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James

  • 12
  • reviews
  • 2
  • helpful votes
  • 48
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How do you translate a graphic novel to audio?

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-20-23

Maybe more importantly, why do it? The graphic artwork doesn’t exactly translate to sound effects no matter how hard you try. That’s probably why it seems overwhelming at times and left me wanting to SEE what the hell was happening, or have a narrator describe it. Overall I understood enough to enjoy the story, so it’s far from a failure. It just would have been easier starting from a novel and turned out better.

The science is made up but not so silly to be distracting. At one point a character refers to the “rules” they didn’t yet understand, as like a magic system or game play, giving a peek at the writers process.

There’s drama and a few plot twists. I didn’t think it was all that predictable, but I don’t try to guess the end when I read.

I say it’s worth a listen.

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Highly Recommend

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-27-23

Cairn nails it with her descriptions of the ways in which the US medical system is still so bad, particularly at diagnosing and treating chronic conditions and how the health insurance industry makes everything worse, while also acknowledging her part by remaining in denial and not facing the disease proactively sooner than she did. It takes a lot of courage to admit mistakes and even more to put them in a book.

Cairn’s honesty is what makes the book so relatable because we all make bad choices sometimes and ignore things we should pay attention to. This is the real story as told firsthand by a real person and a single mom, while she tries to follow her dream of becoming a working scientist in geology. It also has a lot of information that might be of use to anyone facing the same diagnosis. There’s no one best way to handle a disease that can manifest in so many different ways for different people, but there is probably enough overlap that Cairn’s story has something useful and relatable for everyone or anyone with an autoimmune condition and probably even wider than that. There is some humor as well, sometimes cynical and even sarcastic at times, which is my favorite humor. The narrator did a good job -- the only distractions being a couple of mispronounced words.

I was given a free code for the audiobook but was never asked to leave a review. That was all my idea.

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Funny

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-14-23

I was entertained, but am still not a comedy special. It’s OK though. Worth the listen.

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Starts out a little trite but gets very personal and real

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-12-23

A touching story with good if out of date information for cancer patients - still a good jumping off point for researching immunotherapy.
Worth a read.

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Unsatisfying twist

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-16-22

The narration lacks emotion especially considering the storyline.

The twist at the end was too far out to make sense and wasn’t told convincingly so I was left feeling disappointed and incredulous.

Before that though I did get involved in the story and the characters so I can’t say it was all bad. A rewrite of the end could salvage the book.

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A good story with a quirky narration style

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-17-21

When I say the narration is quirky I don’t mean the voice actor, who did a phenomenal job. The author breaks all sorts of rules in novel writing including apparently the fourth wall when addressing the reader directly. He also has a fondness for mangling metaphors which is sometimes funny but sometimes annoying and distracting. If you can put up with that it’s a fun story with interesting characters.

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A sci-fi epic

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-02-20

It’s a long back and forth through time and generations that never gets boring. The narrator is dynamic and talented.

Some details managed to get through editing such as the use of the word prone repeatedly instead of supine. I’m a yoga teacher so that stood out and distracted me. Otherwise it’s a great book and worth a listen.

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1 person found this helpful

Invisible Monsters Remix Audiobook By Chuck Palahniuk cover art

Confusing

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-19-18

The story is good but told out of order - not in a way that makes sense. It’s intentionally jumbled up. It still kind of works but gave me a feeling of frustration.

It’s dark gruesome humor. Think Infinite Jest.

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It will probable make you cry if you have a heart.

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-01-18

I listened all the way through the credits. It’s really a one person full cast radio play, only not annoying.

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A new take on Benjamin Button

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-22-17

It is an original retelling of an old story, beautifully done. It's more poignant and a little less humorous than Benjamin Button. I recommend it highly.

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1 person found this helpful