Pamela Paine
- 3
- reviews
- 11
- helpful votes
- 16
- ratings
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The Sound of a Thousand Stars
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Robbins
- Narrated by: Sarah Skaer
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 3
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story2.5 out of 5 stars 3
Alice Katz is a young Jewish physicist, one of the only female doctoral students at her university, studying with the famed Dr. Oppenheimer. Her well-to-do family wants her to marry a man of her class and settle down. Instead, Alice answers her country’s call to come to an unnamed city in the desert to work on a government project shrouded in secrecy. At Los Alamos, Alice meets Caleb Blum, a poor Orthodox Jew who has been assigned to the explosives division. Around them are other young scientists and engineers who have quietly left their university posts to come live in the desert.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Disappointed
- By Pamela Paine on 04-06-25
- The Sound of a Thousand Stars
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Robbins
- Narrated by: Sarah Skaer
Disappointed
Reviewed: 04-06-25
I am sorry to say I simply cannot finish this book. The historical issues—not so much history of the Manhattan Project, but issues with history of the time 1944—are inconsistent. The first one to catch my ear was when Alice is conversing with Oppie and she points out the window and says, ". . . view of the desert." I live in Los Alamos. Nowhere around Ashley Pond can one get a view of the desert, let alone out a window of a building in the 1944 Tech Area around Ashley Pond. Another blooper in Chapter 4, June 1944 is when Alice is in the dark room with other soldiers processing film. She gets testy and one of the soldiers tells her, "don't get your pantyhose in a wad." Pantyhose were not invented until 1959. Another blooper takes place in November 1944 with a description the women wearing "strappy sandals and sun hats." November in Los Alamos is cold and wintery. Women would not have worn summer clothing. I have a list of many other little issues like this that made it very difficult to continue listening.
The book is advertised for listeners of Kate Quinn. It does not come close to Kate Quinn. The author may have used her grandparents diaries as the basis of her story, but many history facts still needed to be checked. Honestly, I blame all the inconsistencies on her editorial team for not checking these historical facts.
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The Bell Jar
- By: Sylvia Plath
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,006
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8,025
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,996
The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful but slowly going under - maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A must-read for every woman
- By Julie W. Capell on 05-06-16
- The Bell Jar
- By: Sylvia Plath
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Don’t bother
Reviewed: 11-28-18
I understand the plot, but the whole thing evolves so slowly I keep thinking “what is the reason for this book.” It plods along so slowly one can take a nap, wake up, and not have missed anything. Don’t bother with this book. I am sorry I spent money on it. The only good part is Maggie Gyllenhaal reading it.
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11 people found this helpful
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KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps
- By: Nikolaus Wachsmann
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 31 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,062
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 963
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 956
In KL, Wachsmann fills this glaring gap in our understanding. He not only synthesizes a new generation of scholarly work, much of it untranslated and unknown outside of Germany, but also presents startling revelations, based on many years of archival research, about the functioning and scope of the camp system.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Narrator warning!
- By S R L COTTERILL on 04-24-15
- KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps
- By: Nikolaus Wachsmann
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
Powerful!!
Reviewed: 08-13-17
What made the experience of listening to KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps the most enjoyable?
This book is not enjoyable. This book is history at its finest. A must read.
What did you like best about this story?
Nothing. It is most difficult to listen to what the SA and SS did in the name of a better Germany. EVERYONE should read/listen to this book. Everyone needs to know and remember.
Which scene was your favorite?
None
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The entire book moved me. Sometimes to tears.
Any additional comments?
This book is so powerful and so moving and so disturbing that there were times I had to stop listening for a couple of days to get past the strong emotions. I think this book should be required reading for ALL world history classes, and most especially for any study of Germany and the Third Reich. We need reminders of the atrocities committed by the Nazis. We need a reminder of what we should never let happen again.
This book is moving, emotional, gripping, and powerful!
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