Disappointing Reading

It may be that this book is better read than listened to. Certainly it has the acuteness of perception and comment you expect from Margaret Atwood and a density of interesting observation and explorations that pass too quickly when only heard. It is an exploration of memory and how we create our past, of bullies and victims, of time. The fifty year old, successful Elaine looks back to a childhood idyllic until her parents settle in 1940s Toronto and she is confronted by social norms and constraints she has not had to deal with before. The book is almost entirely about her childhood and an extended period of bullying lead by her 'best friend', followed by teenage years when, if roles are not exactly reversed, Elaine at least has the upper hand. We learn little about Elaine's life as an adult, as a painter; that all seems further away than her vivid rehabiting of childhood.
As has been mentioned, the editing is appalling, the worst of any audio book I've listened to, with the breaks between chapters either long, or more usually, non-existent and many sentences repeated as if a mistake has been made and not edited out.
I found the style of the reading uneven. Sometimes it was brilliant, energetic and with great inflection. Mostly, however, the voice of the reader and the tone she adopts for the book injects a kind of Plaintive melancholy to the story that I don't think is an essential part of the book and becomes tedious.
As you'd expect from Margaret Atwood, this is a very interesting book and I would recommend it highly as a read. I'm not sure that I'd recommend this reader, though, she didn't suit me.

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16 people found this helpful

Brilliant

This is a story of the highest quality. Beautiful language, cleverly constructed sentences.Acutely perceptive of people.

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Good but

I really enjoyed the story and being able to listen to it while reading it at the same time, made easier to follow the book and understand it. Though several times the voice was repeating the same sentence twice.

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Loved this book but lots of mistakes?

I enjoyed this book so much, it’s a real observation of the female experience but the actual reading had lots of mistakes, the narrator repeated several bits multiple times which is a bit poor, I did enjoy the book and would enjoy reading this again.

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Poorly edited

This would have been an excellent book performed well except for the poor editing. Throughout the book the reader repeats phrases as she tries out different intimations or stumbles on pronunciation. These errors should not have made it to the final cut. Shame.

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3 people found this helpful

Brilliant Book!

The reader here is just right, measured and even and completely believable as the narrator. She adds meaning and authenticity to this superb and engaging account of a woman's life and her psychology of dealing with relationships with family, friends and lovers, in recent but also historical context . Wise and incisive and many layered. These relationships are reflected in the paintings if the successful narrator and we are told about these in satisfying detail although typically ironically, the artist's agent interprets them in other terms! all round 5 Stars

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poor editing towards the end

I enjoyed the story although it was a bit rambling and mostly the performance but unfortunately there were some editing errors towards the end

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Great book Flawed Production

I enjoyed this book. Here is Atwood exploring themes of time, change and recollection across a Canada of the 40s through the present. There's a sense of danger or malice as she describes it running through the book. It may seem sedate but there's real venom just below the surface. From childhood bullying to a reported murder to war and to hijack. Some real and some imagined.

The narration is good but as other reviews state the editing is poor and gets worse as the novel progresses. This sort of thing shouldn't impact the final published work and, if it does, should be picked up following its mention by so many reviewers.

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3 people found this helpful

Problematic audiobook editing

The book itself is great. But the audiobook editing is poor. At many points, the same phrases are read out more than once without the redundant take(s) being cut out.

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1 person found this helpful

Beautifully written and narrated but!

Terrible editing, many times sentences were repeated , you can forgive once or twice but it really started to get on my nerves!

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1 person found this helpful