Adam Miles

Hyperprivileged Slog

Revisado: 09-26-21

Caveat: I only made it halfway through, so maybe the second half completely redeems the first.

I had such high hopes after finishing Laura Dave's 'The Last Thing He Told Me'', which is taut and brilliant. But this... this is an exercise in unrelatable tedium. It starts with a high powered LA lawyer throwing a tantrum and fleeing to her family's Northern California vineyard, where she spends time with her brothers–one of whom bought a bar so the other, who "works when the mood strikes him", has a place to hang out–and their parents: the mother, who is having an affair with a symphony director, and father, who is confronted with the existential dilemma of selling his boutique winery to a larger one. Things take various, ostensibly wacky twists and turns, such as an awkward assemblage of something called the "Cork Dorks", or a bridal shop confrontation with a fiancé escorted by a ravishing British starlet.

I suppose it's possible that the final chapters contain a blistering anti-bourgeois punchline, but I don't have the stomach to make it there to find out.

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A wonderfully compelling story

Revisado: 09-23-21

Laura Dave has created a rich cast of characters thrown into a whirlwind of deception and misdirection, in which seemingly no one can be trusted, all seen through the eyes of our strong, resolute, yet vulnerable protagonist, Hannah. The audiobook reading is a masterful performance by Rebecca Lowman, who proves equally adept at inhabiting the affected diffidence of a sixteen-year-old and the casual menace of a murderous crime kingpin.

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A great book wonderfully read

Revisado: 03-11-21

'Kayfabe' is a wonderful look into the modern business of wrestling content, complete with all the triumphs and occasional missteps that can happen along the way. Sean Oliver affords the reader (or listener, in this case) all the candor that has made his Kayfabe Commentaries enterprise so successful. Listeners of the audiobook get the added delight of Oliver's spot-on impressions; his Bruno Sammartino and Terry Funk are especially perfect. My only complaint, if you can call it that, is that it's not twice as long, but as they say in pro wrestling, the money's in the chase!

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Brilliant. Harrowing.

Revisado: 10-06-16

This is not a traditional narrative. If there's something more intimate than first-person prose, this is it. Emotions need not be bound by subjects and predicates. Eimear McBride has achieved something remarkable here, and that is to impart the very soul of her protagonist within those of us fortunate enough to share in this journey, which is made all the better by her reading. Only the author knows the exact rhythm, the exact tone of these words, which might be frustrating on the page but are music in aural form. McBride has given us a precious gift.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas