Rachel

Delightful

Revisado: 12-11-20

This is a marvelous collection of folk tales, and the reader was truly delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and will likely listen to it often.

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odd and entertaining

Revisado: 08-14-20

This book has a number of negative reviews, but reading those, I get the feeling that many were expecting this book to be something that it isn't.
What it isn't:
About Ghostbusters. There's a bit in here about the movie, but don't expect an in-depth look at it.
Read by Dan Aykroyd. He wrote and reads an introduction. That is all.
A history of spiritualism from an academic standpoint.
What it is:
A brief history of the spiritualist movement and how it ties in to the Aykroyd family and, eventually, Ghostbusters. There was clearly a lot of academic research that went in to this book so we have a framework for spiritualism. There are much better books that offer a more extensive history on spiritualism, so look elsewhere if that's what you want. This book feels more personal because it comes from Aykroyd's real-life experiences, which I really enjoyed.
Listening to it can feel a little disjointed because it is riddled with info boxes and notes. It felt a little jarring at first, and certainly feels more natural in a paper book than an audio book. However, the reader clearly states when he will be reading one and it didn't take long to get used to it.
Many people seem to not like the narrator. I didn't have a problem with him, especially when I realized that he sounds a little like a less manic Edward Everett Horton.
All-in-all, not really a masterpiece, but certainly not bad. I enjoyed it a great deal.

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A fictional account of a true story

Revisado: 03-09-20

I find this to have been well written and well performed. However, this is the story of Betty Klenck, a real girl in Florida. Betty becomes Lizzie Friedlander, but her story remains the same. It’s obviously not uncommon to change names for such things, but I do think it odd that neither Audible nor the author acknowledged Klenck as the obvious inspiration for Lizzie.
Aside from that, I did enjoy this. And all the reviews complaining about the barrage of curse words, maybe just stick with religious lit if you can’t handle a few instances of the f word. It felt true to the character who said them, and has a much stronger impact than just saying “he cursed”. This isn’t really a story for little kids, and I promise you that your preteens can handle it.

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An interesting subject made boring

Revisado: 10-24-19

The reader felt extremely mechanical. He is very monotone, with no inflections or change of pace. Even chapter changes lacked any sort of break, so it was frequently difficult to tell when the story changed. I can’t even tell if this was written well it was so boring. 100% do not recommend.

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needs a new reader

Revisado: 07-19-19

This is not a review of the story. It's Agatha Christie, so we all know what we're in for. This is a review of the reader. She wasn't terrible, but wasn't great. She only gave unique voices to a couple of characters, and her emoting was pretty spotty. It kind of felt like this was her first time reading it, so she was just reading directly from the page. When speaking as Poirot, it was difficult to tell if he's supposed to be from Belgium or from India with the accent she used. But my main complaint is, that while she did pronounce some of the French words well, every instance of "monsieur" and "mademoiselle" was wrong. Monsieur was always either "mon-seur", "mon-shur", or "moo-seur". This may not bother others, but, having studied French, it drove me nuts.
In addition, the volume kept fluctuating.

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good story that needs a different reader

Revisado: 05-22-19

A book written by a witty Brit about Americans with a smattering of British characters requires a different reader, one who can do at least passable accents from both sides of the pond. This reader not only didn't give voices to individual characters, but didn't even attempt a British accent. I honestly had trouble following who was talking because there was no distinction for any individual character (and it took me a while to realize that the British characters were even supposed to be British). And for the level of wit and humor one expects from Wodehouse, a reader should have more oomph. This just really fell flat. I really didn't mind this reader's voice, but I feel like they may do better at cute short children's stories than something that requires good comedic timing. I was really loving the story, but about halfway through I just couldn't take the reader any more. There also kept being frequent background noise, like there was traffic or a vacuum near. And I swear I heard a door close at one point.

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Delightful

Revisado: 05-03-19

This book was great fun. Appropriate for kids and enjoyable for adults. I look forward to the rest of the series.

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Frustrating heroine

Revisado: 02-04-19

I quite liked this first book in this series and was excited to give this one a try. Unfortunately, I feel like our main characters were flat and severely underdeveloped. The heroine is mute, but somehow never learns alternate forms of communication. She is also woefully immature, and responds to situations like that of an eight-year-old instead of an eighteen-year-old. So much of this story could have been told better if the married couple could have at least attempted to communicate with one another instead of working purely off misunderstandings and assumptions.
The reader was also frustrating to listen to. Her accent is lovely, and I actually quite liked her voice. However, the voice she would give to the main character sounded childish and sing-song; it felt like we were hearing the thoughts of a little kid just learning the ways of the world instead of a supposedly grown woman. (I guess that voice matches the heroine's actual maturity level, but I still found it grating.)
Lastly, the heroine's husband is a cattle man, so naturally cattle raising and drives are a major part of the story. But I really didn't need the author to go in to detail about so much about rearing, and driving, and slaughter. There were two full unnecessary minutes devoted to the cooking of a rabbit, detailing how one prepares a freshly killed animal. I want the story about a witch, not about animal husbandry and torture.
I feel like there's a good story tucked in here, but the first draft was published instead of a polished and properly edited second or third.

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Great voice given to great characters

Revisado: 01-18-19

This is not a review of the book, as, after 100s of years remaining one of the most popular books ever written, no new review is necessary. In regards to George Guidall’s reading, top notch! I found it hard to keep my composure every time Sancho opened his mouth. His voice for our Knight was always full of gravitas and sorrow, and just how I imagined he would sound. Definitely worth the 40 hours it took to listen to.

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Perfection

Revisado: 02-06-18

What did you love best about The Last Unicorn?

This is one of my favorite books. I love fantasy, as well as classic and children's literature. I love how Beagle borrows from so many classic fantasy elements and unicorn lore, and weaves a thoroughly modern yet timeless story.

What does Peter S. Beagle bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Peter himself. I have read the book, and I'm likely to do so again. But I love listening to authors read their own work. It's a little funny...listening to a very European style fantasy by a fellow with a distinct New York accent. However, Peter puts so much beauty and emotion into his reading; I get a little teary just thinking about it.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Molly meets the Unicorn for the first time.

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