John

A valuable addition to the discussion

Revisado: 07-27-20

This isn't an academic work, but a narrative and the perspectives of Ibram X. Kendi. With that said, it's a passionate and insightful work that adds to the discussion of systemic inequity in America. It's not perfect, but it is powerful and it will hopefully open some eyes, and encourage more awareness, engagement and critical thinking around our policies and behaviors.

Unfortunately, Kendi really should have opted for a professional narrator. While I enjoy hearing him speak in interviews, as a narrator, his cadence is very forced and awkward. I think that he may have been trying to add gravitas to the performance, but it ended up more like an odd amalgam of Nelson Mandela and Christopher Walken. It's distracting and kept driving me back to the paper book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Not a fan of the performance

Revisado: 09-20-19

I love Peter Hamilton’s work and tried to give this audiobook a chance, but the narrator’s odd breaks and cadence just rubbed me the wrong way. He’s got a good voice, but the aw...kward hesi..ta...tions and word breaks just threw me out of the story. Don’t get me wrong. Most of the narration was fine. But, just as I was falling into the story, there’d be that “fingernails on a chalkboard” ejection out of the flow. I gave up and just bought the paper copy.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Well written, but no real story

Revisado: 08-17-19

I stuck with it until about halfway through hoping for some sort of compelling storyline to emerge, but it really didn’t. It’s a future history of characters that I just didn’t care about. The writing is good and it does flow well, but there wasn’t enough to pull me in.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

I love Brin's work, but Life's too short

Revisado: 10-27-18

Brin can definitely write. The chapters are well written and interesting, but when you string them together, it's like channel surfing. I'm 3 hours into the book and there's no apparent underlying plot or story line and minimal character building. It's just vignette after vignette punctuated by filler material. I don't have any vested interest in the characters and I'm just forcing myself to listen to get to the meat of the story. Unfortunately, after circling back to dig deeper into other readers' reviews, I don't feel that it's going to be worth it.

I've been a fan of Brin since Heart of the Comet in the mid-80's. However, this was the first time I've listened to any of his writing in Audio. I may pick up the paper version of Existence at some point, but I'm cutting my losses on the audiobook rather than devoting another 28 hours to it. There are too many other good Audible offerings to experience.

FYI: It's not a length issue. Peter Hamilton, Alistair Reynolds, Kim Stanley Robinson, Stephen Donaldson, etc. have all written epics that I've found compelling in audio. Brin just has pacing and a style that takes too much patience to stick with in this format.

The narration would have been fine if I hadn't found the pacing and structure so frustrating. A handful of mispronounced words and "unique" performance choices become like fingernails on a chalkboard when the story has failed to capture your interest. Under better circumstances, I would have rated the performance much higher.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Maybe this earth should be deleted

Revisado: 12-13-16

The premise was original and had a lot of promise. Even the story itself was quite engaging. I thought that the writing had a good flow and the style and narration was great.

Unfortunately, not a single character in the book is even remotely likable. They're not even deeply flawed enough to be interesting as character studies. They're just superficial, self-centered and mildly sociopathic. I thought that there would be some deep self-discovery leading to transformations, but that never came.

Good writing should invoke something in the reader and, in that, this was successful. However, I'm just not sure that deep apathy towards the characters was what the author was going for.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

OMG - Totes awesome

Revisado: 11-13-15

'K so, Chet the large, shaved, sweater-wearing furbeast has gone all Count Catula and assembled a dark army of fluffy flea-wagons to terrorize the city. With the Countess and Lord Flood doing their bronze book-end imitation, it's up to Countess Abigail Von Normal and her loyal minion, Foo-Dog to take back the city. Totally awesome characters and plot twists that will rock your stripey socks. Even the "Chronicles of Abby Normal" interludes (which initially seemed beyond the appreciation of your typical day-dwelling walking happy meal) work incredibly well. Writer-boy Chris Moore captures the Nosferattitude with skill and perception beyond the typical mortal meat bag. Susan Bennett, similarly, brings life to the undead and makes what could be grating and annoying into something smart, snarky and eminently entertaining.

Consuming the first two books is absolutely essential to your sanity. This is a definite "boiling the frog" situation and the absurdity needs to sneak up on you to be fully appreciated.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Engaging

Revisado: 11-08-15

I'm not normally a fan of autobiographies and certainly not of Hollywood celebrity autobiographies, but this popped up in a recommended list and curiosity got the better of me. It was surprisingly well written, well narrated and entertaining. It's not the celebrity tell-all but, rather, a narrative of Rob Lowe. Dignified, self-deprecating, gracious in the acknowledgement of others and just a good story of someone who survived the Hollywood celebrity experience with his humanity and humility intact.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Entertaining. A guilty pleasure book

Revisado: 11-08-15

I wasn't at all familiar with Jen Mann's work and only picked this up as a recommendation based on Jenny Lawson's "Let's Pretend This Never Happened". Unfortunately, this book had tough shoes to fill and really paled in comparison. However, it was entertaining, well written and well performed. Renee Chambliss captured the tone of the author perfectly and I really didn't realize that it wasn't Mann reading her own work.

Living in a similar suburbia in NJ and having been a work-from-home dad during the first few years of my son's life, I can completely relate to her stories and vouch for the authenticity of many of the "over the top" characters and stories. I'm not sure that they'd have quite the same appeal to someone who hasn't experienced them firsthand. To me, it was validation that I hadn't slipped down the rabbit hole.

This could be a perfect suburban "Mom's Book Club" book if you want to purge the lunatics from your life. Otherwise, tuck it into a drawer and only share it with the likeminded.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Witty, Funny, Entertaining and great characters

Revisado: 11-08-15

Any additional comments?

Chris Moore's casual, engaging writing style, great characters and Fisher Steven's narration create an incredibly entertaining combination. This was my first intro to Moore's work and I'm already 5 books deep in after just a few weeks. If that's not an indicator of what I think of his work, I'm not sure what is.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great followup to "A Dirty Job"

Revisado: 11-08-15

Any additional comments?

This was a great followup to "A Dirty Job". I only recently discovered Christopher Moore, so I didn't have the 9 year wait that others did. That probably allowed me to be a bit more objective about the sequel; It was every bit as good as the original and actually flowed quite seamlessly. It's a packed plot and we get to see a lot more of Lily in her "dark minion" element. Surprisingly, she's not just a shadow of Abby Normal (from "You Suck"), but her own unique person. I can only imagine what kind of research Moore did to be able to create two goth stereotypes while maintaining their own very distinct and entertaining personalities and voices.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña