Sheesha

It was like watching a train wreck.

Reviewed: 08-28-24

I am in my 70s. I never watched Friends I listened to the book after his untimely and tragic death. I felt his take on his life came across like a person who thought highly of himself even though he says he felt like he was never enough. He blamed everyone else, but said he didn’t really blame them. His constant take on his success was because he was yes lucky but it was because he was great. The talk about sexual encounters, the drugs, alcohol and smoking comes across from his point of view because of his childhood. I wish I hadn’t listened to the book.

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The narrator was wonderful. The story was unique.

Reviewed: 06-04-23

I have been listening to many books about World War Two, but most have either been from the prospective of Americans. Usually soldiers.
I have also heard many books going forward, most seem to be about Germany and the Nazis. This book was a window into the Japanese story. The more books I have heard about any war the more it makes me feel we should never let another war happen again. The voice of the narrator and the true story of the Japanese doctor made me feel a connection and respect for humanity. I loved it.

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1 person found this helpful

I hated everything about it.

Reviewed: 05-15-23

I dont’know what I was expecting, but from the reading by the speaker, which I found so annoying and distracting to the actual subject which I didn’t understand I would not recommend this book at all.

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Too much information and background on incidental characters

Reviewed: 04-06-23

I am a crime junkie and I certainly remember this case. I think this book should have examined the lives of the two killers.
The last part of the trial of the only living murderer so tedious and boring I bailed out. Too many side stories and too many names.

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If narrator idiosyncrasies bother you, pass on this one

Reviewed: 03-31-23

I really should have taken heed of the warnings from other listeners: the narration is too difficult to listen to and I gave up before finishing. The narrator has a really odd way of whispering the words every few sentences. Really bad. Having said that, some of the substance was interesting. But if you’re like me, the narrator can make or break an audiobook—and this one “broke” it.

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Killing women

Reviewed: 10-03-22

I was very disappointed. The whole story is about the killer, repeating the same observations about him. Not really anything about the women. Also I felt repeating the same things about his trial in minutiae was maddening. I stuck it out til the end and I am sorry I did.

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Never forget

Reviewed: 04-26-21

I feel it so important to keep the Holocaust listened to, read about and especially shared because people should never forget. Especially important are the first person accounts that can describe the indescribable. In just listening to this book I felt so much pain and sorrow I had to stop frequently to wipe my tears.

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It takes a lot for me to write a review...

Reviewed: 06-15-20

I honestly can’t believe I finished this book—there were many times when I was ready to quit, but I saw it through. I shouldn’t have. In theory, everything about this book is right up my alley, but wow. Just wow, it was awful. The absolutely unnecessary detail detracted from nearly every scene; the lack of momentum in the plot made it a slog. But I’m not sure what was worse: the thoroughly unlike able and unrealistic characters, or the cringeworthy narration. The characters’ action and motivation bear little resemblance to actual human beings. It’s also difficult to imagine a worse attempt at an American accent. The narrator also made certain characters even more unrelatable by reading all of their lines as petulant whines. I can imagine a much better story somewhere in this overlong book, and I think it’s a shame that the author didn’t have an effective editor.

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I am going to listen to this book again

Reviewed: 04-25-17

My daughter told me to listen to this book. Frankly I wasn't looking forward to it. I thought this will be way over my head. I'm not ashamed to say it was, but it challenged me and kept my attention. I found myself talking about it after dinner with my three grown children, a judge, a teacher and an artist/philosopher. Now I'm going to listen again. We will certainly talk about it again.

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Shockingly Bad Narrator

Reviewed: 11-12-14

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A different narrator would have helped a great deal. It's hard to understand how this style of narration could have been permitted. She reads in an artificially stilted cadence presumably meant to evoke a serious tone, and perhaps to signify direct quotations in the text. It is awful and completely distracting from the story.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

A different narrator. It was often hard to follow the content due to the problems noted above with the narrator.

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48 people found this helpful