MATTHEW

This is a fresh, literary, almost poetic look at the evils of factory farming, told from a very personal and accessible perspective. I only wished the narrator read a little faster and left out many of the longer pauses.

I was reluctant to listen to a book read by a screen actor, and one I don't particularly love. I thought the creators would be selling the name rather than a gifted reader. I was wrong. Not only did Jake Gyllenhall read the story well, he did so in an almost whispered style that I think captured the book's subtlety in supreme manor. I can highly recommend this audiobook.

John Lee narrates this story with a degree of supreme mastery unparalleled in the audiobook world. He deserves an award for acting, no joke. The story is, of course, good, but the way the narration beings Dirk Struan's heroism to life is great beyond words. This is the audiobook I keep on my iPod and continuously go back to whenever I'm board with another or I'm looking for a pickup. It never fails to enthrall, and I get new things from it each time.

I have great patience with readers and am generally very forgiving. But this is much too bad. What's up with David Case's voice? It's strained, the accents forced, and the narrator's tone is stilted. The Japanese voices sound like robots. The recording quality is poor as well, as if it were done quite a few years ago. We need John Lee to redo this one, please. John Lee's reading of other Clavell novels (especially Tai-Pan) is masterful. This one's best avoided.

This is a delectable work of literary genius. It's not a pulsing thriller, but the weaving of the story certainly elicits enough thrill. Rosalyn Landor reads the prose with deft and captures the voices of each character with great skill.