Don't bother

Read the actual book. This summary is a joke. The narrator cannot even pronounce the names consistently the same. It turns a rich and beautiful story into what sounds like a boring, torturous read.
The actual book is wonderful.

6 people found this helpful

Painfully Bad Review of a Beautiful Book

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

1) If thought had been put into analysis of the themes of the book, such as "light". For example, the "analysis" of 'light' consisted mostly of a listing of all the references to 'light' in the book.

2) A reader who pronounced words correctly. English words (e.g., antithesis) were mispronounced, and the pronounciation of foreign words and names was excruciatingly bad (e.g., Werner, Volkheimer, Jutta, Marie Laure, Guernica). Painful to listen to.

3) The "analysis" claimed that a failing of this novel was the fact that only oblique references were made to the Holocaust...don't really know how to respond to that one.

Has All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr turned you off from other books in this genre?

Absolutely not. I loved the book. I will, however, never purchase another summary of a book by "Instaread" because this one was so poorly done.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Jason P. Hilton?

The reader of the actual book, All the Light We Cannot See. He was terrific.

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

If you are a middle schooler and didn't read the book, you might be able to pull off an last minute essay. Otherwise I would not recommend this "Summary" or "Analysis".

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Great for additional processing of the story after reading the full novel! I would recommend, but only after reading the book.

2 people found this helpful

Not too shabby

The narration was without emotion but was clear and well read. Overall it was a good listen. Looking forward to the book in its entirety.

4 people found this helpful

Repetitive but filled in what I missed.

Had read book already , did not gain deeper insight. Want INSTAREAD on About Grace!

Better Than The Book!

This summary was great. I listened to it AFTER plodding through the mostly boring and incoherent book. I only finished listening to it because it was my book club selection.
After listening to the summary I realize what a good book this COULD AND SHOULD have been. The story idea was compelling but the end result was terribly flawed, mostly because of the writing style.