Timothy Toner

So powerful

Revisado: 10-13-18

I was initially going to ding the narrator Bahni Turpin with only four stars on the performance. A great deal of the book is the inner monologues of Starr Carter as she tries to code switch between her Garden Heights self, and the Prep School version she has had to create. Thus, there are times where she thinks one thing, but says another, and, well, a lot of the time that simply wasn't clear. Had I been reading, I would have seen from changes in typography that these statements were mental asides, and not blurted out. I didn't think Turpin did enough to eliminate ambiguity, and I had the urge on more than one occasion to rewind 30 seconds to see if she actually said what I thought she said, and everyone was ignoring her, or if it was only to herself. In the end, I realized that this is incredibly difficult to pull off. Turpin gives all of the major characters a distinct voice that is held consistent in the narrative. This would necessitate an additional voice, that was like Starr's voice, but different. That's asking a lot. Instead, I blame the director, who could have done something more to clue us in on these asides. Since it was beyond the scope of a "performance", Turpin does not deserve the blame, especially when the emotion she brings to all these varied voices is so resonant. I got choked up at Seven's anger, and Davonte's helplessness. All of this made for a wonderful performance of one of the best books I've read this year. Kudos!

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Great story, but the narrator kept losing focus.

Revisado: 11-09-17

It's a hard gig, narration. In some books, an author's quirks really stand out, and the narrator has to tamp them down to the best of his or her ability. In this case, I kept losing track of what character was speaking, a problem I did not have while reading it in print. The story is excellent, and I (a high school librarian) have no problem getting students to read it. The audiobook? That's another story.

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An amazing undertaking

Revisado: 03-30-10

The Song of Ice and Fire had been sitting on my bookshelf for years, unread. I was warned by a friend that the series was not for the faint-hearted--that, while HIGHLY rewarding, the sheer number of characters could be at times overwhelming. Why I thought the audiobook version might simplify that, I'll never know. Mr. Dotrice's range of voices is nothing short of amazing, given that many of the characters are quite minor, popping in only once or twice in the 900+ pages, and yet he gives them all a unique sound. Oh, sure, there's a creak here and there, as Gruff Old Knight #5 sounds a bit like Gruff Old Knight #9. However, when my mp3 player was acting up, and I lost my place, I knew EXACTLY what character was speaking (and thus where it might be within the book) after only two or three seconds. The only way to top it would be to do a dramatization with a full cast. Anything less than that, and you do a disservice to the work, and the narrator.

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