Ashleigh Marie Brown

Danzy Never Misses

Reviewed: 12-05-24

The character development is, as always, top tier. I preordered this months ago and was like a kid on Christmas when September 3rd hit.

This is actually, the more I consider, probably now my favorite DS novel now (only New People made me downgrade Caucasia). Read this —you’re welcome.

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Beyond Predictable but Decently Written

Reviewed: 06-12-24

Not one page of this book was unexpected, however, the characters are mildly interesting. To be fair, I didn’t realize this was published over a decade ago so the technology and zeitgeist references are super dated (it’s 2024, for those reading in the future). It also felt like the characters, particularly the young ones, are a bit ‘off’—hyperbolically written. A 14 year-old is written like a 7yo in some instances.

In any case, it’s not awful and I’m sure it was considered better when it was originally printed. Lower your expectations and you might grow mildly fond of it. I didn’t, but you might.

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Brilliantly Structured + Lyrically Written

Reviewed: 10-23-23

The excellent: The prose is absolutely gorgeous, particularly in the second half/last two sections of the book. The framework of the novel is stunning as well, the way layers of the characters and the story are steadily peeled off as we journey through each of the four sections of the book.

The narration is fantastic, and using four different voice actors was an excellent choice—although the fourth section gets a bit hard to hear with the constant dropping off of the narrator’s voice (understandable choice, given the situation the character is in at that time).

The good but not great: While I listened to the audible for efficiency’s sake, this is 100% a book I will need to read again, by sight.

In my opinion, some of the magic is lost in listening, which is rare. But this audible gets slightly confusing in places that seem as though they would be far less muddled if reading the book by sight.

I rewound a lot, particularly in the second and fourth/last sections.

The reason I gave 4/5 stars is because I wasn’t completely satisfied at the end of the book.

Frankly, I hate to sound like the inane reviews where someone is essentially pissed because they weren’t given a full account of the rest of a character’s whole life, when the author *clearly* made an intentional choice to allow the reader to think and suppose… but in this case I was left wanting, particularly by the 3rd section—and later, I realized, the 1st section as well.

I wanted to know more about Vanner, where specifically he intersected with the Bevels, and why he made the choices he did. I wanted more than a quick CV re: Ida’s life in those 50yrs between Bevel and encountering Futures.

I wanted a more profound commentary on the ways in which these different historical accounts and different realities ultimately reconcile in the cultural—and socioeconomic—sense. Yes, I can draw lines as a reader, and it _is_ incredibly thought-provoking text (would make a really great book club selection), but in this case, with so much story, I wanted more of a thread. I cringed at the review that said this was “the most pretentious book of the year”, but tbh the denial of a sense of settlement, with this massive amount of information, did feel unnecessarily highbrow.

That said, I understand the Pulitzer.

Trust is conceptually brilliant and a sharp, lush treatise on gender politics; the ways in which the whims and wiles of the powers-that-be affect global economics (and ultimately, the other 99% of the population’s daily lives); and how history is shaped and recounted, particularly in the United States.

Please note:

This is _not_ a book you can listen to while doing anything but driving or something equally monotonous (I wanted to say ‘mindless’, but realized how terrible ‘mindless driving’ would sound). It demands your full attention.

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Great info--Godin's intonation is maddening

Reviewed: 09-20-23

Loved the content. HATED Godin's voice. It was like...he was...speaking with tons of ellipses and semicolons. I sped it up to 2.0x just to make it through. Glad I got the info, but I wish I'd read it on my Kindle v. Audible.

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2 people found this helpful

Great Intentions + Fascinating Data + Horrific Narration = 3 ⭐️

Reviewed: 08-25-23

This AI-composed narration is Godawful. It’s taken me months to finish this book even though I largely enjoyed the first quarter of it. Putting a little money into getting a decent narrator would have gone a long way. This is ridiculously bad, even at 1.75 speed. I just couldn’t take it.

