anne

3 stars for The closet moments

Revisado: 07-09-24

First I will say, the story was able to give me the willies while listening in a dark room before bed. I'm a bit disappointed with the lack of atmosphere, a quality I found in Bird Box.

The family drama kept me holding on and I've made it half way but am finding it hard to muscle through the pitch of the child's voice narration any further. If my eyes didn't get so strained from reading print, I think this story would come accross in a much different way on the written page. But while the rest of the narration and character voices are excellently done, Bella's sounds as if it were pitch shifted making it sound less like a small child and more cartoonish or Munchkin-like, which I find cloying. Given Gill's remarkable talent, who I do realize is a young adult, I have to imagine it would have been perfectly fine without what sounds like, overzealous voice modificiation. So I'm taking a break, maybe will come back to it.
*** update ***
Ok I finished it. I've consumed a lot of horror, classic to modern and everything in Between. This was a little creepy sometimes at best but not scary and dragged toward the end. Getting th rough Bella's voice was a struggle.

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Held my attention

Revisado: 07-16-23

I figured it out early on but the twists and turns kept me listening and second guessing. Great narration.

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Brilliant all around

Revisado: 05-26-23

This is one of the most brilliant and also one of the most under rated horror stories ever written. If you're paying attention, not a single element is superfluous. The story telling is almost poetic if not horrific. Even by today's attention spans it holds up very well. However, this is not for those used to cheap thrills. I've read it twice and listened twice. As some of the best horror does, it questions what's a play: mental illness, paranormal activity, enhanced intuition or all of the above. In that way, it's similar to Turn of the Screw, another but older classic that is terrifying if you're paying attention and have the attention span for it. Narrating the voices of children or characters with accents can go sideways very quickly. Personally I thought the narration was great, wasn't distracting or over done.

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Poignant but sluggish

Revisado: 05-12-23

Heartbreaking story. Although told and narrated in a subtle and easy manner is still not for the squeamish. 10 out of 10 for narration but the sluggish pacing of the way the story unfolds was too much of a chore to finish. This is coming from someone who likes to slow boil.

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Great character driven story

Revisado: 03-26-23

Narrator was top-notch. I watched the movie years ago and remembered “who done it” partway through the audiobook. But the characters in this story are so beautifully drawn, their motivations, dynamics and psychology made this book so much more compelling than simply figuring out who was the killer.

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Great story, rushed the ending

Revisado: 09-05-22

Terrific narration and the story was intriguing. A great who-done-it which is why I was surprised at how the author decided to handle the ending. I’m not disappointed at the ending itself, but rather the way she chose to reveal. others may feel differently. Still recommend.

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Not what I expected but five stars anyway

Revisado: 08-13-22

By the time I realized this novel was not what I was looking for I was too far in to quit. I’d gravitated away from stories involving monsters (literal or metaphorical) long ago. Having said that I’m still giving this one five stars. Minus 1 star for the overall rating because there were sections that I thought were too long.

The storytelling is elegant, sensitive, and shows that the author is astutely and painfully aware of the human condition which, at its core is what the story is about.

Maybe saying Tennessee Williams meets Lovecraft is an overstatement but it’s the most succinct way I can describe this story.

As for Campbell the narrator, I could listen to him all day long and would believe every word. What a wonderful voice and perfect for the character.

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Well that was intense

Revisado: 07-06-22

A difficult story to listen to indeed because many of the insights included in the story to heighten the drama come dangerously close to the reality of parent and child bonding or lack there of. It also highlights the reality of postpartum depression, The effects of lack of parental love and the insecurities expectations and disappointments of Felt specifically by mothers. I was able to empathize with every character, even Blithe’s mother’s character! Regarding a comment from one of the other reviewer‘s about the male character being drawn so stereo typically: the father character is a terrific representation of the way men do and don’t participate in parenting, the way society expects less of them versus expectations of mothers and how they get to skate by in that way. (Yes, I know there are wonderful fathers in the world but that is not what is expected of them and therefore they are heroes. ) I think his character was drawn perfectly and never felt generic to me.

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Flat

Revisado: 01-31-22

Sort of like a scary stories version for the Lifetime Channel. What can I say, not only was it not scary, it wasn’t suspenseful or even atmospheric. It did keep me from being completely bored while gardening.

Narration was mostly decent except for when she did male voices which sounded accidentally comical.

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Not bad

Revisado: 12-12-20

To be fair, I’m normally a devourer of dark southern gothic, murder, horror and ghost stories, so this novel and its themes went over like something on the “Lifetime for Women” show - or like a dramatic soap opera. That being said, it was a nice palate cleanser from all that horror I’d been listening to. It kept me entertained while driving or painting and I found myself looking forward to my next long drive so I could pick up where I last left off. Great story weaving but given all that Alice went through - and the rest of the characters for that matter, I expected to feel more emotion. So while the plot was engrossing, it lacked emotional depth, at least for me. I can’t connect with the Generic family values this story is built on, it doesn’t mean it’s not a good story. I can see this connecting better with the pumpkin spice Frappuccino sippers in the audience. The ending made me do a hard eye-roll while uttering “Oh brrrrrotherrrr”. But still, a credit well spent.

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