Not worth your time.

I spent the entirety of this book telling myself to have an open mind; scolding myself every time I felt the author was "reaching" for big descriptive words at a time when simplicity could have worked better; knocking myself down a peg when I felt I should just stop listening, wasting away those precious hours I spent listening to this book.

I felt the book was pointless, depressing, weak, trying-too-hard-to-impress. Overall a giant waste of my time.

129 people found this helpful

Mundane

I struggled to finish this book. The extremly slow unwind of the story was just too much for me.

73 people found this helpful

Don't waste your time

This book was a total let down and very predictable. The summary is the best part. Narration was good, though "Willow" sounded like she should blow her nose all through the book. I read the reviews, some of them were like wow what a great book. I think I listened to a different book then they did. Ideas weren't bad but it could have been so much better. Very disappointed.

66 people found this helpful

sorry it wasn't good.

It was long and drawn out and the ending wrapped up quickly yet unrealisticly. Sorry, not a good one despite the reviews.

51 people found this helpful

Implausible and imitative

What would have made Pretty Baby better?

I hate to say this about a woman writer, but this book has terrible portrayals of women and that bothered me. You have a neurotic woman pining for a baby, an adolescent who is repeatedly raped, negligent/unsympathetic social workers, and a predatory femme fatale. So I don't know that it could have been made better.

What was most disappointing about Mary Kubica’s story?

There are some really bad stereotypes of the foster care system and adoption. The details-- and myths -- about abortion are truly troubling. The whole approach is derivative of "Gone Gone" (alternating viewpoints of husband and wife, unreliable narrators) without the subtlety of Gillian Flynn. You have to take gigantic leaps to believe certain portions.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of the narrators?

I think they were given a tough job, given the nature of the book. The male was fine; the woman reading the Heidi parts had some incredibly treacly lines to read so I can't fault her performance except to say it was annoying. She should ask someone from Nebraska how Kearney is pronounced.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Pretty Baby?

The whole idea of a teenager taking a bus to Fort Collins, finding a house on foot, and then getting away with what happens in this book begs the question of whether this was vetted at all as a manuscript.

Any additional comments?

Ok. "Gone Girl" was an amazing success but can we move on?

71 people found this helpful

Loses Steam

I felt like this book had a lot of potential that wasn't realized. The end really pittered out for me. I would have liked to have heard more from Heidi at the end, and it ended at an unsatisfactory point in the story to me. However, the narration was sublime. That part was excellent! Overall - the premise was interesting but it never really lived up to itself.

46 people found this helpful

cliché upon cliché

Not sure why I finished it-- could only bear to listen to it while doing household chores.

46 people found this helpful

Entirely too long

To be honest, the reviews kept me listening. So many saying this was an amazing story. I just felt cheated, lied to, mislead, overwhelmed, burglarized, and simply put: I feel this story was entirely too long. (Do you see how many words were in my last sentence just to say it's too long? That's exactly how I felt this story was).

I'm disappointed.

36 people found this helpful

Expected More!

Story was slow moving, and did not see all the twists and turns that everybody is referring to. Thought about giving up on the book, but kept assuming the plot would get better. The characters were pretty boring, with very little depth. This book is definitely not what I would call a psychological thriller. Also, the narration was a bit off, especially with regard to the female parts. Heidi sounded stoned or as if she had just woken up (but always), and Willow's voice was terribly nasal sounding. However, the male narration was well done. I think he also performed in the Good Girl, and was really believable Although some might consider this story a mystery, I would put it on par with Daniele Steel type reading. Skip purchasing it, if you have not already done so.

34 people found this helpful

This book could have been so good.

What did you like best about Pretty Baby? What did you like least?

I don't know if the narrators over-emphasized the words or if the book would have read better on the page, but this came across as pretentious and long-winded. The storyline was great and had an interesting concept but I feel a massive editing overhaul was needed.

Would you ever listen to anything by Mary Kubica again?

Possibly

How could the performance have been better?

The main reader (For Heidi) drove me crazy. All other narrative else was great.

Do you think Pretty Baby needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No

Any additional comments?

Ehhhhh...

4 people found this helpful