Adele

This 1-hour gem was a "gift" from Audible--a free selection offered on Thanksgiving Eve. Because I was between books the day I received this, I listened to it that evening. What a wonderful concept Isay introduces, of making studio-quality recordings of oral histories for generations to come. I enjoyed every story. If this is, or will be offered in unabridged format or as a continuing series, I'll be first in line for all that come. Thank you Audible. What a thoughtfully timed gift to your customers.

An engaging, well-written small town coming-of-age story taking place in 1960. I just love it when a great story is combined with a great narrator, this is why I love audiobooks.

I’d give the first half four stars, and the second half two stars, for an average of 3 stars, honestly about 2.5. Overall this story was decent but hard to swallow on several levels, including difficulty with suspension of reader disbelief, as well as frustratingly repetitive examples of the extreme evil or naivete of the characters—by the end I wanted to scream at the author: “We Get It Already, He’s EVIL”. This book wore me out. But despite this, I would add that the audiobook narrators were both absolutely terrific.

I’m sure many will not exactly enjoy this story—it’s hardly something to take to the beach, it’s quite the opposite. The subject (a dying patriarch) and the aspects of the personalities visited in Benediction are relentlessly dark. But Haruf’s fictional Holt, Colorado and his characters are so real and so finely wrought as to be palpable. Mark Bramhall is the perfect narrator, he makes this novel into a work of art.

I'm normally not a big fan of psychological thrillers, but I totally enjoyed this one. This was especially well written, and both narrators were absolutely terrific, which added to my enjoyment. Highly recommend this.