Do You Realize?

Wonderful reminder to not take life for granted!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This took me just a bit to get into the story. Had just a bit of a slow start to me, but once it got going, boy I was hooked. Such a wonderful story line that really makes you think. Do you live your life to the fullest or do you take life for granted? Life really is just one car crash, one phone call away from changing forever. Appreciate what you have.

If you could go back and change things would you? What if you did things wrong when you go back? What if you could not stop it even if you go back? Such things to have contemplate when the power is suddenly in your hands.

I completely enjoyed this book. Really thought provoking. Well written and entertaining. It pulled at my heart strings many times.

Narration was very good. Delivery of the story and emotions appropriate. Great book overall!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Be Prepared to Think about this one

This was by no means what I expected when I read the summary.
This book is a deep thinker on life and the choices we make in living it every single day.
We are all travelers in this journey. Are you a positive or a negative influence on those you interact with on your journey?
No matter your background, you can choose to find good and bad not only in this story but in every part of your journey. Hopefully you will choose to look for the positive and then choose to share that with others.

I thought this was a well written story designed to tell the story that it excels in telling. Sometimes it goes quite deep, but that is by design.
I thought the narrator did a good job with this story even though he really was not able to do the female voices justice. He just made it work as this is told in a primarily male voice.

I will be looking for more from Kevin Kuhn.

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Be Here Now

Do You Realize?: A Novel
Author: Kevin Kuhn
Narrator: Grant Pennington

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this honest review.

I always like to preface any reviews I give with this information.

I am a 68 year old female who has been an avid reader since I was around 10 or 11 years old.
I read primarily for pleasure.
I have a great many interests and do a lot of research for personal pleasure and knowledge as well.

Review: This is a review of the Audiobook version of Do You Realize?: A Novel


George and Elena are a middle-aged couple with two children, who on the surface seem to live a fairly mediocre life. George has a job he hates and feels that he and his wife are gradually falling more and more "out of love" as time goes by.



George commutes every day to work and in the course of commuting, he meets a man and has conversations that will eventually change his life in ways he can't begin to imagine.
They discuss some major questions about life. "What is love" is the first discussion.

The man he meets, (Shiloh) tells George on one of the commutes that he has some Apple watches that he has received and is working on a "time management" app for the watches. He offers George a watch and a business card with the url of where he can download the app and give it a try.

George downloads the app, and notices that it appears to have odd effects; not what he would expect from a time management app. Within the course of a couple of days, George realizes he is able to go back in time by using the watch. Through the course of his trips to the past, he becomes a more self-aware man and undergoes gradual changes.

This is a story unlike any I have ever read/heard. I really don't want to add any more to the plot of the story, as such, but it is important to realize that this is a multidimensional story line. There are multiple scientific hypotheses within this book and some quantum mechanic theories are discussed as well. This book discusses the nature of reality and our perceptions of what reality is.

I have really mixed feelings about this story. It seems to move slowly for quite a while. We see a family who has gotten caught up in the rat race. There is not a lot of time for quality family time because everyone has so much going on in their individual lives that they have almost ceased to function as a family unit.

Through the course of George's trips into the past, his gradual awareness of things he has done incorrectly; he comes to realize what each of us in this real life need to realize and to understand.

Time passes so quickly. We don't know what the future holds and that every chance we get, we should say, "I love you", to those we love because sometimes the last time we say that IS the last time.

The author Kevin Kuhn has written a book that is deeply thought-provoking and moving on many levels. This is not a book that has a lot of suspense or action. It is more a book about the heart, about love, about sacrifice and finally, about being here now. This book is about living in the present moment, not squandering time, not living in the past, nor wasting valuable time on regrets and mistakes we have made. This is a thinking person's book.


Narrator Grant Pennington did a great job narrating this audiobook. Every time I listen to a voice actor I have never heard before, there is a period of time it takes to get acquainted with their way of narrating. Mr Pennington has a very pleasant voice and I really enjoyed listening to his narration of this audiobook. I will look forward to hearing more of him.

This book is full of hidden gems; and while this is truly a great story line, I doubt it would appeal to young adults but more for mature people.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Awesome Story With an Amazing Underlying Message

I received a free credit for this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book was absolutely awesome... the whole story is told perfectly. The only problem I have is the narrator didn't provide a greater range of voices for the characters in the book. I had a tough time differentiating between the characters when they're speaking, so I had to pay very close attention to the conversations held.

Now, onto what was so awesome. The whole story had an amazing underlying message. It reminded me of several other books that have allegorical stories like The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Noticer by Andy Andrews, and any of Og Mandino's books. What I took from this specific book was a message about being present and making an impact on someone's life.

You are either a spark that will have an impact in the world or a spark for someone else.

Definitely listen to this book and pay attention to the conversations. Shiloh is a major conversation starter and the spark for the main character, George.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A Thought-Provoking Journey

This book is an interesting combination of philosophical introspection and science fiction. It should be noted that the science fiction aspect is what is used to drive the real message of this story which involves the philosophical message. I enjoyed both.
in this story, the main character is given the opportunity to revisit certain aspects of his life and re-experience them. This is a pretty decent way for us to look at ourselves and our past with the possible benefit of the wisdom we have garnered.
I enjoyed the thought-provoking nature of the story which is guided by the physicist Shiloh.
The narration was OK. It often felt a little stiff to me but, ultimately did not affect my ability to enjoy this book.
I requested this book from the author and agreed to write a review after reading.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Excellent story!

I highly recommend Do you Realize? By Kevin Kuhn.
This story has very relatable down to earth characters and kept my interest throughout.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great

Familiar technology and time travel equate to deep life reflection for George. A struggle to find a sense of one's self and what is really important, inadvertently stems from the newfound luxury of being able to re-live his most meaningful life events. Do you even realize? This book was very interesting both in the story concept and, though unexpected, in the takeaways you get from the story as a reader. This was an enjoyable story to listen to and very original. I enjoyed the narrator, he sounded like the perfect George in my mind's picture of him. Highly recommended!

I received a free copy of this audiobook upon my request in exchange for my voluntary unbiased review.

Meh.

I liked the message but this was a boring way to tell it. The "time traveling" angle felt added in and there was no real drama, at least none that I perceived from this reading.
The major drawback was the dialogue. It's as if the author has never heard how real people talk to one another and grew up watching t.v sitcoms only. Gang members from south Central Chicago sounded like they belonged on Leave It To Beaver.
To his credit, the narrator was an excellent choice for the protaganist voice but please sir, do not attempt to do black voices again. Just hire a black narrator for that, I beg you.
The message of the book could have been presented in so many other ways. My hope is that in some alternate universe out there, it is.

1 of 3 people found this review helpful