Elizabeth

When I look for an audiobook, it is usually with a long cross country road trip ahead of me. I want a book that will keep me company, engage my attention, and make the time go faster.
This is one of the best books I've heard. Katherine Kellgren is a phenomenal narrator. She is a wonderful performer. As an example- one of my pet peeves is women doing men's voices. It seems like they either do a really low voice that sounds sort of Neanderthal like or they don't vary it at all and you end up imagining women in men's clothes like a reverse Shakespeare play. Katherine Kellgren conquers this dilemma perfectly. She alters the voice, cadence, tempo, accents so perfectly. You know exactly who each character is, they are all distinctive and the men can be imagined in their fullness without any odd vocal distractions taking away from the story.
The heroine is fabulous. I like Georgie's spunk and sarcasm and her story is very engaging. I couldn't stop listening. I had to know what would happen next. I even stretched out time between pit stops I was so into the story. I tried to read the next book in print, but had to come back and buy the audiobook sequel. That's how good the narrating is.
I think this would be a really fun strong female/humorous mystery book on its own. But with the narration, it becomes a fully developed, complex world that I was loathe to leave.

I really love to hear these memoir books read by the author when they are done well. This was done very well. The book has a conversational tone to it, so it was really fun to basically have a long conversation with Mindy Kaling.

Mindy Kaling may be any sort of a person- but she manages to convey a very open, funny, likeable persona. I feel as though we would be friends if we'd met in university. It is this sort of familiar girl friend feeling that makes it really fun to hear about her life. It is all a very subtle but important part of performing.

I listened to this book on my road trip from Kansas to Florida and it not only had me laughing my way through Atlanta rush hour, it helped me not get scared driving the long swampy part around Valdosta at night in the fog. It was, in short, a really good listen.