Juno Beach

Canada's D-Day Victory: June 6, 1944

By: Mark Zuehlke

Narrated by: Steve Kehela

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

On June 6, 1944, the greatest armada in history stood off Normandy and the largest amphibious invasion ever began as 107,000 men aboard 6,000 ships pressed toward the coast. Among them were 14,500 Canadians, who were to land on a five-mile-long stretch of rocky ledges fronted by a dangerously exposed beach.

Drawing on personal diaries as well as military records, Juno Beach: Canada's D-Day Victory, June 6, 1944 dramatically depicts Canada's pivotal contribution to the critical Allied battle of World War II.

©2005 Mark Zuehlke (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Well done book, narration annoying

This is a Canadian telling of the Normandy landings. Overall, well done. The narrator has a problem distinguishing the plural form of abbreviations. So he talks about an LCA (Landing Craft Assault) and when he sees LCAs, he doesn't see that as the plural form of LCA. He reads it as L C A S. It was confusing as I had to catch on that he wasn't talking about someting different. (I had never heard of an LCIS, but I knew what an LCI was.) He also makes some other mistakes like referring to Drop Zone 5, when it's supposed to be the letter V, but he refers to V Corps instead of 5 Corps. If the narration hadn't had these ongoing annoyances this could have been a 5 star book.

Good book Terrible narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes for someone who is interested in Canadian history.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Get a new narrator, one who has some idea about Canada and has some idea on French and German pronunciation.

How could the performance have been better?

Get a new narrator, one who has some idea about Canada and has some idea on French and German pronunciation.

Did Juno Beach inspire you to do anything?

Read more Canadian history.

Disappointed

What disappointed you about Juno Beach?

The narration is mechanical, stilted, and rife with mispronunciations - especially with respect to German or French names or terms. I hope this is not the case, but it sounds to me like the narrator did not read the book in advance or do any preparation. Listen to the book to get a different perspective - a Canadian perspective - and not a British, American, or German one - but be prepared to have to suffer through the narration and a writing style that could have used better editing.

What was most disappointing about Mark Zuehlke’s story?

I suppose it's necessary to tell readers the back story about the run up to D-Day, but the story as told by Zuehlke contains very little new facts and so, if one does know the history, is a rather boring start. I also disliked the insistence on using the abbreviations for the types of boats, or the full name of officers, etc. The first time it's

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Steve Kehela?

Someone like Robertson Dean - an expressive voice, who can also separate out narration from quotes. And who clearly does his homework in advance.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Revealing the Canadian experience was important. It did add to my understanding of the battle and the perspective, though poorly delivered, was valuable.

History Little Known...

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I found the stories written from a first person's experience to be interesting. Although there were often mis pronunciations, the story was still compelling.

Canada is famous for being a steadfast ally but little is written about the important role played during D Day. I'm very glad the Canadian soldier's story and sacrifices has finally been told.

The WORST narrator ever

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This book might be good for someone who doesn't know or doesn't care at all about the correct pronunciation of places, names, units, acronyms, or even English words.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Clearly this narrator has no understanding of Canadian military history. And nobody bothered to do any production work to ensure an appropriate standard in the quality of the narration.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Juno Beach?

No scenes, just the editor.

Interesting and unfamiliar side to the d-day story

What did you like best about this story?

It's similar to the common narrative we frequently read, but gives us the perspective of the "other end" of the Normandy beaches. So if you are into the Normandy story, this is a great addition.

What three words best describe Steve Kehela’s performance?

Bad. Reads like he's half computer. Absolutely horrible German pronunciation - something you'd think they'd screen before narrating a WWII book. Doesn't detract for the story however.

Unfortunate narration

Overall this book tells the very critical and often overlooked Canadian landing on June 6,1944, sadly however despite having good tone the narrator clearly had no familiarity with many of the terms, names associated with these events and butchered most of them. Had that not been the case this would have made this a much better listen

an often overlooked piece of Canadian history

I'm so glad that this book was written to Chronicle the events of DDay at Juno beach. I learned a great deal. My only hope is that more is written to help frame the day from a human and historical perspective. This book makes the attempt but leaves room for improvement.

the performance was ok.. . but the awful pronunciation of French towns and even some Canadian ones had me scratching my head. this seems like a basic qualification for this performance.

Great book, but the narration.....

You would think that if the narrator was going to read a book about Canadian soldiers in France, he would learn how to pronounce Canadian cities & vernacular, and perhaps some French words.

Honestly the content is excellent, but it was hard to get past the poor narration.

Detailed, Delightful & Emotional

Full marks for this audiobook, the narrative thread is very strong which helps capture the personalities of those involved in Juno Beach on D-Day whilst not dropping the ball on providing facts and figures in great detail.

The narrator was very good, but seemed to be struggling with the French and German names, this may have been in an attempt to mark them clearly. He also, after being so exacting with the continental names still didn't get some British place names correct, this wasn't an issue, just a source of a little ammusememt.

I fully reccommend this book. 🇨🇦

Awful narration

Would you try another book written by Mark Zuehlke or narrated by Steve Kehela?

Mark Zuehlke has written a well-researched, engaging account of the Canadians at Juno beach. Sadly Steve Kehela's narration is not only disappointing, but becomes irritating very quickly. He clearly hasn't pre-read the material but instead is reading it cold in the studio -and we can tell; poor pronunciation of (small sample here) Luftwaffe, Wehrmacht, Louis (as in Mountbatten) HMS Ramillies and the wholesale slaughter of the names of French towns and villages on the Juno stretch of coast are irritating enough, but the failure to grasp the multitude of military acronyms was the most annoying. Just one example - the acronym for Landing Craft Tank is LCT. The plural of the acronym is generally accepted to be LCTs - however this is continually pronounced L C T S. Considering there are dozens of such acronyms, and they are used dozens of times each in this book, this becomes infuriating very quickly. Even the little pauses and stumbles as he turns the page become irritants when added to everything else. All that was needed was to take a little care, research the terminology for a few minutes, and READ THE BOOK before recording it - then it wouldn't have sounded like the first read-through of a new script.

Would you be willing to try another one of Steve Kehela’s performances?

I want to read the rest of the trilogy - think I'll do it on Kindle.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Absolutely.

Painful to listen to

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No, it grated on my ears.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The story was the most interesting aspect, the reader the most irritating.

Would you be willing to try another one of Steve Kehela’s performances?

No chance

Did Juno Beach inspire you to do anything?

Not get any more of Steve Kehela's recordings

Any additional comments?

If someone is going to read a book about a specialized subject (the Military and foreign geography and names) they should at least find out how to correctly pronounce the (military) terms and the foreign place names correctly before recording the reading. It is painful to listen to.

Interesting read

Very interesting read about the Canadian units so can’t wait to continue the series
Well read and presented
All around good

Detailed, Informative, but terribly narrated

Incredibly detailed (perhaps too detailed?) this provides information by the spade-full, for those interested in military and Canadian history.

BUT be warned, the narrator is abysmal.

You would think it would be a prerequisite that to present such a work, would at least require some familiarity with the content. Yet this chap obliterates French place names, murders German military ranks and tortures well known Titles, Organisations etc., from start to finish.
Come on, even my 10 year old can pronounce "Luftwaffe", whilst it can't take much to think that the PIAT might sound like FIAT.
A pity, because it really detracts from an otherwise very interesting topic.

Great story let down by narration.

Well written story of the Canadian landings on D Day both on Juno beach and by airborne forces. Let down by yhe irritating mispronounciation of French (in particular), German and British words/names.

Courage beyond measure

I don't write reviews, but the story of the Canadians who took part in D-day at Juno beach deserves wider recognition. I especially recommend this book because it gives the credit to the individuals who took part, and the very many volunteers who sacrificed or lost their young lives in keeping us free from tyranny.

Great story - terrible narration

As always from Mark the book is brilliant. Why you’d choose a narrator who can’t even pronounce basic English places and German words, let alone military phrases, is beyond me.

great listen

a most enlightening listen which has expanded my knowledge of this conflict and given me a new perspective.

it might just be a case of accent but I found some pronunciation odd and certain words changed over the course of the book, others did not.

Loofafaaar!

This is an interesting book, it was good to hear more details about D day and refreshing to get a view from a non British or American stand point. It’s well worth a listen.
Unfortunately the narrator is a comical let down. Admittedly place names are a matter of opinion for example Port’s Mouth and Glarrs Go. But the military terms are all over the shop. For example adjutant and Luftwaffe sound like they’re being read for first time.

Narration is awful

The narration of this book at times is so bad I have stopped listening to it and have returned the book for a credit.
The narrator’s military knowledge must be non existent. That is the only explanation I can find for him mispronouncing words like ‘adjutant’ and ‘hussar’ and many more. Such a pity as this story really need to be told.