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Not to be missed if you have a business

Reviewed: 07-14-23

This is required reading for entrepreneurs! I’ve had this in my queue forever but hadn’t prioritized listening to it—then, recently I missed the chance to hear the author speak at my coworking space, Nashville Entrepreneur Center, because I was out of town. Figured that missed opportunity made it an ideal time to pick this up and, wow! Hate I waited so long but glad I finally read it. Even as a brand strategist myself in addition to being a tech founder, I picked up plenty of gems. Don’t hesitate! You’ll be grateful.

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1 person found this helpful

Excellent Narration to a Solidly Moving Piece of Work

Reviewed: 07-02-23

First, it must be said: Maura Tierney is an amazing orator. Her reading of this made me enjoy it that much more. In my opinion, she gives Julia Whelan a serious run for her money—although I do believe Tierney’s husky, dramatic voice is probably best suited to deeply emotional books like this one. She takes great care to differentiate voices without caricature, and her conversational approach to reading dialogue works really well.

Ann Napolitano is a beautiful writer. Her prose is poetic, and her vivid descriptions of worlds, including her characters’ inner worlds, is incredible.

This novel does border on having large chunks of unnecessary text in places, but not distractingly so. This is an interesting take on a Little Women-esque story and I appreciated how the Alcott novel was woven into this one and made part of the story, instead of asking the reader to ignore the similarities. This was a great story and I was sad when it was over. Although there’s a redemptive arc for nearly every character, I found myself wanting to know more about what came next, rather than imagining it. But I got why she ended it in the place she did, and it works for the story.

Random: I could have done without Napolitano’s postscript detailing the list of her inspirations for plot and characters in the story; it’s not terribly interesting and feels like she should have saved it for a book tour or interviews.

Besides that, highly recommended book.

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Changed My Life

Reviewed: 06-30-23

This is an example of a book I wish I'd read much earlier in life, but am glad to have discovered at all. Dr. Henry Cloud's easygoing, clear narration of his own work is full of energy and life, and you can hear in his voice that he truly wants the best for the person reading it. I won't go into all that I learned from this book, but I will say that as an entrepreneur at a crossroads, this book was every single thing I needed, exactly when I needed it.

I recommend anyone in general, but especially any entrepreneur, make this required reading early in their entrepreneurial journey. Having the insight and shrewdness to know when make a different decision about objectives, methodologies, or values is truly everything, and none of these decisions can be accurately made 100% of the time in a vacuum. This book offered me counsel and advice I didn't even know I needed, along with much I did I know I needed and was actively seeking. Can't recommend this enough.

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Hyper-Deadpan Narration Takes Getting Used To

Reviewed: 06-30-23

Love this book. Admittedly, I love Asian/Asian-American literature and film (as a non-Asian WOC). But I actually chose this book because I noted a critical review comparing it to Paul Beatty's The Sellout, and that comparison was right on the money. Just as with Sellout and Beatty's first book, The White Boy Shuffle, Disorientation is sharp, satirical, and sometimes raucously hilarious with interesting characters and a plot that twists, turns, and is ceaselessly revelatory.

I came to enjoy Jennifer Kim's narration, but it took nearly half the novel to acclimate to it. I think I would have started LOL a lot sooner in the journey if there had been more pointed inflections (and because of this, I plan to read it again by sight). But ultimately, the straight narration works out for the book, particularly once it's clear that much of the story is farcical. Kim's near-emotionless interpretation makes the absurd even funnier, and eventually I realized that was likely the plan all along.

There is a mild didacticism to parts of the text, one I didn't mind (and in fact appreciated), but I can think of a few people I know who would indeed mind. So that's the only disclaimer: that in some pockets of this novel, it veers into what the uninitiated (+ the probably ignorant) may call "woke". But wherever you fall on the spectrum when it comes to 'culture wars', I can assure you that you won't ever be bored by this story.

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1 person found this helpful

Amazing Story with Disturbing Message…

Reviewed: 09-02-22

This novel is so beautifully-written and the tale so well spun. Prepare to be disturbed, however, and it won’t leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. But it will make you think and the characters will evoke strong emotions from readers. This will stay with me for a minute…I can definitely see a cinematic quality in this storytelling.

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