Julianne

Delightful as hell

Reviewed: 08-03-24

The description is as promised. The story is as promised. This guy reads so well. The story is great. I am deeply considering starting it over right after finishing. I would recommend this to anyone. And i actually have never wanted a book made into a movie more than this, provided they change absolutely nothing. It’s perfect top to bottom front to back and the narration is wonderful.

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Predictable queer romance

Reviewed: 01-20-24

I have no desire to finish this, i might. More than halfway through. Early on i said this to myself “eternal sunshine of the spotless mind but medieval and with books.” And it really is, that movie in a different setting and a queer romance instead.

First the narrator ALONE is amazing. The narrator is so good. The writing is good. The story is not my jam, i don’t like romances, i don’t enjoy queer romance stories (mostly because theres always awkwardly explained sex scenes and i don’t know if im in store for that, but nothing in that description on here said queer or romance. I missed the review that states as much.) And at the line that finally told me what this story was EVERYTHING after the fact becomes really predictable. All the mystery from the first half is no longer a mystery. And now im annoyed i had to hold out this ling to find out why main guy hated this other guy for seemingly no reason. I also don’t particularly enjoy stories that are driven by an old lady who refuses to tell her apprentice what’s behind the door or why they bind books or whatever before dying and not being able to share all the secrets. All the mystery is just to cover up the queer romance. Which i suppose is a spoiler because the main characters don’t know it is either yet. This is supposed to be the writer’s first foray into adult fiction but this is young adult for sure still. Im annoyed. I care so much less about this entire story, but that narrator my god, so good and again, he might be the only reason i carry on.

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Narrator is stellar!

Reviewed: 03-20-23

The story is nice, I did enjoy the whole thing, the structure, the organization, the story and characters. But the narrator my god! I want him to narrate everything, he’s perfect and his accents and voices are so perfect and made the whole thing much more enjoyable and so real. It felt like watching an old movie. Stellar performance. Loved listening to this.

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What a bore

Reviewed: 03-20-23

I never really quit books but wow is this a snooze fest. I have no reason to care what is happening, what will happen and no idea why any of this happening. The focus on contact lenses and an awkward drawn out mention that the main character is gay with no real reason so far for having to make deliberate mention of it in such an odd way. I just have no care for any of this. No reason to care. The whole thing is just not engaging, it’s boring and seems it has no direction. I’m not interested enough to see if it does have direction.

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predictable

Reviewed: 12-18-19

The characters do a lot of groaning on about plans we all know won't happen. Much of how these characters react and act is deeply predictable to the point where I was speaking out lines before the narrator got to them. The voice done for Nettie Mae is outright awful, like when a man tries to do a woman's voice, but the opposite, it's so jarring. The voice for Cora equally so. Nettie mae's was too seep and too gruff, cora's WAY too high and too meak. I didn't feel invested in any of the emotion these characters ended up having for one another by the end, I felt there wasn't much development in that before everyone fell in love and became friends. The constantly changing POV of the narrator started getting obnoxious, especially when it came to repeating parts of the story under someone elses voice, Buellah being the only one that narrates in first person to the reader outside of thoughts to herself. I really feel that this entire book could have benefited from another pass or two of editing. The descriptions of nature were beautiful. But she started getting repetitive. At some points she descrobes things with two or three different analogies. I don't get why Clydes hair and Buellahs hair are both not brown and not blonde, and indescribable, but the horse is yellow. Later Buellahs hair is sparrow colored. The dialogue and terminology wasn't 1800s enough for me, she refers to calico fabric half a dozen times. She doesn't specify what she means by this, and calico they way I think she meant it is not what calico meant to American settlers in the 1800s. She says some other things that made me question whether that word or phrase would be used then, I was slightly disappointed that the title didn't tie things up in the end, it's just a throw away line in the middle of the book, I suppose the reader is meant to surmise any further meaning there is there, but it's speculation for me, I wouldve rathered the author bring the whole thing full circle for me. The ending was boring. It was enough to keep me listening, but in the end, I've sat with it a couple days, and I just feel lit could have been improved greatly with a couple more editing passes.

