Kathryn Liggett

Wait Before You Quit

Reviewed: 11-04-24

This was almost a Did Not Finish for me, both the narration (bad southern accents, male narrator for female first person wasn’t great) and story failed to grab. But I was doing yard work and didnt have a backup so kept rolling. Maybe 2 hours in, it hit and kept getting better chapter by chapter. Depth, intrigue, emotions, a beautiful story all-around with excellent narration despite my initial misgivings.

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I gave it a shot

Reviewed: 09-27-24

The is just a series of bad/worse/worst situations experienced by a main character who is flat and boring as blank paper. I gave up 2/3 of the way through and immediately forgot everything because that’s how bleh it was.

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Progressively disappointing

Reviewed: 03-08-21

Book 1 was intriguing and offered a relatively easy listen. Book 2 found my interest flagging - the narrative as told through a teenager who talks and acts like a wise adult, it's too over the top. The characters that were interesting in book 1 haven't changed or been fleshed out or developed. There is no nuance. Gave book 3 a chance but within a few hours, I returned it. At this point, the main character is still a teenager, seemingly without any peccadilloes, painfully valiant and honest, and as boring as you might expect. By now she and others have immense powers that include: teleporting to wherever they want, turning nuclear bombs into broken glass, reading minds, knowing all the spells and all the languages effortlessly, healing wounds... it just become silly. Hard pass.

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2 people found this helpful

You'll Like it More than You Think

Reviewed: 02-28-21

I delayed listening because I assumed I knew 9/11 well enough and because, in general, I'm not a "war account" type of listener. If you're thinking the same, do yourself a favor and give it a shot. It's an entirely engrossing and well-narrated oral history of the events of 9/11. It doesn't expand. There is no interpretation of the cause, the response, or the aftermath. There's no political insight or historical references. A great listen.

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Pedophilia as Literature

Reviewed: 11-15-20

This book is on a lot of lists and has generally garnered glowing reviews so maybe I'm off base, but I found it reads more like cheap grocery store fiction. The characters are flat and silly, the relationships are flat and silly, and the story is flat and silly. The mostly mute Wavy is incredibly frustrating as a character and her narration in the excessively childish voice is more than cloying. The sometimes explicit descriptions of sexual acts and the buildup towards it beginning when the protagonist is pre-pubescent aren't provocative or edgy, it just left me feeling like it was a bridge too far. The whole book feels like a 13 year old girl in platforms and too much makeup, reeking of desperation. Not a good book.

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Hard Pass

Reviewed: 06-13-20

I was hoping this would be in the vein of Hillbilly Elegy or Educated but this was more a monotonous recounting of poverty, poor decisions, and petty complaints. There's little self-reflection from the author and while the themes are universal and especially timely, she fails to connect her story to any larger picture. What results reads like the personal journals of a self involved teenager who wonders why she is continually the victim.

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8 people found this helpful

Prett Good but Necessarily Shallow

Reviewed: 06-05-20

The author intro outlines the very reasonable and truthful limitations of the book: You can try to recreate working poverty but it is ultimately limited in realism because for a multitude of reasons.

It succeeds in providing a glimpse of low wage life and has some insightful moments particularly regarding the costs of poverty and why rational decision making (to the outsider) may not happen. The real shine is in the humor of the author and her wiseass remarks.

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Flat and Expectable

Reviewed: 11-08-19

Both the story and performance were dull. The characters lacked depth and authenticity. The plot failed to explore beyond the most superficial layer any of the deeper themes that were alluded to, and there were many alluded to. It felt like a young adult novel, and definitely not a remarkable one.

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2 people found this helpful

Flat and Forgettable

Reviewed: 09-12-19

From all the rave reviews, I expected much more. The reading was solid but not exceptional, a little annoying at first in its unnuanced attempts at accent. But the story fell entirely flat. Not flat actually, but more like a round, gooey, totally inoffensive, and equally forgettable tale of expected characters, scenes, and tropes. A boring beach read but at least one set in a more unique natural environment, even if it's one you never feel quite pulled into.

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2 people found this helpful