Anonymous

Worth listening to twice, even with its flaws

Reviewed: 05-09-24

The humor and character development in this story, along with Marin Ireland's STELLAR narration, make it worth some of the drawn-out police interviews and the abundance of unnecessary adverbs in the dialog descriptions ("he said, informatively," etc.). Ms. Ireland makes each of the many voices distinctive. A few folks complain about many of the characters being annoying, and I will admit on my second listen I fast-forwarded past one of the annoying characters' police interview when I couldn't take it anymore. The vast majority of characters eventually are developed and become more interesting and sympathetic, with the exception of the real estate agent. I listened to it first in 2021, and now three year later I just re-listened to it for its sheer entertainment value. I laughed out loud many times, and also enjoyed the many tender moments, along with the out-and-out creativity of the story. Such a fun and intriguing tale of people's interwoven lives, and their desire, at the end of the day, to be good people (or at least, not idiots) for the ones they love.

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Great story — very fresh; no rose colored glasses

Reviewed: 07-12-20

I loved how the book started with the theme of windows not being a thing you think about when you’re poor. (Yes I listened to the whole book!) Overall wonderful and the narrator was great but I struggled with everything sounding like it was foreshadowing doom., like in a noir film, almost to the point of absurdity. There is a lot of harsh reality in this story. To the point where I had to take breaks. But there is hope, too. And bravo for non-traditional lifestyles!! There is no single formula for happiness and positivity contributing to the world!

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4 people found this helpful

A gem

Reviewed: 12-26-17

Jonathan Winters‘ command of the overall story, and his vocal talents for different voices, be they crabby old Scrooges, ghosts, townsfolk, or children, make this a true Christmas treat.

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1 person found this helpful

Unique story, requires some patience

Reviewed: 05-25-15

Would you listen to Where'd You Go, Bernadette again? Why?

No, but I would be curious to see what it feels like to read it on paper. I remember seeing it in a bookstore (and not buying it) a few months before I got the audiobook, and finding Bee's voice engaging in the first part of the book as I read it there in the bookstore. The reader's voice didn't agree with my interpretation of the lead character, Bee. Bee sounded about 10 years old, not 15. She was a played too immaturely. Even if a girl's physical development is stilted due to early health problems, a 15-year-old is still a 15-year-old. I will say I thought the performer did the other voices well, they were fairly easy to tell apart, and the male voices were done well. One other criticism is that when Audrey was having a hissy fit early in the book, it tried my patience -- too much one-note hysteria.

What did you like best about this story?

Mainly the journey of Bernadette herself. SPOILER ALERT (don't keep reading if you don't want a relatively subtle spoiler).


I liked that she was slowly and surely descending into the brink of mental illness -- and accidentally found a way to heal herself, mainly through trusting her friends (that she didn't know she had), her family (in an indirect way), and herself.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes but it was almost impossible to find any patience with some of the journal entries, such as the ship's logs, these long lists of short back-and-forths that had almost no meaning -- this would be easier to quickly read through. It was a nightmare of boredom to listen to. This was the part where they were tracking Bernadette's drinks or some such thing on the ship. This was a flaw in the writing more than the reading thereof. This is where the device using documents and correspondence to tell a story, when the author couldn't use Bee's voice, simply didn't work. It was clunky.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No -- for the reasons already listed here, it was better in 45 minute increments -- perfect for my daily commute!

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