Lucy

I just gave up after three hours--I couldn't listen to any more of the author's self-important spiel. This was one of the most unsympathetic narrators/protagonists I have ever come across. I hoped this would be funny and a voyeuristic peek into the professional world of cooking but it turned out to be mean-spirited and boring. What a jerk...and an awful writer.

It really struck me that for a book published in 1899, the story is still so fresh and resonates with emotion that is easily understood by the modern reader (or listener). The author excelled at both capturing elusive internal feelings and descriptions of the Louisiana coast and New Orleans of days gone by. It is a real page-turner, and although I had read it years ago, I couldn't wait to hear the story play out. The narration, however, leaves A LOT to be desired. The narrator affects a truly awful southern drawl when characters are speaking which can be extremely distracting. She also mispronounces most French place names and given names repeatedly as well as numerous english words.
Listen and love it for the story, and try to ignore the bad narration.