TAD

De: M.D. Neu

Narrado por: Steve Connor

Tad bounces around in time and watches mankind grow and change. He loves humanity and helping when he can. However, his job isn’t conducive to helping people - he’s an Angel of Death.

Doug is a fun-loving drama queen. He’s an amazing drag queen and hairstylist with big dreams, but despite his witty exterior, he has a dark history and is prone to self-destruction.

When Tad pushes the boundaries of his duties too far, his wings are stripped away from him, and he is sent to New York City to live as a human. Lost and alone he ends up meeting Doug, and they start a friendship that shapes them both and may last a lifetime. But nothing is simple when you’re dealing with a former Angel of Death and a Drag Queen. Could these two cause the fabric of our world to collapse or will they manage to keep the future as it should?

©2019 M.D. Neu (P)2021 M.D. Neu

GREAT READ!

I really enjoyed it. This book was full of drama and romance! The narration was great. The author did a great job with the character builds and plot. This was my first book by this author but definitely not my last! I look forward to reading more books by this author! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Excellent Uplifting Story

This is the story of one of the Angels of Death (Tad) who was punished for wrong doing by having his wings taken and left on Earth. Here on Earth he is rescued off living on the streets by a Wounderfully generous gay man (Doug)who helps him.
This is their story of the time and Adventures they have and of Doug finding his true love & husband (Roberto). A Very touching story that give a different view of the world. The Narrator did a Wonderful job with the characters voices and the storyline!!

A post 9/11 allegory

I volunteered to listen to this and review it with a profound sense of trepidation. While it’s been 20 years since the events of 9/11, I was worried that they might not be treated with the respect that they deserved. I lost friends and co-workers in the attacks. In fact, if I’d gone into work early that day, I’d not be here now. My office was on the 94th floor of Tower One. All my co-workers that had already gotten to work were lost.

That said, this book uses that event as just an opening event in a whimsical and telling tale about angels and saving lives. It isn’t disrespectful of what happened on that day. In fact, the tale revolves around an “Angel of Death” that is stripped of his wings for lowering the body-count that day. As a result of his punishment, the angel finds himself a homeless man on the streets of NYC. Now it’s a year after the fateful events and this tale revolves around the drag queen that took him in.

Doug is slightly overweight drag queen and hairdresser who takes in this fallen angel, calling him TAD. Though Tad is beautiful, he’s asexual. He has no sexual desire and doesn’t quite understand human desire.

While this is partly an allegory it is also a tale of humanity. With the advantage of being partly from the viewpoint of an innocent, unworldly outsider, one can see and say things about the human condition that we insiders seldom realize. Who’s better to explore what it means to be human than someone who never has been?

In spots this is a poignant portrait of man’s inhumanity to man. In other’s it’s a portrait on just one man’s life. They say that “Fate works in mysterious ways”, but when Fate asks for Doug’s help in this tale, one questions where it will all lead.

This tale out of time lacked some of the cohesiveness of more standard plot-lines. At points it’s confusing, and one feels like it should be better ordered. But then, that’s true of life as well.

This audiobook is narrated by Steve Connor in an upbeat manner that reveals his history as a children’s book narrator. The prose narrative is clear and well paced and the different character voices are distinct without being over-done. Connor’s narration style wouldn’t work for every tale, but it’s perfect for this one. It adds emphasis to the “moral fable” aspects of the story. This Audio-book is outside the norm in a number of ways, and won’t be to all tastes.

I really enjoyed it, and I expect that those for a taste for things outside the norm will as well. It's one of those books that gives one a fresh perspective and perhaps a deeper understanding of life.

*** Note: I am voluntarily reviewing this after receiving a complimentary copy ***

Interesting take on angels

This was a very interesting take on angels. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into but the blurb made me want to listen more and I really did enjoy the story a lot. There are angels among us but they aren’t always what we assume they are and I really enjoyed that. I had a lot of fun listening to this and seeing where it would go. I really wish there had been more to the story and it was longer but it was still really great! I am excited to see if there is more there and if we will get to see even more of these stories.

interesting

Entire review @Joyfully Jay

2.75⭐️
Audio: 3.75⭐️

As an Angel of Death, TAD's fondness for humans makes taking souls difficult for him, especially in massive numbers. When he bends the rules too much, he’s stripped of his wings and sent to live on Earth. After a year of stewing in sorrow and street scum, he’s taken in by hairstylist and drag queen extraordinaire, Doug. Soon Doug becomes Tad’s raison d’être, and as Doug’s inner demons and depression feed his self-destructive nature, Tad goes to any lengths to give Doug happiness. Unfortunately, Tad’s singular focus on one soul’s happiness proves as disruptive as his focus on changing the fates of souls meant to die.

T.A.D is an interesting exploration of concepts such as free will, fatalism and determinism and the consequences of pride, selfishness, and sacrifice wrapped up in the friendship and emotional journey of a drama queen and de-winged angel. . .Tad’s evolution from the effects of his tunnel-vision and the lessons he takes (or doesn’t) power the story. . .The pace drags toward the middle and idles along. . . where T.A.D truly loses me most is Doug’s depiction.

Full disclosure: Doug and I got off to a rocky start. On the first anniversary of 9/11, in his sadness he expresses a wish that Bush had blown up the entire Middle East. Getting hit with the undeserved hostility and mistreatment of Muslims and those “Middle Eastern looking” folks is emotionally jarring. However, I enjoy messy, self-destructive and salty characters, so Doug’s isn’t the real issue; it’s the unbalanced show vs tell when it comes to Doug’s complicated personality. Much of the story portrays Doug on the razor’s edge of self-destruction and how horribly he treats himself and Tad.

Yet, 95% of his big-heartedness, kindness, etc. is reported by Tad, and the few scenes attempting to show these traits or Doug being a good/supportive friend, usually have an edge of meanness and/or are dismissive, even mocking. . . including Tad's asexuality (although the story seems to think asexuality isn’t actually a thing and that memory is tied to libido??). . . and Tad’s sexual assault. I understand that Neu spotlighting Doug’s less than pleasant behaviors conveys that Tad sees Doug’s inner beauty and goodness, but the minimal textual substantiation is frustrating.

Also, I find Doug’s behavior when Tad first moves in somewhat predatory and icky. Doug found Tad beautiful from the start and within days he initiates sex with the homeless, unemployed and friendless Tad. Despite the narrative making it clear Tad has no interest or pleasure in sex, he gamely continues to try sex to make Doug happy. Throwing in a line of Tad's assurance he wants to do it doesn’t carry much weight since Doug was unhappy with Tad's hesitance/disinterest, and Tad literally says he did it to make Doug happy.

Steve Connor's voice for Doug channels Doug’s dramatic, volatile and sassy temperament. . . but Connor infuses his voice with showy flair in all situations so in deeply emotional scenes, Connor goes bigger—sliding alongside (and often crossing into) campy telenovela territory. His voice for Tad is also more or less on point, especially at the beginning where he effortlessly expresses Tad’s combination of artless joy and youthful pride. . . Sometimes, though, his voices for Tad and Doug overlap, making it hard to differentiate the two during dialogue, and Connor has difficulty keeping his character voices consistent.