BAM

Great Story of Friendship

Reviewed: 08-28-24

Usually I have a complaint or two about a novel. Not this one. Yoko Ogawa is a wonderful writer. The Housekeeper grows a love for mathematics when her client, the Professor tells her about why he's passionate about it. Meanwhile, the Professor's condition prevents him from long-term memory. This means that, no matter what, the Professor will forget the Housekeeper every day, so she must learn to become his employee and friend from the starting point daily. The math aspect of the book really drew me in. Actually, I'm not into math because of other interests, but this book and the Professor's ideologies made me fall in love with math, just like the characters. What I really appreciate about Yoko Ogawa's writing is that the author is clearly passionate about numbers and friendships and pours that love into this book. You want a story with heart that will be unique? This is a must read.

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Thank You, Arnold

Reviewed: 06-11-24

Listening to this book was a pleasure. I had 4 hours of advice by America's good uncle. And I'm ever grateful. Favorite lesson "~if you did your best, and failed, then all you can do is look for the positive points, grow, and say "I'll be back!" Also, I'll never accept the term, self-made again. Thank you, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Great book!

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Brother El makes this interesting

Reviewed: 06-05-24

This might sound weird, but I played instrumental rap beats to this and it made hearing the 613 laws of the Torah by this musical artist, Brother El, fun to listen to. I recommend that you try. Brother El did some great research.

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Is saying "it's sad" good enough?

Reviewed: 05-27-24

My sister killed herself. Listening to a story about someone who was around her age wanting to and being similar to my sister, it opened a lot of wounds for me. If you are sad, find motivation in whatever way you can. You only fail when you stop getting up after you fall.

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Jay O. Sanders' Version of Women

Reviewed: 05-24-24

At first the book kind of annoyed me due to an over abundance of absolutely too many adverbs and an incoherence story. Then, the more I listened, the more I started laughing and enjoying the insanity that is this book. Joseph Heller was great at encompassing the craziness of war and I got a real image of the war. In the end, my only real complaint was Sanders, who, for some reason, made every woman sound like a grotesque large Russian woman, even if they were apparently beautiful. His version of women made me cringe, distracted, and I become disconnected with the book. For that, this audiobook gets a low score. The story, adverbs and all, however, grew on me. It helped that Heller used the words correctly and creatively.

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It's not good and too long

Reviewed: 05-09-24

The book is way too long. The chapters are boring and unappealing. Parts of the story kept me interested, but it ultimately led to a pile of nonsense. And what annoyed me the most was Murakami writing himself as the protagonist and during as many pages as possible describing his genitalia for no reason. The female characters act like men, too. Why is this author a bestseller? Do people even read his work? I'll give another book of his a chance, but this was a huge disappointment. The audiobook has very talented voice actors who made this junk of a book decent. Also, the translations of Japanese to English were great! That said, only the British call scarves a muffler, as that's a car part to most of the rest of the world except the Japanese.

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Performance was perfect

Reviewed: 01-11-24

This is how books should be told in audio format. Really enjoyed the narrative and the reader's passion of the words. The story reminds that life is short and you don't want to die with regrets. Live life as if you'll die tomorrow unless you're a jerk...then become a better person first.

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Redundant and biased

Reviewed: 11-08-23

According to Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, the author, by searching the Internet using a racist word, the searcher is racist, because black people, his opinion, don't add "er" to the n-word. That is one example of something repeated over and over in this book and it clearly details how one-sided the author is. Never once did he consider other factors for searches. Is a writer searching the Internet? Is someone curious about the word and looking it up? Is a parent searching to see what they're kid is searching? Are the statistics from the same people searching multiple times? None of this is touched on. Interesting that the author picks on how Obama searches involved racism, but not once does he mention the fact that a historical amount of black voters voted for Obama than any presidential candidate and that the decision to vote for him was based on his race rather than ability to lead a country. That is racist! Who is the audience for this book? Left-wing democratic voters. No one else.
The data brought up in the book are fascinating enough to keep someone interested, but I was beaten over the head with the author's bias and repetition of the same points.
Made it through 4 chapters. Then finally decided, what was the point in continuing knowing that the same points would be reiterated over and over. I started to feel like the author simply wanted to brainwash me over to his political views. The narrative of "of course side A is right" really annoyed me. If I'm looking at something for statistical evidence, I don't care to know the author's bias. Oh, and great way to give your own grandmother a backhanded insult in a book thousands of people will read, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. After that snippet into your life, I understood why you couldn't find a date.

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1 person found this helpful

Sure, Where?

Reviewed: 11-03-23

Matthew Perry wasn't just one of my favorite sitcom stars, women have always said that I had a similar style of humor to him. Hearing his life story, we indeed had a lot in common. At least on the humor front.

I heard of his death the day after my girlfriend said that I was funny like him. It's really flattering to be compared to someone so hilarious and on point. I'll miss his humor and am sad that he didn't get to have the wife and kids he longed for. Perry leaves with a sobering story that the highest people can also battle addiction and leave this world with scars. He reminded me that it's worth reaching out to friends. I'm also even more thankful now that I quit smoking 16 years ago after my brother begged me to.

At any rate, this book it good, but heartbreakingly sad. Anyone who has an addiction issue or was Perry's fan will find this book interesting. It was an honor to feel more connected to the person and through this, I was able to say goodbye to the friend I never knew I had.

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is a great story of character growth

Reviewed: 05-28-22

142 ostriches is a story about growth for a person in her 20s. she has to balance her needs and her family's needs. It's an original and unique story. It has a diverse array of characters. I enjoyed the audiobook and recommend it.

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