Myra

I really enjoyed this book, was sorry when it ended,and it is one of those that stay with you pensively.
Very insightful and sensitive portrayal of parenting and being parented. A wonderfully emotionally rounded out male figure in Mark, the father in this divorced family, and how he stays involved with his children in an increasing way as they grow up.
Well developed characters, an enjoyable and fascinating book to read.

Top Tier

The writing - the narration

The description of the climb to the cliff to kill the assassin

All of them

Maybe 600 - maybe 700 Audible books. I've spent a fortune and gained indescribable pleasure, learning, entertainment, accompaniment.
But this one is so good I stopped and booted up just to tell you about it. And NO I won't read another review in order to not be influenced.

James Dickey's words are poetry to me as those that flow from the pen of Ray Bardbury, or Toni Morrison. As I was listening to the book I thought: I must see this movie again. It's been more than 30 years and it was good! As I kept listening and realizing the depth of emotion, and the descriptive depth of humanity in the characters was way too deep and way too rich and startling in their honesty to ever have come through on film.

Bottom line:
Read it for the ongoing poem of a story that it is, filled with wonder - excitement - terror - and redemption. And along the way, in its perfection, laud the narrator. He has got the full picture, and he brings it to you in a way that rivets you. A masterpiece of narration.

NO, I won't see the movie any time soon. Because first, I have to re-listen to what I just tried to describe.
This book is perfect on all fronts.
I'm enriched.

Yes, that is highly possible, because it is so well done.

The Ending

finding the underground stash

The Man and the Boy

Of all the books about a world destruction of the life we know, (starting with Lucifer's Hammer), this is to me the most devastating and touching, filled with a tone of caring between a father and a son in a time of despair that at times did wrench out my heart .Written with exquisite sensitivity and beautiful prose the book has hidden horror juxtaposed with human strength and human depravity. I recommend it for its literary beauty, and for keeping me riveted and at times in tears. The reader is perfect in making this come alive, a job so well done that I cannot imagine it any better.There is no surplus information in this book, it leaves you wanting for more and wondering about details that are not there. It is one of the most touching tales of parent/child interaction I've ever been allowed to take part in, one I will never forget.

Am writing this book review right after the 7/7/05 attacks in London. The Downing Street Memos have surfaced, we know from them that the intelligence to go to war was fixed in order to sell the invasion to the American people.

This book tells all about how this happened. It tells precisely and dispassionately about the lies and where they came from and who cooked them up. The author tells ahead of time, what the memos now corroborate. Details about what brought Colin Powell to the table at the UN, how he fought it and what happened and why. It tells why after fighting and killing and being killed in the name of waging war on terror nobody is safer or better off.

I knew a lot before I read it. Now I know how it all hangs together, and I am terribly saddened at our massive losses as a country because of a corrupt, dishonest and self serving set of leaders.
I read it twice, back to back. I highly recommend the education it affords.

I really loved this story, I was intrigued by it's not giving you a conclusion, and allowing me to draw my own. Beautifully performed, I was riveted, and learned a bit about Cuba and the Revolution. I had gotten this book as a preamble to see the movie: " The motorcycle diaries", but found the book and the movie don't cover any of the same time periods in Che Guevara's life, so each stands on it's own.

The book being read by two different women to tell about the life of each is perfect. One learns to love them and the intrigue and involvement for me was deep. I think every bit of the book was important and it was a valuable find for me.