Of Foreign Build

From Corporate Girl to Sea-Gypsy Woman

By: Jackie Parry

Narrated by: Michelle Michaels

Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

After suffering an emotionally-brutal bereavement and against her counselor's advice, Jackie ran away. Suddenly within a new culture, with a new husband and no friends, she was living in the obscure world of cruising with zero knowledge of boats.

Crashing within the first 24 hours, Jackie realized life would never be the same again: a floating home with no fridge or hot water, and with a dinghy instead of a car. Suffering self-doubts, she became fearful of her new world.

The first off-shore voyage took Jackie into a ferocious storm, which battered her physically and mentally. Amid the raging seas, Jackie shed the fear she'd been harboring.

Soon she was blissfully voyaging around the world, but she still carried the mixed emotions of losing one man, while falling head over heels in love with another.

Not only did Jackie deal successfully with the challenges of her new existence, she also battled with the testosterone-fueled nautical world to become both a professional captain and a qualified maritime teacher.

Most importantly, Jackie found herself.

©2015 New Street Communications, LLC (P)2015 New Street Communications, LLC

Critic Reviews

"[T]his book should appeal to anyone who enjoys a heart-warming adventure." ( Cruising Helmsman Magazine)

great personal memoir and life adventure.

first if all I must say this is my first audio book experience. I love to read and was not sure I would like this model. I am very pleasantly surprised to find that I love being read to!
Jackie really can write a fascinating story which happens to be her own. She peels back the layers and tells her readers about her most vulnerable times. She is amazing how she leaped from the 9 to 5 corporate world and embraced and learned her new life style. Her descriptions of visiting foreign countries by Sea, encountering wildlife, making new friends, and growing to trust herself make this book a great read.

Great Story, Beautifully Told

I am almost finished with this book and am sad that this journey is ending! Of Foreign Build has successfully taken my mind off of the frustration and boredom of Los Angeles traffic on my daily commute. I've been content to sit and listen while Jackie takes me on this great adventure. Jackie's writing style is very personal, honest and I have a sense of being on board with her and her husband Noel. It's packed with wonderful, heartfelt and often funny tales of their trips around the world. I highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy traveling. You will be inspired.

From no nothing to a salty sailor, it's a fun ride

Story encouraged two amateurs like us to pursue our dream of sailing.
Great performance by narrator. Loved her British wit.

Worst narration I have ever had misfortune to purchase

I thought I would habituate to the tone and cadence of her voice, but nope, still just as awful. It is unfortunate because the story is interesting.

Extra drama performance unrelated to the story

Could have been a great global cruising story, but the real ocean sailing parts are practically missing, as if the boat was flying from one destination to the other. The performance is a hysterically speech full of drama regardless the actual scene at each chapter or case. This make it tiring to listen. At least to sailor-cruiser like me.

A good story, but the narration...

I greatly enjoyed the story and the narrator is clearly quite talented. She was just a bit much for a travel narrative. I felt like she was on the verge of tears the entire time, as if she had just witnessed an animal hit by a car. I yelled at my radio on numerous occasions to just stop. painful, but the story is worth it.

Narrator !

what may have been an otherwise really good story was kind of screwed up this narrator she alternate Lee made me want to cry and then commit suicide overdrew overly dramatic not a good reading. I couldn't wait for the story to end.

The narrative was great.

Very detailed, entertaining, and inspirational. I hated the narrator. She was always either whispy and meloncholy, or shirl and yelling. one of the worst narrators I've heard. It's a pity, because it nearly ruined a good book.

Great story but WORST NARRATION

Story was amazing. The performance was so bad that I will check every audio book from here on to make sure it's not Michelle MICHAELs reading it. Seriously-- does anyone check production quality?

Awful Narrator

What would have made Of Foreign Build better?

Get a narrator who knows how to pronounce names, places, and boat parts. She was very distracting. I wish I would have bought the print version. I have a print version of another of the author's books. I like her content, even on this book, but the narration was so bad I would never buy another book narrated by her. I can't believe that if the author listened to it, she didn't demand it be read again by someone else. Also, when she tried to add expression, it sounded like she was crying.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked most of the story. If I had it to do over, I would buy the hard copy.

Would you be willing to try another one of Michelle Michaels’s performances?

Absolutely not!

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Of Foreign Build?

None on the content. The whole book in the audio edition.

Any additional comments?

Don't use this narrator any more. This is a professional, not a high school kid with a hobby (I think).

Good story

Great story, some great adventures over the globe. Overall an enjoyable tale if you get past the very strange narration, which can be very irritating.

Well written book

The narrator ruined this book for us. The reading style, voices and knowledge of pronunciation of both nautical terms and even the English language was appalling. Just wish Jackie had read the book herself. Maybe it could be re-recorded and we could listen again, without constant irritation.

A trial to listen to!

An at best average book of mild interest. She is definitely a glass half full type of person, suffering from insecurity and lack of confidence.

The narration probably doesn't help. It is worse than dreadful! The woman can't read one complete sentence without breaking it down into machine gun like blocks of four or five words. Ratatattat, Ratatattat. Sped up to 1.25x it almost sounds like a complete sentence.
Emotions, accents and male voices are bizarre, odd, comical and are poorly portrayed,
There is some duplication too.

I can't recommend this book. The content is disappointingly uninspiring and the narration will test your patience to the extreme.

Great voice actress and story

Would you consider the audio edition of Of Foreign Build to be better than the print version?

I love listening to stories, I can keep doing things with my hands while listening where as I can't if I am reading it. I can crochet, stare at the ceiling and visualize what is being told.

What about Michelle Michaels’s performance did you like?

I liked the tones in her voice. Very easy to listen to her.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

A little bit of both. I'm not sure I could give up everything and go be a sea gypsies woman. I would love to be at sea for a while but not for life.