never Again' when it comes to writers.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas