Good Morning Diego Garcia: A Journey of Discovery

By: Susan Joyce

Narrated by: Karen Commins

Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

You're young, living comfortably in southern California. You're financially secure, though you don't know why or how. Your husband simply ignores you when you ask too many questions. He's hoping for another job overseas, doing something. You're not sure what, but you suspect it's not what he says. You marriage is shaky. You survived a war in Cyprus together, and lost everything. Now you're basically biding time. A letter arrives from friends you knew in Cyprus, now sailing a new yacht from Taiwan to Europe for a Swedish millionaire. You're invited to join them in Sri Lanka, as crew. Neither of you knows boats, but you'll learn. The trip of a lifetime, cruising the Indian Ocean in a pleasure yacht! And, it turns out, in monsoon season. With no charts. And an emotionally unstable crew mate. What could possibly go wrong? SPOILER: everything.

©2016 Susan Joyce DuBosque (P)2016 Susan Joyce DuBosque

A storm of a memoir

Exquisitely crafted, creatively rendered and a delight to listen to. In short, I Loved It!

Excellent travel memoir!

Would you listen to Good Morning Diego Garcia: A Journey of Discovery again? Why?

Yes. I have actually read the book before and still enjoyed experiencing it again-there are so many fascinating facts and information, it's certainly well worth listening to again. My ideal is for memoir authors to read their own audiobook really but I accept that time can be an issue-and maybe not having all the tech gear. I think this narrator was a good choice. The author is American, I've not heard her voice but I could imagine this narrator sounding very like her, her voice seemed to fit well. I liked her unhurried reading of this book and the emotions she conveyed. I wasn't so keen on her putting a lower voice on when reading the author's husband's comments-I prefer readers to continue in their natural voice throughout.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Good Morning Diego Garcia: A Journey of Discovery?

So many memorable moments but I think the way the author describes the foods they experienced on their trip, such vivid detail, is excellent.

Which character – as performed by Karen Commins – was your favourite?

I prefer her natural reading voice-as when she was reading the parts by Susan Joyce, and the general narration.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were many but particularly the latter few chapters where the author concludes everything-loose ends are all tied up and I found that all very moving how she deals with things and moves on-obviously I can't say what so as not to create any spoilers.

Any additional comments?

I have now read three books in audiobook format. I’ve never been particularly keen to try audiobooks before listening to ‘That One Moment’ by Amy Daws. There used to be a children’s TV programme in England called ‘Jackanory’ when I was little-where a guest star-usually well-known, an actor etc. used to read a story out to viewers. I never liked this as I didn’t like all the different voices which the narrator used to put on. I preferred to read a book myself. ‘That One Moment’ completely changed my mind on audiobooks as it has duet narration-the male parts are read by a male and the female voices are done by a female. This was ‘just right’ in my opinion and pure luxury as the two audiobooks I have listened to since I have enjoyed but I have been wishing ‘but if they had this male and female dual narration it would be so much better!’ I think I’ve been spoilt! I like the nice natural, clear tone to Karen Commins’ voice, it’s a nice steady pace, when she’s just speaking normally. I’m not a fan of audiobook narrators putting on a man’s voice if they are female.. It just doesn’t sound quite right to me and upsets the flow. I’d prefer them just to read it all in their own voice-one can tell when it’s a different character speaking when the author has put comments such as ‘Charles said’ etc. I think it would flow better rather than the voice artist keep trying to change their voice.
I did enjoy this book again though. I enjoyed it very much indeed. I loved it the first time when I read it and it was great to be able to listen to it whilst getting other things done at the same time-eg. housework etc. I’ve found audiobooks are so convenient that way and am getting ‘into them’ now. This is an excellent travel memoir.