Antonia
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The Snakes
- A Novel
- By: Sadie Jones
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 98
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 89
The Snakes exposes the damage wreaked by parents on children as observed by a new member of the family, Dan, a mixed-race man from Peckham who marries Bea, the daughter who refuses to take any of her father’s filthy money. But when Bea’s brother, Alex (who runs a shabby hotel in Paligny, France), dies suddenly in unexplained circumstances, the confusion and suspicion which arise bring other dark family secrets - and violence - to the surface. And none of the family, even the good members, go untouched.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Extraordinary!
- By Bibliophile on 07-21-19
- The Snakes
- A Novel
- By: Sadie Jones
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
Couldn't stop listening!
Reviewed: 07-12-19
One of the most engrossing audiobooks I've heard in a long time. Every scene is a subtle exploration of power dynamics: around wealth, class, violence, sex, language...you name it. OK, the french and American accents aren't great, but overall the narrator is a nuanced actress who positively nails it. The ending was shocking and at first disappointing...then I gave it some thought and realised it could be no other way. Be prepared to fold a lot of laundry or go on a long commute, because this book will NOT release you until the end.
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The Ministry of Special Cases
- A Novel
- By: Nathan Englander
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 76
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 33
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 33
From its unforgettable opening scene in the darkness of a forgotten cemetery in Buenos Aires, The Ministry of Special Cases casts a powerful spell. In a world turned upside down, where the past and the future, and the nature of truth itself, all take shape according to a corrupt government's whims, one man, one spectacularly hopeless man, fights to overcome his history and his name - and, if for only once in his life, to put things right.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Difficult to penetrate
- By Antonia on 10-24-08
- The Ministry of Special Cases
- A Novel
- By: Nathan Englander
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
Difficult to penetrate
Reviewed: 10-24-08
I found this book difficult to understand in audio format. Perhaps, if I had the printed version in front of me and could move slower, it would have been easier. But the combination of unfamiliar names and culture made it difficult to follow over headphones.
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2 people found this helpful
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A Dirty Job
- By: Christopher Moore
- Narrated by: Fisher Stevens
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12,816
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9,374
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9,374
People start dropping dead around Charlie, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Listen!
- By Janie on 03-24-06
- A Dirty Job
- By: Christopher Moore
- Narrated by: Fisher Stevens
What a Mess
Reviewed: 09-19-08
This book was so bad I'm actually surprised it even got published. I forced myself to listen to most of it, just in case it miraculously got better, but it never did. Eventually I started breaking out in a rash, and had to give up the whole enterprise altogether.
I found the whole demon-underworld theme hackneyed and unoriginal, the outrageous plot twists messy and self-indulgent (squirrels of the living dead with eighteenth-century costumes on? who cares?), and the underlying metaphysics of the story just made me yawn.
The author occasionally gets off a funny line, but for the most part his wise-cracking asides just yanked me out of the world of the story, as though I was being read to by an annoying teenager who can't resist a constant stream of snide commentary.
The vulgar language didn't bother me, but the F-bombs are over-used to the point of losing their emphasis.
Finally, the audio production was just sloppy. As a native San Franciscan, it annoyed the hell out of me when the narrator repeatedly mis-pronounced place names. (I mean, how hard can it be? San Francisco is not exactly an obscure little hamlet.) And once, he mispronounced a word so as to change its meaning entirely, saying "wicked" (as in evil), rather than "wicked" (as in the past tense of the verb "to wick.") Call me a curmudgeon, but didn't anybody proof read this audio recording?
This author might well write amusing columns or essays, but as far as this novel goes, he just can't hang a long narrative together and make me care enough to finish it.
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3 people found this helpful