sarah

This is a sweet story full of antropomorphisms but if you're a dog lover you probably won't care about that, I didn't! I listened to this book in two sessions. I like Joe Barrett's voice it is kind and gentle and I felt fitted the story well.

I really enjoyed this book and find it hard to understand why so many reviewers criticize the reader. I think she does an excellent job and her voice for Hadley and others in the book fits the time period perfectly. The story is fiction but appears to be very much based on fact. It's a fascinating look at an era and many famous characters, such as F Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein etc.

I loved Butcher's Boy and Sleeping Dogs but this one was a bit disappointing. The first half of the book spends too much time describing events from the earlier books and the current events are not given as much depth as they should. The story just seemed a bit flat and the ending had some really unbelievable details in an already unbelievable story! Of course you will want to listen to it if you have read the first two, but it isn't as good.

I got this book despite some negative reviews because many people said it was really good. The story was good and eventually I did become engaged in it, despite the fact that the first chapter was really quite annoying. I think the narration harmed the book rather than helped it, the narrator was fine when just reading but as soon as she did dialogue her voice became very grating and men and women took on a strange high pitched tone which made many characters very unlikeable. I think this book would be better in paper form and I do plan on getting the next one but will probably read it myself although I might listen carefully to the audible preview to see if the different narrators do a better job.

Having just finished the Andy Carpenter series of books I was looking for some more similar entertainment. I should have paid attention to the one very negative review - it is really hard to believe this is written by the same author! The plot is shallow, the characters are unlikeable and not believable, and the narrator probably made it all worse with stagey bad guy voices that sounded the same as old lady voices. There is no humor in this book either.

I enjoyed this a lot more than Girl with a Dragon Tatoo. The story becomes interesting quickly and holds your attention. Lisbeth is a very intriguing and endearing character. There are sexual references but they don't become too graphic (I've read worse in romances) although yes, there is a small section about two girls having a friendship that includes sleeping together now and again. Simon Vance does a superb job with the various characters, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to listening to Girl and Hornet's Nest.

I was a bit worried because of some of the reviews focusing on the sadness of this book but I loved it, it is not all sadness, the narration is great, the dog's personality is awesome, very lovable, tough and clever. There are some frustrating parts but overall this is a good listen, not uplifting, but not depressing either.

I love Pat Conroy and this book is no exception. It took me a good long time to not be distracted by the narrators flat unemotional reading - however, he got much better as the book went on and I ended up thinking he had done a really good job. The main story has many shorter stories within as it goes back to look at the lives of many of the more minor characters. The book is full of Conroy's usual beautiful women and wisecracking characters.

Conroy describes and quotes the students from Yamacraw Island in such an amusing and endearing way that it's hard not to fall in love with them. Dan John Miller, who did such an amazing job narrating Lords of Discipline, once again brings each characther to life with his superb narration. I found this book fascinating as it describes Conroy's early life as a teacher and touches on many of the stories that he used in later novels. He also describes some real life characters (including himself) who are recognizable from his other books.

If you like Jennifer Weiner's books because while sometimes sad and touching they make you laugh with their quirky, frequently self-deprecating characters, don't get this book. I found it boring and depressing. There is no humor I detected and it was all too sad, too pathetic. Also, the husband of Diana is so revolting and unappealing it is totally unbelievable that anyone would have married him let alone a successful Dr. There is also a basically pornographic description of a sex scene between Diana and a med student that was way too graphic and I thought really strange.