Wendy

Not For the Faint-hearted

Reviewed: 02-08-2020

Considering that we are all under a soft version of house arrest right now, this certainly sets the stage for struggles well into the future of humanity. Very timely!

Worth all the time, trials and tears

Reviewed: 22-07-2020

During the past handful of years I was able to read snippets of this epic. Amazed by the requirements of a child's life in China during the same first decade of my life when the worst thing that I had to hold me back, or hold me down was an older brother, threatening me with a handful of cow poo if I didn't let him wear my gumboots. All I can say is, how lucky we are to have this voice in our lives right now.

Ahh ....

Reviewed: 20-06-2020

Nothing more to say. Don't want to be a spoiler. I really needed this to clarify the missing bits of Stranger Child.

perfect ending

Reviewed: 06-04-2020

Sally Rooney's two equally fractured protagonists bounce back to each other through the most confusing time in a human life. That of awakening sexuality on the road to awareness of what will always be unacceptable behaviour in any relationship. Their fallback position of safety is with each other. Flawed individuals.... aren't we all? We are, after all, normal people.

Fresher than the freshest air ...

Reviewed: 08-05-2019

Author Rachel Joyce and producer Tracey Neale have put together the most beautiful collection of the Bronte sisters books in a unique and loving way. They've given me a whole new perspective on Wuthering Heights which I always found too dark. I never understood its popularity. I should have realised the love that would be brought to the task by Rachel Joyce, one of my favourite authors. And now, to hear these wonderfully performed radio plays written by Rachel Joyce, I understand why other performances and radio adaptations leave me cold. Thank you. Congratulations for the freshness whilst maintaining the honesty and spirit of the Bronte voices. This is an excellent collection where we are treated to the social mores of the past whilst highlighting how little progress we've made. I visited the snow-clad Parsonage in Haworth when I was travelling, with the hope of soaking up some skills by osmosis.

Credibility Stretched Too Far

Reviewed: 03-09-2018

This book was certainly filled with tension but credibility threads broke repeatedly whilst the tension was at its greatest. Beyond Belief. I'm one who is prepared always to let imagination take over, but this was too much for my free and easy acceptance of solutions when all that is left is failure and despair. Convenient solutions that are not only unbelievable but absolutely impossible are too much.

S C Bates is too young for this book

Reviewed: 14-04-2018

I always read the negative reviews and if other books I've disliked are mentioned, I do shy from buying the book. In this instance I am so glad that I bought the book. I've laughed out loud. I've cringed. I know every single person in this book. They live in my neighbourhood. Our children and grandchildren are the same ages.

I've reached, not middle age, not old age, but the Age of Guess Who or the Age of Charades. The differences in memory of a group of people about the same single incident not only come in each person's telling but also in each person's telling each day. And usually the differences are accompanied by laughter. I just love living in the world of Guess My Next Word. It Fled While I Was Getting To It.

S C Bates, I understand your dislike of this book. I'm sad to report that one day you will realise that you simply are too young for this book. Now.

1 person found this helpful

Chronology confusing

Reviewed: 06-07-2017

What disappointed you about Dead Woman Walking?

I think this should have been and excellent book except for the continuing jump starts where events that shaped the day are not years apart but merely days or hours. I listened twice over and made little more sense of it the second time. I gave up before finishing this reading.

Has Dead Woman Walking put you off other books in this genre?

Never! I've come across some exceptional titles in this genre.

How could the performance have been better?

Performance was very good. It was an impossible book to read well. The need for more than 120 chapters is a good indicator to how often your concentration was asked to shift back and forth.

What character would you cut from Dead Woman Walking?

No idea. I didn't get it.

Any additional comments?

I read great books with multiple voices, sometimes spanning centuries and many generations. This story should have maintained it's chronological sequence since it took place in a very few days.

1 person found this helpful

The Best!

Reviewed: 29-03-2016

There are so many versions of this children's classic in audio and I bought the wrong one at first. This though, is simply brilliant. With a much loved classic set in Yorkshire, it must be read by a Brit who can speak the Yorkshire dialect of Dicken especially since he is one of the three characters on almost every page. The Yorkshire idiom was beautifully read. My granddaughters will love this one.

1 person found this helpful

An extraordinary network of glimpses into history

Reviewed: 17-03-2016

I have listened many times to this book in its entirety. My memory is not as it was last week and I had a lot of questions which are all answered in their context. I find it useful to have some background in order to catch all the clues. So, to me, a second listen is often crucial. How often do we sabotage ourselves in order to pass blame to others? How often do we wonder, "What if..." No doubt I will listen to this book again one day. The reader is excellent.

1 person found this helpful