Peggy M

Best 20 hours I’ve spent!

Reviewed: 01-28-24

Between the author, the narrator and the subject, a polished diamond of an audiobook has been created. That’s my review. (Musk would approve of its brevity and clarity. LOL)

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Powerful. Disturbing. Eye Opening.

Reviewed: 01-27-23

After everything was said and done, it boggles the mind that Larry Nassar remains unrepentant to this day. I’d be interested to learn his backstory and what influences caused him to seek gratification in young girls and women. Understanding where he’s coming from could help society nip this addiction in the bud. Wonderfully presented. I recommend it.

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Worth its weight in gold

Reviewed: 01-22-23

Prince Harry is an old soul. He’s sensitive and insightful, and seems to have already experienced every possible human emotion, adventure, despair and jubilation. His story reads like a hero’s journey, and he reads it (thank you for choosing to do your own reading, H) with authenticity and genuine feeling. The prose is poetic, the descriptions evocative. The book is a long one, of necessity because he’s lived such a rich and full life already, but I didn’t tire of listening to him relate his story, his truth. He’s a wonderful reader, a great storyteller, and without an ounce of arrogance or disingenuousness. He tells it like it is. Not out to destroy or sabotage the monarchy, but simply to find his way back to mental health and sanity after enduring so much gaslighting and stonewalling and worse. He didn’t allow himself to be silenced by the powers that be, which must have taken great courage. As an American who grew up in England in the 1960’s and ‘70’s (boarding school for girls in Ascot, Berkshire, University of London) I have a deep fondness for all the Royal family, and I can understand the complex issues that this book will no doubt stir up. I wish them all well, and I hope one day they will all be able to see the humanity and dignity that lives within every one of us. And what a gift this story is to his and Meghan’s children! Truly it was a labor of love. I’m glad to have learned firsthand about Harry’s fascinating life, and I highly recommend this book to others.

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Bring the outdoors inside!

Reviewed: 12-02-22

The author couldn’t have chosen a more perfect narrator. It really sounded like an authentic reading, with the accents and heartfelt delivery bringing the story to life. I love being outdoors so while cooped up inside in this cold and damp weather I felt I was able to bring the outdoors in and I could even imagine deeply breathing in the fresh, country air. The author’s personal journey towards fulfilling her dream of becoming a shepherdess was a long and convoluted one, teleporting her out of urban punk into wholesome farm life. And don’t get me started on her remarkable reproductive biology!!! Well worth every minute of your time. As always when a good book ends, I feel bereft for a while. But it’s good to know she can be found in other works, including on the television screen. If you love animals and family life and old fashioned living, then I highly recommend this audiobook.

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Narrator Simon McBurney gets my 100% rating

Reviewed: 09-26-22

As always, Ian McEwan has written an engaging and beautifully crafted novel, which I enjoyed from first word to last. It helped that Simon McBurney narrated it. His voice is mellifluous and perfectly paced, and he skillfully embodies each character’s essence - and there are a lot of characters! McEwan is like a Master painter, conjuring up vivid scenes both mundane and far reaching, the trivial and profound being given equal attention. It’s thought provoking and holds the listener’s interest throughout. I highly recommend it!

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15 people found this helpful

Brutally honest and poignant, but narrated much too quickly

Reviewed: 09-14-22

I’d never heard of the author before, even though she’s apparently famous. Her story interested me because I, too, had a narcissistic mother and I was curious about the relationship she had with hers. She reveals a lot of insights she learned during her recovery and she didn’t shy away from talking about her deepest shames and guilts. It’s a brave work, marred only by the author’s inexplicable rushing through the reading. As a trained actress, she would be expected to narrate her own book with a measured and clear delivery but, sadly, it sounded to me as if she couldn’t wait to get this reading over and done with, and the sooner the better! Even played back at a slower speed (great Audible feature, btw) some of her words sounded truncated and often ran together. But I stayed with her to the bittersweet end as I found myself caring about her and needing to know what happened next. It’s a story I won’t soon forget, as her pain was deep and constant and the hero’s journey she went on and survived made the challenging listening experience well worth it.

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Poetically Evocative, Exquisitely Narrated!

Reviewed: 05-05-22

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to The Art of the Wasted Day. The author reads her own work with precision and authentic feeling, her voice as pleasant to hear as her carefully-chosen words are to absorb and imagine. I wasn’t surprised to learn that she calls herself a poet; she has an economy of style that she pairs with a vast and complex array of historical free-associations, conveying to the reader how very prolific her own reading has been. It would have been easy to end up with a muddle of disparate themes in writing a book such as this, but she somehow managed to keep it coherent from page one to the very last word. I highly recommend this book!!

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A great yarn read by a skilled narrator

Reviewed: 04-18-22

What a treat to listen to this classic story read by a talented narrator who not only speaks clearly and slowly but whose voice is easy on the ear and full of genuine feeling and spot-on character depiction. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

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R-e-a-l-l-y Slow Audio

Reviewed: 03-11-22

Playing this audiobook at regular speed keeps it very slow and therefore helps learners recognize and absorb each word which is helpful for beginners. On my next re-listen I’ll increase the speed to get a more naturally flowing cadence. I enjoyed these ten stories and was able to grasp a lot more than I expected! I only gave it 4 (instead of 5) stars overall as I would have loved a PDF transcript to accompany this book. But it’s well worth it, and I recommend it!

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2 people found this helpful

Fast Perfekt (Almost Perfect)

Reviewed: 03-10-22

Fast Perfekt (Almost Perfect)

Each conversation is short enough to hold your attention, but long enough for a sense of German language immersion. To get the most out of it, I adjusted the playback speed in the Audible app to slow it down a little, so I could better discern when one word ended and the next began. Some of the stories are quite amusing! Each conversation is directly followed by its English translation, forcing the listener to fully pay attention to the spoken German without the help of prior knowledge of the story; sometimes I could only understand a few random words here and there and had no idea what the conversation was about and was then happily surprised to discover what they were really saying. The feature that convinced me to buy this Audible book was the accompanying PDF file containing the complete written transcript. This will be invaluable to me, now that I’ve heard all 105 conversations, as I can study the vocabulary and grammar at my own pace, while I listen to the book again several more times. My only real complaint is the vocal delivery of many of the conversations: in the German version it’s often one voice actor playing both parts, but he or she doesn’t attempt to alter their voice at all and I ended up not realizing that it actually was a conversation between two people until I heard the English version, which used different voice actors who were much more expressive and made it clear there were two separate people chatting. So I think I missed a lot of comprehension due to the flat delivery of some of the German voice actors. But this complaint isn’t a major one, and I highly recommend this Audible book to beginner-intermediate learners such as myself.

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2 people found this helpful