The Other Story

By: Tatiana de Rosnay

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Vacationing at a luxurious Tuscan island resort, Nicolas Duhamel is hopeful that the ghosts of his past have finally been put to rest.… He's now a best-selling author, but when he was 24 years old, he stumbled upon a troubling secret about his family - a secret that was carefully concealed. In shock, Nicholas embarked on a journey to uncover the truth that took him from the Basque coast to St. Petersburg - but the answers wouldn’t come easily.

In the process of digging into his past, something else happened. Nicolas began writing a novel that was met with phenomenal success, skyrocketing him to literary fame whether he was ready for it or not - and convincing him that he had put his family’s history firmly behind him. But now, years later, Nicolas must reexamine everything he thought he knew, as he learns that, however deeply buried, the secrets of the past always find a way out.

Layered and beautifully written, Tatiana de Rosnay's The Other Story is a reflection on identity, the process of being a writer, and the repercussions of generations-old decisions as they echo into the present and shape the future.

©2014 Éditions Héloise d’Ormesson, Paris (P)2014 Macmillan Audio

Boring book

Would you try another book from Tatiana de Rosnay and/or Simon Vance?

I loved Sarah's Key and cried reading it so I was looking forward to her next book. This book is a disappointment. It is the very boring story of a pompous writer with writer's block. I stopped reading it halfway through b/c life is too short to read boring books.

Not my cuppa

I have loved all of Tatiana's other books but this one just didn't do it for me. It had a lot of very descriptive sexting scenes that took me right out of the book and even Simon Vance's narration couldn't get me back in.

This book was about an author, Nicholas, I did have to kind of giggle, the title of the book in the book was called ‘The Envelope’ and the author Nicholas who turned into a jerk after his first book is a hit and made into movie. Ummm Nicholas? The Envelope? Or was it The Notebook? Heehee, not sure but that is where my mind went.

I kept listening hoping this book would get better and that the sexting storyline wouldn’t last the entire book but that turned out to be the majority of the story, bordering on erotica (at least in my mind). I guess it was to show what an ass Nicholas was but it could have been a short couple pages and not taken over the entire story. My problem with this was by the time we do get a few passages about Nicholas and the family secret I didn’t really care, Nicholas is a pig, and I didn’t care where he came from or what his family secret was.

Simon’s narration was well done as always but I felt like I didn’t know how old Nicholas was supposed to be because he sounded like an old man, but Vance does some great accents German, Russian, French, American. But it was almost embarrassing to me listening to these sexting scenes, at least when you are reading in print you can skip these but when listening that isn’t a choice. Honestly though this was such a huge part of the story I don’t know how much book would be left if I skipped all those scenes.

I will read Tatiana’s next book but hope she gets back to her true storytelling gift that have made me a fan!

2 stars

Won't be finishing this one

We meet the main character, author Nicholas Kolt, as he is spending three days at an exclusive Italian resort with his high-maintenance girlfriend. Although Nick has only written one book, it was a best-seller, selling, we are told, 30 million copies worldwide, and was the basis for a movie starring Robin Wright. Unfortunately, while Nick enjoys the food, sun and champagne, we are treated to his excruciatingly whiney inner dialogue regarding his inability to stay away from Twitter, Facebook, mirrors and sexting long enough to write his next book, for which he has accepted a healthy advance. Halfway through this book I don't know what the secret promised in the blurb is, nor do I care. No secret could be worth having to listen to this self-pitying jerk for another four and a half hours.

Cliché and disappointing

Could this really be the same author who penned Sarah's Key? This novel read like a trashy and vapid tabloid novella.

Awesome!

The storyline of this book is fascinating and the narration is fantastic! Highly recommend it.

Wish I could Get my Credits Back

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

There was no story in this book until the last chapter. It was so awful I only listened to portions of it and skipped to the last chapter.

What could Tatiana de Rosnay have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Maybe left this one off until a later date.

How could the performance have been better?

Not sure.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment and anger that I spent my book credit on it.

Any additional comments?

I love her first book Sarah's Key and looked forward to listening to another book by the same author. But was very disappointed in this book. With the exception of the last chapter this was just some spoiled guy doing lot of whining.

Really not worth it

What disappointed you about The Other Story?

I had a hard time following what was happening, but even at that it seemed like nothing was... except some overly graphic details about sex and masturbation. So not cool.

Would you ever listen to anything by Tatiana de Rosnay again?

Well I really liked Sarah's Key, so tentatively yes.

author lets us down

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

If there had been a story to it I might not have been put to sleep

What do you think your next listen will be?

Nothing by that author

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

the narration was fine, the book was lacking

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Other Story?

all of it.

Any additional comments?

this was a most disappointing book from an author who can write better!

Unforgettable story that stays with long after it ends.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I love this book and have listened to it multiple times now, Simon Vance does a stellar job of bringing the huge cast of characters to like in this unexpected delight. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Boring Disappointment

Any additional comments?

I love Tatiana de Rosnay’s books, especially Sarah’s Key. I had been looking forward to this book with great anticipation - Such a disappointment. I stopped reading about ½ way through, the book was boring from the beginning, but I kept hoping it would get better and it never did. In fact, between Nicholas sexting with someone he met only once and whining about his writer’s block for the first half of the book, I almost forgot we were supposed to be learning about a secret from his past… and by time I stopped reading, I didn’t care anymore.The only highlight of the book, which kept me listening much longer than I would have, I like to listen to Simon Vance.