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2 people found this helpful

I tried,

Reviewed: 10-09-19

Anna Chlumsky, while she'll always be My Girl, I love her, she shouldn't read books out loud for a living. 4 hours in and whatever description I had read wasn't coming to fruition, I was bored out of my mind, and Chlumsky makes me cringe. I tried top convince myself to come back to it, but there was nothing calling me. I never read The Tiger's Wife, I was looking for a story about women in the old west. I was curious what a woman writer my age who didn't grow up in the desert where I grew up would do with an 1800s American west landscape, the very region where I grew up. On all counts, this is not what I was looking for, and I found myself questioning her accuracy. The little known history this book is based on is about some camels, and you know what they say, you can't write a book based on a single idea. The entire camel premise was thrust upon me at some point in those 4 hours I did listen, and I remember thinking, why am I listening to facts about camels?

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22 people found this helpful

I don’t know what all the fuss is about

Reviewed: 04-04-19

I wanted to qui this before the halfway point but the reviews are so glowing I stuck it out hoping to like it. And I hate it. I hate the POV, the guy is talking to his son who isn’t there, the toasts are being told as directed toward his son. Not at the people he is toasting. And the people he is toasting, he hardly speaks of the person, he toasts a stillborn child but rambles on for an hours and a half about everything but that baby. I have no emotional connection to these people especially the wife that this whole thing is about anyway. He says nothing redeeming about why he lives her so damn much that is ends the way It does. It’s superficial. All of it. I liked the guy’s accent I hated all the mouth noises, especially toward the end when the acting ramps up as do the swallows and deep breaths and mouth smacking. I can’t grasp what everyone is going on about with this one. No character is developed enough to make feel for these people. There’s a convoluted family tree that isn’t the narrators family. I could go on. But ultimately I hated the POV of speaking to the son not to those he was toasting and in fact being all alone. The end is also quite agitating. SPOILER: I’ve never read/listened to a book with a dead narrator before. And I’ve never been so emotionally DEtached from a suicide. Could not care less.

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2 people found this helpful

Totally delighted

Reviewed: 01-23-19

Love John lithgow so much. Such a fantastic narrator. Loved all the guest speakers. It’s definitely not a typical collection of poetry and that was nice. There were some old reliables in there. But overall it was nice to be introduced to poems if not heard and his analysis of them is superb so even if I didn’t like the poem I really enjoyed his analysis, commentary and final words. I was able to appreciate those I didn’t like and listened twice to ones I loved. I especially appreciate the chapters actually being listed so I could go back to specific poets and analysis. Really enjoyed this. I want more.

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1 person found this helpful

Audio Documentary

Reviewed: 12-18-18

Think Mysteries at the Museum, but audio only. That's it right there. Sound effects, role playing, intro and outro music, narrator, the whole works, a full Victorian Secrets documentary in audio only. The facts are interesting, I love Stephen Fry, I wish there was more. I want more. If you expect anything other than the audio of a documentary don't listen. Stephan Fry is too good for all these bad reviews just because it wasn't what was expected. Now you know what to expect. The sound effects are there for EFFECT people!

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Overall great, inclusive of all creatives

Reviewed: 12-14-18

I've never read a self-help creative book before. And I probably never will again. I'll just listen to this over and over. No other creative self help book can possibly beat my satisfaction with this one. I got it from a a daily deal and half way through I wish I had paid full price. So I went and bought the physical book because I want to go back to this as reference forever and ever, and I came at this book from a creative writer POV, and while he does talk about his music career, of course, he is broad enough to apply his ideas to all creative disciplines and he gives examples based on all types of creative ideas. If you want a creative self help book, a getting passed writer's block book, a book to inspire you to find ideas for your next song or music piece, or even new ideas for cooking, this is THE book as far as I'm concerned,

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