Anonymous

Self-Absorbed

Reviewed: 03-16-24

It is frustrating and extremely disappointing to listen to a book by a mental health professional that is literally explaining how unmet emotional needs in childhood impact us as adults and only gives examples from her own experience and the way she processed and was impacted by her experience. As the daughter of a narcissistic mother and a father who died when I was a toddler, I developed an anxious attachment style, while the author developed an avoidant attachment style. So far this book focuses on the experiences of one person with avoidant attachment. The last thing I need is to gain a deeper understanding of the avoidant personality with narcissistic traits. I came to this book looking to further heal from a lifetime of relationships where I have been expected to set aside my own needs and feelings in order to understand and validate the feelings and experiences of those I have been in relationship with. Two chapters in…I’m returning this book as an act of loving myself enough to enforce my boundary of walking away from people who only seek to be understood with little interest in understanding the experiences of others. My advice to the author is to balance the examples from her own life with a variety of examples from the lives of people who had different experiences. I suspect, however, that she is unable to fully grasp how the concepts she writes about impact others. If she did, she wouldn’t need the advice to begin with.

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Rosamund Pike is Amazing!

Reviewed: 12-18-23

I’ve liked Rosamund Pike since I first saw her in Pride and Prejudice. I was excited to see her in the Wheel of Time t.v. series and bought this version of the audiobooks because she is the narrator. Still, I had no idea what an amazing actor she is until listening to her narrate. She uses multiple accents flawlessly. She convincingly differentiates each character, and she throws herself into the emotionality of each scene. I have listened to well over 500 audiobooks and Rosamund Pike is, far and away, the best narrator I’ve heard.

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Could not handle the narrator

Reviewed: 05-17-23

I wish Audible had a function that pulled up previous reviews or notes we could make for specific authors and narrators to avoid purchasing the same book i returned years ago or a different title with the same narrator as a book I previously returned because I found the narration intolerable. In this case, the book itself is probably great and I’ll look for the kindle version. However, the author has this annoying and grating habit of telling as though a suspenseful moment is occurring while narrating something mundane. For example, in this book, the narrator began yelling as though the main character was in imminent danger while describing the characters love of scarves and how it graceful flowed etc. She similarly yelled to describe a tranquil scene of the people taking a stroll in the woods while playing fetch with a dog. I listen to audiobooks to unwind and relax as well as for the mental escape. This narrator ruins the experience and i never want to make the mistake of purchasing an audiobook narrated by her again. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to recall that I returned a different book she narrated several years ago.

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The narration is so bad it detracts from the story.

Reviewed: 03-08-23

I hope there is a different narrator for the following books. The first one seems like it’s narrated by an author. I’ve yet to listen to an audiobook narrated by its author that was any good. Seriously! Hire a decent actor to convey your story. Also…It is very jarring to hear “End of chapter…” especially when it’s talked on as though it was a continuation of whatever the last sentence was. I am certain i would have enjoyed this book so much better if I’d read it myself. I only continued because the other two books have higher ratings. I really hope it’s worth it, because this narration is incredibly irritating.

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Do you want life to be a constant fight?

Reviewed: 06-17-22

One of the subliminal messages is “fight for what you want.” If id have known continued struggle was built into the subliminal messages, I never would have purchased this audio. Get up and move? Hell yes! Make progress today? Absolutely! Take action now? Yes! Theses are positive ways to frame the need to actively engage in the process. Fight for what you want is outdated patriarchal bullshit. The performance is good, but the ideology is inherently flawed.

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The story is great, but the narration...

Reviewed: 08-11-20

The narrator has so much potential, but when she narrates the lead she uses the same mix of intense sadness and anxiety whether she’s talking about the death of a loved one or something as mundane as styling a fire or putting on a cloak. It’s exhausting! But it also makes the characters she narrates much more one dimensional than the author
created them to be.

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I don’t care enough about what happens next to even look for the next book.

Reviewed: 05-25-20

I rarely write a review, and when I do, it’s usually because I loved the book so much that I want others to know about it. I hesitate to write bad reviews because I have a great deal of respect for writers and all they put in to producing a book. Unfortunately, this one left me so completely disappointed that I feel the need to warn others.

I usually love this kind of story, and the outline is interesting enough that it ought to have captured my attention. I don’t know if it was the way it was read (the accents were lovely, but there wasn’t any emotion) or the way it was written, but it completely failed to draw me in. It felt drawn out and one dimensional.

The characters had all the ingredients necessary for complexity, but they remained in recipe form, waiting for some proper mixing, whipping, folding, and baking. They just didn’t come to life.

For example, there is a scene where a main character is captured and tortured. There are descriptions of cruelty and sadism, and there were guards who talked roughly. There was even an attempt at escape. But it seemed perfunctory. It felt completely out of place and it was gross, but not engaging. It was like watching cartoons as an adult. The villains have all the personality of Skelator or Dr Claw, and the heroes were as engaging as She-Ra and Inspector Gadget.

It was like reading a first draft. Like someone wrote a beautiful outline, and then started fleshing out the story with several details, but all the details were what one might expect to have in each setting. The author and narrator didn’t think deeply enough into each scene to make them real. Details abound, but they are flat.

It’s so disappointing because the bones for a truly enthralling story are all there. The imagination is wonderful! It just doesn’t come to life.

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5 people found this helpful