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ratings
3
REVIEWS
3
FOLLOWING
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FOLLOWERS
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HELPFUL VOTES
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  • Fishing for Stars | [Bryce Courtenay]
    Fishing for Stars
    UNABRIDGED

    Fishing for Stars

    • UNABRIDGED (22 hrs and 57 mins)
    • By Bryce Courtenay
    • Narrated By Humphrey Bower
    Overall
    (326)
    Performance
    (170)
    Story
    (169)

    Nicholas Duncan is a semi-retired shipping magnate who resides in idyllic Beautiful Bay in Indonesia, where he is known as the old patriarch of the islands. He is grieving the loss of his beautiful Eurasian wife, Anna, and is suffering for the first time from disturbing flashbacks to WWII, the scene of their first meeting and early love. His other wartime lover is the striking Marg Hamilton, a powerful and influential political player in Australia who has remained close to Nick.

    Louise says: "Okay Bryce I Just Finished Fishing For Stars"
    "Bryce was off his game"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    Would you try another book from Bryce Courtenay and/or Humphrey Bower?

    Definitely, but this was not his best work.


    Has Fishing for Stars turned you off from other books in this genre?

    No.


    Any additional comments?

    Bryce got us lost in the weeds of international politics and business history. It tells the story of that region of the world but was missing the usual Dickensian characterizations that I love. True, the "Persimmon Tree" needed a sequel, but it just seems like Bryce lost his story-telling mojo on this one.

    Humphrey Bower is his usual superb best at accents of all sorts.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • The Family Frying Pan | [Bryce Courtenay]
    The Family Frying Pan
    UNABRIDGED

    The Family Frying Pan

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 7 mins)
    • By Bryce Courtenay
    • Narrated By Melissa Eccleston, Humphrey Bower
    Overall
    (91)
    Performance
    (45)
    Story
    (44)

    Mrs. Moses is a small woman with a big heart and enormous courage. The only survivor of a Cossack raid on her village, she takes with her a big cast-iron frying pan, so heavy that she can only sling it over her back. Yet this is no ordinary frying pan, it's The Family Frying Pan, blessed with a Russian soul.

    Ruth M. Penson says: "The Family Frying Pan"
    "Sorry, mate. Can't get past the Sheila narrator."
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    Is there anything you would change about this book?

    Melissa Eccleston's attempt at a Russian accent sounds like someone with peanut butter stuffed in their mouth, vainly trying to escape it. So, I'm spoiled with Humphrey Bower's masterful narration. Anyone else would be a let-down. But do us a favor, let us down EASY.


    What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

    For the first time since "50 Shades of Gray" I had to abort this one, unfinished.


    Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Melissa Eccleston and Humphrey Bower ?

    Someone who can do ethnic accents without butchering it.

    "perfect" = "pyurfect" ? Come on now, not at all convincing.


    Did The Family Frying Pan inspire you to do anything?

    To get another book.


    Any additional comments?

    Bower, come back.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • Whitethorn | [Bryce Courtenay]
    Whitethorn
    UNABRIDGED

    Whitethorn

    • UNABRIDGED (24 hrs and 33 mins)
    • By Bryce Courtenay
    • Narrated By Humphrey Bower
    Overall
    (196)
    Performance
    (129)
    Story
    (132)

    From the author of The Power of One comes a new novel about Africa. The time is 1939. White South Africa is a deeply divided nation with many of the Afrikaner people fanatically opposed to the English. The world is also on the brink of war, and South Africa elects to fight for the Allied cause against Germany. Six-year-old Tom Fitzsaxby finds himself in The Boys Farm, an orphanage in a remote town in the high mountains, where the Afrikaners side fiercely with Hitler's Germany.

    Karin says: "Whitethorn"
    "The Power of Two"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    Would you consider the audio edition of Whitethorn to be better than the print version?

    only listen


    What other book might you compare Whitethorn to and why?

    The Power of One, BC's first book. This one seems to be very much a revisiting of the same story. Social injustice, race relations, pets, bullying, befriending odd characters, the talented child that is innocent of his own gifts, doing right to those who have done you wrong. Courtenay's "Horatio Alger" plots all tend to support his thesis: the good boy overcomes the odds to become successful.


    Which scene was your favorite?

    When Tom realizes who the faceless beggar is.


    If you could rename Whitethorn, what would you call it?

    I think Whitethorn is a good one. Symbolic for Tom being a white boy in Africa, redolent of the brushy shrub that grows there.


    Any additional comments?

    Humphrey Bower puts so much into the voice characterizations. He's a master of dialects.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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