I enjoyed hearing the author narrate, even though she is not a professional. It felt more authentic. I also enjoyed the story, giving me a glimpse of life in a far away place. My biggest disappointment with this book is that it's abridged. I rarely ever buy any anything that's abridged and I wish they would give the full book option.

Her voice is painful, her writing is scattered and overall, just bad. Heartbreaking and super disappointing. She tries too hard to be creative with her metaphors and such. Just so bad.

wonderfully written descriptions of Italy's food and culture peppered with southern humor. Delightful. listen and enjoy

I enjoyed the story in this movie and hoped the book would have additional enjoyable adventures. Unfortunately I found the opposite. The story seemed disconnected and didn't flow as well as the movie. I guess this is the down fall of seeing the movie first.

In any case the most problematic concern was the narrator's voice. Ms. Mayes should have opted for someone else to narrate. Ms. Mayes' soft southern drawl didn't seem natural and was very distracting.

I had to give up on this one, it was too painful to listen to.

Boring, long, and pointless. The author's voice is annoying. I'm sorry I ever wasted a credit on this book.

The underlying story is entertaining. it is hidden underneath layers of overly intellectual folderol and poetic waxing which makes it hard to follow at times does she really think like that I'd be exhausted. wal these are her words that she is reading my initial impression was that her reading was too fast although I thought she settled in or I became more accustomed to her voice. I felt that between the ramblings and The Voice it was hard to stay focused on the story and I often caught myself daydreaming while listening to the story.

A skilled narrator 'living the text'. I read this book years ago and returned from Italy two days ago pining to enjoy it again. I listened for an hour and simply can't take it anymore. The book is so poorly narrated by the author I couldn't recall what i enjoyed about the book the first time around. Her voice is so entitled and uptight that prose I found charming and enticing when I read it now sounds indulgent and off putting. The three star for the story is due to the botched abridged job -- where was the story of the wasp dying in the figs that so charmingly opened the book?

Her voice is beyond irritating and doesn't match the text. Frances puts no life at all into her narration. It is read far too quickly and monotone. Awful. And she reads, not narrates, make no mistake about it and badly too; missing grammatical cues and even mispronouncing words.

Frances should have asked Diane Lane to narrate. The movie doesn't resemble the book in any way other than location, but it was a lovely movie with a likable leading lady. Why some authors feel compelled to read their own prose is a sign to me of self absorption.

Worst listen ever. Complete waste of a credit.

Unfortunately, I would not. I was disappointed to find that the book was quite different than the movie. More than likely, I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it first, then watched the movie. I had expected to hear a "Diane Lane" type of voice...again, so different from the movie...I was very surprise when I heard the author narrate her book with her southern, twangy voice.

The story itself was an enjoyable look into Tuscany and into the authors life there even though I had an extremely difficult time getting past her accent.

Possibly, as long as she is not the narrator.

no

food descriptions were romantic and full of life

Mayes voice was not "listen"friendly...I had listened to an audio recording of this book years ago and fully enjoyed the performance. I purchased this version without listening to a clip of the audio. Surprised when I listened to find another person narrating.

It is not the story it is the voice of the narrator. Very droll and very hard to listen to.

I was looking forward to this book as I had heard so much about it.

Her mono tone southern accent put me off. I tried a couple of time to listen again, but terribly sorry I couldn't cope with her voice.

could listen to much so missed out on the book

No thanks for your time