loren

A bigography of Obama where the main character (the President) doesn't appear until over 6 hours into the story?! Yup that is right. You will hear the life story of his great grandparents etc - but then the book ends in the late 1980's except to say "oh yes, he got married and has 2 children"

NO - his reading of the book adds nothing to the story - but perhaps this is just because of the writing?

Instead of reading like he is dictating a story to be typed, he could have added some feeling.

The first 6 hours should just be cut totally - then after that heavy editing and you would have had a much better story.

The book reads like a dry newspaper account of something the writer has observed. There is very little explanation of the significance of any of the events and way too much of "he said" then "she said" My two star rating for this may be too generous and may just reflect my support of the President today rather than anything that the writer offers in this book.

The many Indian names used in the book are just read as if they were Tom or Jane - so you don't get hung up on the complexities of the names. Friends who read the book in paper form found that to be a problem.

Almost everything in the book was a new insight for me. I thought I knew American History - but after reading this book I found out how little I really knew. The book would be better if split by the author into 2 books - there is the "history text book" where he explains the factual/scientific sources for the information, and then there is the story portion - the lives of the people in the western hemisphere, prior to 1491. Unfortunately the inter mixing of these two texts into a single book, makes it a difficult read (or listen) but it is clearly worth it!

Just when you think you know where the story is going, the author comes along, gives you more information, and heads off in another direction. I am tempted to listen again - now knowing "the full" story, would like to listen to the events from this new vantage point. How you understand a situation is based on what you know of the characters and their past - so adding new information as the author does, changes your perspective and your sympathies. A book that truly can be read (and enjoyed) multiple times.

This book is written in a very different format that other Wouk masterpieces - and it may take a bit of time to adjust to the approach - but it is clearly worth it. Who would have thought that a book could be written as a collection of emails, meeting transcripts etc - but Wouk pulls it off in this short but engaging book.

Herman Wouk demonstrates that even in his 90's he's still an incredible story teller.

Roberts takes fully half the book to introduce her characters - way, way, way too long - I was about ready to give up on the book when the story finally started. This long intro is not typical for this author - and I was surprised to see it here.

As to what I liked - the last half of the book was good - but the ending was quite weak.

NO. Half the book is introducing the characters, then the "solution" to the murders in the second half was very weak. I think she hit the duplicate key way too often in telling about the various and repitious fires that were being fought.

Yes, to reconsider reading any more books by this author. I expected a lot more from the author than was delivered in this book.

Skip the book.

Did not read or see the print version.

He reads very well and is easy to listen to.

No.

This purported to be a history of the home - and limited parts of the story fulfilled that goal. However the author rambles to many other story lines and apparently he considers to be related - however often I failed to see the relationship - and simply tuned out till he finally would come back to something relevant.

Would not have taken this selection if I had known before hand how he would choose to ramble.