An Excellent Piece of Writing Ruined by Narration

This exhaustively researched history should be mandatory reading for all Americans, especially those who travel to or live temporarily in Hawaii.

Whomever is responsible for the selection of the narrator should be fired. Apparently the only requirement for the job was to be an Australian, presumably to make the narration more "authentic" since the author is an Aussie. I would have added other qualifications, such as a demonstrated familiarity with the English language, a work ethic that included rehearsals, and the lack of a speech impediment. Audible owes anyone who purchased this version an apology and a free replacement.

14 people found this helpful

Great information but terrible narrator

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I just moved to Hawaii and noticed the museums have a very biased view of the taking of Hawaii. I bought this book to hear the Hawaiian side of the story. It's a well written and engaging book full of well-researched facts. I highly recommend except for the narrator. Not only does he mispronounce common Hawaiian names and words, like Kamehameha and haole but he mispronounces them differently and inconsistently. He's really awful and it takes away from the story. He's so poor I would recommend reading this book rather than listening to it. It's sad this wasn't caught.

8 people found this helpful

Totally Unacceptable Narration

2017 October 20 Friday 22:38 Honolulu (UTC -10:00)

This is too important a book to have it ruined by a narrator without a clue.

Not only does David Franklin badly mispronounce most Hawaiian words, he sometimes alternates between various mispronunciations of the same word, including the name of Hawaii’s most important historical personality, Kamehameha The Great.

Shame, shame, shame, on Audible Studios, which claims to take care of their authors. They absolutely did NOT take care of Stephen Dando-Collins by issuing this pathetic travesty and laughing stock of a most important work.

3 people found this helpful

Hawaiian not Australian

Story line may get better but I can not continue to listening to bad hawaiian language this is like a Hawaiian trying to speak Spanish I wanted to hear the story not correct every bad pronunciation! I need to exchange this book for another

2 people found this helpful

Well Written ... poorly narrated.

The book itself seems to have been well researched and clearly written, but that is marred by the odd cadence of the narrator. He has a habit of pausing in the middle and the end of some sentences (almost as if stopping to turn a page) for just long enough that you think the chapter has ended ... when it hasn't. For the first couple of hours I found myself continually checking to see if my player had paused for some reason, only to hear him start up again. Eventually it just became annoying, but manageable. Maybe some of this can be chalked up to editing issues.

1 person found this helpful

Informative

What would have made Taking Hawaii better?

Reader without an accent.

Has Taking Hawaii turned you off from other books in this genre?

I wont'.

Would you be willing to try another one of David Franklin’s performances?

No

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

It answered my question about how the US stole Hawaii and how white men perceive their power over non-whites and women.

1 person found this helpful

Dishonorable Hawai'ian Language

The research is intriguing, and appears sound. However, quoting from the book itself "bastardized the language.". Shameful, and disrespectful to the people of Hawai'ian blood, deep ancestry.

Wonderfully researched history

An unbiased look at how the USA stole Hawaii. I was captivated and moved both times I listened.

Long time in coming

This work fills in lots of the missing pieces. There have been lots of questions regarding how the overthrow could have come about as it did. This work provides the relevant contextual situations and many of the pertinent details. It kept me gripped from beginning to end.

This is a must read in my opinion for anyone of Hawaiian blood or Hawaiian affiliation, i.e., anyone with sympathy and support for Native Hawaiians. Most especially, this is a must read for those who participate in the Hawaiian arts of hula and song. It will restore the dignity and grace of your queen and royal lineage in a way that is timely and critical for Hawaii today. And it will breathe new meaning and purpose into your dedication to your art forms.

Started out interesting and then went on and on...

Would you try another book from Stephen Dando-Collins and/or David Franklin?

yes, I would be willing to try another book. This book started out interesting because narration was good and it had some historical tidbits. At some point, about 7 hours into the book, it sounded like the same topic regardless of what chapter I was on. Another 3 hour setup to explain how they were going to overthrow the Hawaiian leader. It was endless chatter amongst the characters being portrayed. Too much character development and scene descriptions and not enough factual information.

Would you ever listen to anything by Stephen Dando-Collins again?

yes, if the topic was one I was interested in.

Would you be willing to try another one of David Franklin’s performances?

yes, narration was fine but it was the script/book that was too much about nothing. I came away with a few facts and hours of listening to characters talk too much.

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

good intentions and first few chapters were informative but half way through I felt like I was trapped at a cocktail party with someone who was giving me details about what her cousin was wearing but all I asked was "what does your cousin do?" Lots of information but wrong answer.