To be fair I haven't listened all the way through

I was so excited to see a new novel by the author of Room, one of the most moving, thoughtful and insightful books I've read in years.

I downloaded it without hesitation and started listening...

First I fell asleep while listening (without the sleep timer on), so I decided to give it a fighting chance and start back at the beginning, convinced it was my fault for being too tired to listen properly... I stated again...

It was such a bitter disappointment to realise that this just isn't for me; I tried and tried but whether it's the characterisation (an astonishing strength of donoghue's last novel) which felt sketchy to the point of threadbare and borderline characatured, or whether it was the narration (more on that later) I don't know. Either way, after about 4 or 5 good attempts at getting past he initial "hump" to see if I could go the distance, I've reached my Waterloo I fear! This book is not for me.

A word on narration; you're selling an audiobook to the European market. The main character is a Frenchwoman, to be narrated with a French accent, and the book contains frequent use of French quotes and comments... PICK A FRENCH SPEAKING NARRATOR!!!

I'm sure many people will love this book but it's not for me :-(

7 people found this helpful

I tried

What would have made Frog Music better?

more gripping first chapter.

Has Frog Music put you off other books in this genre?

yes

How did the narrator detract from the book?

narrator was good ...just distracting with different accents.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Frog Music?

all of the first chapter

Any additional comments?

boring, confusing , far too drawn out.. complete waste of time trying to get into this story. Dissappointing

1 person found this helpful

An engaging, frank and thrilling story

Where does Frog Music rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The first audiobook I've listened to in years and a great story. I may actually want to read it in print as well because I enjoyed it so much. It has provided me with great distraction during my half marathon preparations.

Narration must be a difficult thing, particularly where accents are concerned. I do think that perhaps just narrating without adding accents would probably still work!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jenny, probably, although it's hard not to like Blanche.

Did Khristine Hvam do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

Some of the accents went awry, particularly the Irish accents and there wasn't a vast deal of difference between the French men and the Italian. The pseudo Chinese was edging pastiche. But the accent trouble was only mildly irritating - the book has such a strong story that it didn't detract too much.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not without massive spoilers.

Any additional comments?

Loved the story. It was thrilling, engaging and evocative. Loved many of the characters. Didn't find it that easy to keep track of where I was in the narrative due to the structure of the book - that would be easier to do when reading the print copy. Wasn't overly enamoured of some of the attempts at accents.

1 person found this helpful

Lovely performance but a rather slow moving story

This is a 12 hour book that really felt like it took 12 hours to listen to - interesting (and apparently based on a true) story but inordinately slow moving. The narrator really tries and the reading and accents are excellent. It just needed to be no more than half its actual length.

lost in the performance...

narrator's French accent was a little offputting as was her Calamity Jane but the story was strong enough to pull through. Not sure if it worked as an audio.

skillful but no story

What about Khristine Hvam’s performance did you like?

Very well read, good songs and accents, and not over-performed.

Any additional comments?

It’s sad to criticise good writing. Emma Donoghue is very talented. The first few chapters are very enjoyable as a picture of a colourful place and period is expertly created for all the senses, and thoroughly researched. Unfortunately not much happens here – no more than what the blurb on the back of the book says. Every chapter is filled with lamentation – ‘If only she did this instead of this.. Oh, why did that have to happen?.. Why couldn't that have happened instead of that?’ You could easily miss out chunks of this book and it would still make sense. I put it aside for ages, then came back to it for an inevitable whimper of an ending. The two-dimensional, cartoonish characters might have functioned better in a shorter story. Could have been massively abridged. Sorry but felt like a waste of time.