Nanster

After a slow start the story began to engage my interest, but I have to agree that the ending felt abrupt and left too much of the story unresolved to be satisfying. I thought of numerous other ways Patchett could have ended the story that would have provided the reader/listener a more complete sense of conclusion, and which would have made more sense given the cast of characters.

Hope Davis rendered a serviceable performance, providing enough nuanced character differentiation for the characters to stand on their own.

An overall okay listen, but nothing about the story or the performance was so outstanding as to warrant more than 3 stars IMHO.

There are few audiobooks I have enjoyed on all fronts - writing, story, narration - as I have this one. Glorious imagery, a story that grabbed at my heart, and a narrator who perfectly captured the essence of a very compelling main character. Don't be fooled by the first few minutes. It doesn't adequately prepare you for the treat to come!

Peter Carlin gives us a rare and nuanced glimpse into the inner workings of one of the most prolific musical icons of our age. Bruce Springsteen is much more than his music. Sometimes he's a flaming asshole, imperious, willful and demanding. At other times, he demonstrates a tenderness, deep understanding and forgiveness of his fellow humans' flaws. Bobby Cannavale captures Bruce and members of the E Street Band with the inflection that only a native of New Jersey can. Though a bit rambling at times, all in all Bruce is a story well worth a listen.

Wonderful first-person narrative! Sternhagen is stellar as a narrator, and believable as a native with her spot-on Maine accent. King's story and characters pull the reader deep into the quirky culture of a life on a Maine island, its year round residents and summer visitors alike. Dolores' darkness, borne of pain, disappointment and survival finds relief in compassion, redemption and triumph.

I enjoyed Pennebaker's research and insight into how the "little words" we use, those sly little buggers like articles and pronouns, have such a big impact on the messages we convey and receive, and how we process them primarily through our subconscious mind. The dissection of corporate and political communications he used as examples throughout helped to clarify and reinforce his points.

The narration was a good match for the material. The narrator's pace, diction and inflection complemented the content and gave it life, delivering Pennebaker's subtle humor in just the right manner and reading more like a story than a dry research paper. There were a few areas, such as where he touched upon forensics, that started down the academic path, but for the most part the writing was as entertaining as it was informative and enlightening.

The talented ensemble cast of narrators brought this well-written piece to life. Stockett is a gifted storyteller. Her characters are worthy of the listener's empathy, disdain and compassion. Great job!

Minnie's account of "the pie" when at last she reveals her dirty secret.

The characters in the story, each with her own distinct personality and quirks, came alive through the narrators' acting ability, giving the characters depth and dimension.

If someone else narrated it, I may have enjoyed it. Otherwise, I can't think of anyone who would enjoy it.

She may be an acclaimed singer (great by some standards, mediocre by others), but that doesn't necessarily qualify her as a good narrator. Her sing-song narration and odd inflection sounded as if she was reading a children's story and the effect was belittling to the listener.

I can only comment on the first few chapters. They held no interest for me.

I wanted to like this book and wanted to know more about the author's career as a singer-songwriter, but slogging through the annoying narration and self-aggrandizing review of her toddler years kept me from getting that far.

Not interesting enough to invest the significant amount of time required to listen. Trite phrasing and character development. Probably a better movie where visuals can replace some of the mundane narrative.

Love Tina Fey but was disappointed with this book. Her narration, while expressive and enjoyable, contained so many sotto voce asides where the volume dropped off so much that it was difficult to hear, therefore I frequently missed portions of the material the first time around. I ended up having to skip backward and turn up the volume to hear those parts - very frustrating. Also, based on other reviews I was expecting laugh-out-loud funny, but this didn't deliver. If you like Tina, you'll like this; amusing, but not a "must read."

I enjoyed Ms. Gilbert's narration of her own work (though, Liz, if you ever read this, the correct pronunciation of Laotian is lay-OH-shun, not low-AY-shun; drove me nuts every time I heard it - very distracting). Aside from that gaffe, the inflection and nuance her narration brought to the story enriched it in a way that another narrator would not have been able to do. That being said, I was only partially engaged and drawn into the story and not immersed as I had hoped to be. There were parts that seemed redundant or wordy or irrelevant and, as another reviewer observed, the word "moreover" was used far too frequently (which also drove me nuts each time I heard it. Where are the editors?). Her references about the history of marriage quite were enlightening, and aside from the few nitty things noted above, Ms. Gilbert still writes with wit, charm and a forthrightness that I enjoy.