How to Raise an Elephant

No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Book 21

By: Alexander McCall Smith

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh

Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

The next book in the perennially adored No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series sees Precious Ramotswe calling upon all her maternal instincts when she's faced with a two-ton case.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, but can Mma. Ramotswe and the rest of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency come together to raise a pipsqueak pachyderm? We may find out in this novel. We may not. Who can say?

©2020 Alexander McCall Smith (P)2020 Recorded Books

Screechy and Unpleasant

I've gotten accustomed to changes of narrator. Wandering pronunciations do bother me, but then production values for audiobooks are often quite low. Ms. Andoh has a pleasant "narrator's voice", and I've enjoyed her other work. But clearly no one bothered to audition her for this, or suggest she listen to JUST ONE of the other books in the series. Most of the recurring characters are given high, screechy and barely distinguishable voices. A straight reading in her own voice would have been more effective.

The result is quite unpleasant. This was otherwise one of the better recent books in this series. What a shame.

Oh, dear!

This is one of the best in the series with characters developing in lovely ways but the performance was awful, grating, hard on the ear. I’m glad I didn’t stop listening as I almost did

New Reader, Ruins the Experience

As others have pointed out there is a new reader. Had this narrator started the series I do not think I would have advanced to the next installment. Ms Andoh does ok with the main voice but does not have the ability to carry the addition voices. I am sure that is a difficult skill to master. It was like listening to chalk scratching a board. I have also become accustomed the voices of these story characters and that really enhances the pleasure of the listen. It is like listening to old friends.

I will purchase and read Book 22 on paper.

26 minutes in - but have to return this audio book

In order for me to be allowed to write a review, the Audible app in my computer requires me to mark a book as "Finished." However, I have only listened to 26 minutes of this book, which I just bought a little while ago, and am returning it. The narration of the characters' voices is grating and harsh. I really loved this new narrator Adjoa Andoh in Americanah, but Ms. Andoh's choice of voices for well-loved characters is terrible. Someone, an editor, a producer, or the author should have done something about this before the book was sold as an audio book. I hope the former narrator Lisette Lecat is available, alive and well. If not, perhaps Adjoa Andoh can be given another chance to do the character voices again. She can listen to the former books and see that these are beloved characters, not hated and grating characters.

WHAT HAPPENED, TERRIBLE NARRATION

I love this series, but this one was a shocker. The narrator was terrible. I struggled to listen to it.

Could not understand narrator

Hard to follow story but I am sure it was a good one.
sorry to miss out.

Charming as always, but narrator disappointing

They should bring back the woman who narrated the earlier books - she was wonderful! This new narrator makes half the characters sound like a shrieking old lady - including Charlie!

Delightful

I have been a fan of this series from book one. Alexander McCall Smith has managed to bring to life the culture of Botswana. The characters are unique as is Smith’s writing style. After book one I switched to the audiobook version to fully enjoy the proper pronunciations of the names and enjoy the Botswana accents.

The book is well written. The plot twists and turns, the characters are delightful, but it is the underlying philosophical lessons I enjoy the most. Sometimes, depending on my mood, Smith’s meandering writing style annoys me but most often I find it amusing.

The book is eight hours and thirty-eight minutes. Adjoa Andoh does a reasonable job narrating the story, but I have grown accustomed to the melodious voice of African born Lisette LeCat. I have been unable to find out if LeCat is still narrating books. Adjoa Andoh is a British actress and Audie Award winning audiobook narrator. I do enjoy her alto voice. As I have grown older, higher pitched voice as harder for me to understand.

Change speed to 0.9x for much better.experience.

A new narrator can be hard to get used to, but I think Audible should slow down speed for us. Otherwise speech is too high pitched and too fast.

McCall shines as usual - new narrator?!

I love Alexander McCall Smith and have listened to all of his books here on Audible. This one didn’t disappoint and was just a lovely story - following my favorite Botswanan friends. I did have a lot of trouble with the new narrator. She has a tinny voice and her accents for some of the characters were just painful to listen too I know new narrators are like adjusting to a new pair of shoes - they’ll squeak and pinch occasionally. But, will I listen to her again? Probably not - but will go to the print copy for this series the next time