Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry

By: Neil Gaiman, The Twitterverse

Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren

“Sam was brushing her hair when the girl in the mirror put down the hairbrush, smiled, and said, "We don't love you anymore." So began the Twitter Audio project, with a dazzling first line penned by New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman. What followed was an epic tale of imaginary lands, magical objects, haunting melodies, plucky sidekicks, menacing villains, and much more.

From mystical blue roses to enchanted mirrors to pesky puppets, this classic fable was born from the collective creativity of more than one hundred contributors via the social network Twitter.com in a groundbreaking literary experiment. Together, virtual strangers crafted a rollicking story of a young girl’s journey with love, forgiveness, and acceptance.

©2010 BBC Audiobooks America (P)2009 BBC Audiobooks America

Interessante

Essa história foi curtinha mas bem gostosa de escutar, bem criativa e é interessante o fato de que ela foi escrita pelo Neil Gaiman e por outras pessoas no Twitter. Ela demonstra como muitas pessoas tem bastante criatividade mas elas provavelmente só não sabem desse fato.

Unique collabrative writing project

This was a fun idea. The story has merit. Although it is overall enjoyable, it understandably lacks cohesion throughout. The different voices and styles of the overlapping authors did make the narrative feel disjointed at times, and like a nonsensical fever dream at others.
The late great Katherine Kellgren's narration helps to keep the listeners steady through out this off-kilter children's parable. She of course gives a wonderful performance and lovely distinctive voices for the many, many interesting characters we meet along the way.
Even though I liked it, I think I loved the idea of this experiment more than it's final results. It goes a long way to prove why creativity by committee rarely works out well.

~*Cheeky & Solid*~

Here is a sturdy little edition to the genre of “Wonderland/Looking Glass” tales that holds its own as quasi-combo of ‘Coraline’ x ‘Labyrinth’—but with puppets! Also, shout out to Katherine Kellgren for all-out committing to the story with individualized voices & excellent delivery!

It’s fine.

It’s fine. It’s entertaining enough, and it’s silly and not too serious when it shouldn’t be, but also creepy when it needs to be. But for someone like Neil Gaiman, who has done many versions of Alice in Wonderland-style stories in his career, this is hardly his best version of that story.

not bad

The acting was well done but the story was just ok. Twists were made sometimes by introducing info from the past that hadn't been mentioned.

reminded me of labrynth. fun short story

narrator did an amazing job. very fun short story, would recommend it to younger readers, or those who loved the labrynth movie

Gaiman never fails to deliver.

As usual. Mr. Gaiman delivers a darkly whimsical dish of literary deliciousness.

An interesting and unique twist on what life is like through the looking glass.

The only thing more enjoyable than the story itself was Ms. Kellgren's spirited narration.

Better than Most.

Not Neil Gaiman's best; but its better than most stories you find.

Quality Children's Lit

Loved it!

I loved this story! This was a neat little fairytale retold at least that’s what it felt like to me. It has shades of Alice in Wonderland in fact there is a cute little epilogue I enjoyed too. I don’t want to say too much since it is a short story I don’t want to give anything away to detract you from enjoying this one!

I must say that I am a Neil Gaiman fan and a Katherine Kellgren fan but I think even if I wasn’t I would have enjoyed this story!

This audiobook is only an hour and forty-five minutes long and well worth the $1.95 audible is charging.

5 stars

Short Win

This is a strange, short story which seems to be a parable about a young girl dealing with fear, self-forgiveness, honesty, recovery, and inner demons. The girl get’s sucked into a fantasy world inside her mirror. There she has to solve a puzzle, find doors, and keys, and in the end, save herself and her brother.

I recommend this book for anyone needing a quick book win.
(Rated PG, Score 7/10)