Serena

By: Ron Rash

Narrated by: Phil Gigante

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton arrive in the North Carolina mountains to create a timber empire, vowing to let no one stand in their way, especially those newly rallying around Teddy Roosevelt's nascent environmental movement.

Yet when Serena begins to suspect that George's allegiances may lie elsewhere, she unleashes her full fury on the young mountain woman who bore his illegitimate child the year before. Rash's masterful balance of violence and beauty yields a powerfully riveting story that, at its core, tells of love both honored and betrayed.

©2008 Ron Rash (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Serena

This book was disappointing for me because I want the evil characters to be punished.

She's Crazy

If you could sum up Serena in three words, what would they be?

Don't Marry Her.

Would you recommend Serena to your friends? Why or why not?

While I find the story interesting I find there isn't much to the ending of it. It just suddenly ends so while I liked it, it might not be something I'd recommend.

Could have been a good story

No thought put into the characters- very basic. Lots of wasted story time. No plot

Couldn't bear to listen

I couldn't STAND what Phil Gigante does with the characters in this book. The voices he does ,are cartoonish and turn every character into a caricature, already a danger when you are reading about Appalachia. His exaggerated invented dialects, different for each character, and his simpering Southern Belle reading of Serena just ruined any possibility of getting through this novel. I'll have to buy the book. My ones for story and overall rating are just there because I couldn't write the review without putting something. I didn't get to the 3rd chapter.

I may not get through the first chapter

It seems extremely unlikely that I will become interested in this book. The narrator is annoying with his different voices for the characters. The writing is trite and boring. I don't know why I chose this book.

Just okay...

The story was interesting but slow. The last 20 minutes was the most exciting.
I am curious to see if theories will be better.

Serena

Although this isn't the type of story to which I am attracted, the narrator did a superb job in his performance. I finished the book because of the narrator's outstanding job.

Melodrama, at its best...

I discovered Ron Rash as he was grouped in with Charles Frazier and I thought I'd give it a try. Well, they shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath. The characters were not believable, the plot and turn of events trite and the performance was maudlin. Could have won the Bulwer-Lyten competition.

My worst audible experience

My mother said if I couldn't say anything nice don't say anything at at all. Sorry, Mama. On the page this would have been bad enough with almost stick-figure characters. The narrator's rendition of Serena's voice made listening almost unbearable. I could go on but I already feel bad enough. Only wish I could remember how it ended up in my library. Maybe Bradley Cooper's picture on the cover?

I had to give up

I don't understand the good reviews on Amazon. Maybe it gets better in the second half. I didn't make it that far -- the first half was too painful to continue.