andrew

I enjoy DeMille's style and especially like the John Corey series. This book spends way too much time on the marital conflict between the main character and his wife. Also, and this is a common flaw with DeMille in my opinion, every female character in the story is beautiful, has a hot body, and is attracted to the main character. Really? Give me a break. I have nothing against beautiful women but I think the author has watched too many episodes of "The Bachelor". Next, if the main character is such an honorable and upstanding man, why did he try to cheat on his wife? And why would he not want to spend as much time as possible with his family knowing he might be thrown in prison for the rest of his life? To me, as a father, I have little respect for a man who doesn't give his family high priority and especially under these circumstances. Instead, the guy became even more self-absorbed and distant from his family. Perhaps I can't relate but I found myself disliking the main character as well as the author since typically I assume the main character is an extension of the author.

Edit out chapters 2 through 30.

Nothing.

Re-write the relationship between the main character, his wife, and his son.

it started out okay with the obscure moment in ancient history bit, then with the move to present-day it went bad fast. not sure why, but i stuck with it. several times thought i would be ill because it was so incredibly stupid.

I like most of DeMille's books but this one was so boring and there was so much stupid cute-talk I couldn't wait for it to be over.

A great plot - exciting and satisfying, superbly written and narrated. My only complaint is that it was so short. I have not heard any of the other books in this series but now plan to.

Okay, so this book was written a few hundred years ago during an age of great discovery. I get that and also understand the effort made toward political satire. I have a pretty good knowledge of history, politics, and literature. Generally speaking, I like classical literature and have read my share. I also believe that I have a good sense of humor and I really wanted to like this book. But mostly I was bored and occasionally annoyed with it. Really, I couldn't help but think that this (author) was a man who liked to play with dolls all day. I kept imagining him locked away in his bedroom, laying on the floor, surrounded by his little dolls imagining that they were real, shooting arrows at him, etc. Then, every so often, he would take a little break, maybe for some milk and cookies, and jot down the scenes he had just imagined, then trot back to his dolls, peeing on the little doll house and laughing hysterically. Maybe he was hitting the opium, I don't know. But unless you are between the ages 5 and 10 or possibly 95 and 100, or are yourself on a hallucinagen, I can't understand how you would find this book funny or even entertaining.

With all due respect to this great pilot/warrior, this book is mostly boring stories that only friends, family (of author), and a handful of military historians and fanatics will find interesting. Olds sounds like a great guy, a real man. But there are only a few good stories tucked into this book mostly near the beginning and the end. The rest, several hours, is filled with relatively boring details about military buraucracy and logistics. I have listened to hundreds of audiobooks and this ranks nowhere near the top, yet somehow five of five reviews (other than this one) currently rate it with five stars. When I purchased this book two weeks ago there was one review posted that said the book was boring. Unfortunately I ignored that one and now notice, strangely enough, that one is now gone.

I like the way the author tells some of the story using the unspoken thoughts of certain characters; drilling down to the things that really motivate different types of people. Was it a realistic novel? I don't know, I wasn't a soldier in Vietnam, I was about 10 years old when it ended. Several reviewers write as if they were there, praising the book for accuracy and realism, but were they? What I'd like to see is a review from someone who was there (front lines) and admits it. And for those who weren't, don't babble on about how realistic it is. You aren't qualified to determine that.

I'm not quite halfway through but not sure I'll ever finish as I can't take much more. The stories of five or six men serving in WWII are told here and while each story is important and worth telling, this book ruins the stories in three ways. First, the reader is mediocre at best. Second, each story is chopped into little pieces and then intertwined with the others but often there is nothing to indicate to the listener that the story just switched from one man's story to another; they just run right into each other. It's very confusing. Finally, often the story will elude to some strange twist that's about to occur but it never does. Or some strange detail will be revealed and you're waiting for an explanation for the strange detail but it never comes. It's very unsatisfying.

I really liked Undaunted Courage but this book is really pretty boring overall.

It was hard to stay interested. The first half was especially boring.