getsamam

Fun quick listen

Revisado: 01-24-23

Great narration by Dakota Fanning - the story I would give a 3.5. The wrap-up scene was too much. The total obliviousness of the main character during the typical trope of a confrontation scene - and her lack of realization of consequences? Very unlikely.

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Liked it more at the beginning...

Revisado: 11-16-20

... but eventually the main character's egocentric self-absorption wore me out. Not to spoil anything, but she definitely wants a certain conclusion - regardless of the truth. The narrator's Irish accent is charming, but her constant rising inflections, along with the predictability of the story, let me to skip bits. Given all that, I'm glad I didn't have to use a credit for it.

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Strong visuals and a great story BUT

Revisado: 10-19-19

It needs a good editor.

The story starts strong, suspense building slowly to terror. Then there you are - stuck in the endless, repetitive, droning terror. It just won’t stop. The endless loop of running/fighting/bleeding - rinse and repeat. I almost boosted the last five hours to 1.25 speed - and must admit that every time a new chapter was announced (“chapter one hundred and thirty-five”) the thought would reoccur. Kinda like the story.

It will make a good mini-series, because the really good bones will have the detritus pared away by a great production team, writer, and film editor. I look forward to seeing that story told!

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Big fan - drab delivery

Revisado: 04-30-19

Promising new series - delivered in 1950s news style. Monotonous. Not a fan of big emotive reads - but this is just sad.

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great story - outstanding narration

Revisado: 03-29-18

Any additional comments?

The way the background was covered - a man talking to his deceased twin - really worked for me. Got all the context, and a real sense of the protagonist's personality/intelligence/dry humor. The narrator is awesome - going to look for more from him. His inflection choices made listening a real treat. Also? He manages to do female voices without making the characters sound like clueless idiots.*** I highly recommend this author and narrator. I hope they team up often in the future.

***(A personal pet peeve - and something all audible editors should take care with: if a character is an airhead, fine - but don't let a male narrator read strong females in high, breathy tones, with the cadence going up as each sentence ends).

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Another great tale from Ron McLarty

Revisado: 08-18-09

Mr. McLarty is a master of characterization. His quirky, endearing characters come to life for me - I can both see and hear them as I read his words. He is also a truly gifted narrator. So I end up with the novel in two forms - printed and audible- first reading, then listening. The best of both worlds.
The book jacket has a review likening this novel to A Confederacy of Dunces and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. ACoD is one of my all-time favorite books, but there is no likeness between the two protagonists, other than large heads and weight. What the two novels do have in common is well-drawn characters, with many eccentricities. The allusion to OFOtCN befuddles me. There is no Nurse Ratched, no oppression, no cohersion. The only commonality I found between the three novels, is that they are very good reads.

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Characters' voices wrong

Revisado: 07-30-09

The story is fine - and actually the narrator's voice is quite pleasant when in Narrator mode - but when speaking in any of the male characters' voices, he sounds much too old - and privileged - and snotty. Makes it hard to like the males.

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Bumptious, Noxious, Fractious Ignatius J. Reilly

Revisado: 01-11-09

"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign: that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
- Jonathan Swift

'Confederacy' is one of my top-5 favorite books - both in print and audio. I just finished my second 'listen', and am amazed at the book's ability to make me laugh and wince in equal measure. To those who have tried this book but put it down unfinished, give it another chance. It is meant to be experienced in a visceral way, much like New Orleans itself. Someone once said that upon returning home to NO, he had to find a bowl of great Red Beans & Rice and eat it right away, to get back into the funk of his town. Ignatius Riley is part of that funk, with his troublesome valve, inexorably obese body, and unbelievably overwhelming hubris.

Mr. Whitener is spot-on in his narration. He truly brings Ignatius to life, is great with the supporting cast of characters, and the ironic tone of his Narrator is perfect.

If only the Coen brothers would get the movie rights, and cast Philip Seymour Hoffman as Ignatius, my world would be complete. Surely their combined genius would please even the dimmest confederacy of dunces.

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Didn't shut it off, but...

Revisado: 01-11-09

... I won't ever revisit this book/listen. The storyline is fine, but awfully 'wordy' for audio. Quite a lot of non-atmospheric filler lines - taking 50 words to express what needs only 10. That plus the reader reading 'unsub' as an acronym (U-N-S-U-B) instead of the abbreviation for 'unidentified subject' (read as one word - unsub) is quite distracting. Hearing multiple FBI agents referring to the U-N-S-U-B is funny, but surely a mistake that an editor should have caught.
All that said, I didn't turn it off. I did want to know which of the two possible killers was after the main character.

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purely Gaiman

Revisado: 01-15-08

The only thing better than reading a Gaiman story is hearing the author himself read it. Coraline herself is resilient, loyal and courageous -- everything a girl should be.

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