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Frog Music
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
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Frog Music
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Summary
Frog Music is a wonderfully evocative novel of intrigue and murder from Emma Donoghue, the author of the international bestseller Room, an emotive and powerful novel that was shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker and Orange Prizes.
San Francisco, 1876: A stifling heat wave and smallpox epidemic have engulfed the City. Deep in the streets of Chinatown live three former stars of the Parisian circus: Blanche, now an exotic dancer at the House of Mirrors, her lover Arthur and his companion Ernest. When an eccentric outsider joins their little circle, secrets unravel, changing everything - and leaving one of them dead.
Frog Music, inspired by true events, is an evocative novel of intrigue and murder: Elegant, erotic and witty.
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Critic reviews
“Frog Music builds into a gripping tale of a woman’s struggle to survive in the anarchic world of a frontier city and shows what a wonderfully talented and versatile writer Emma Donoghue is.” (Scottish Daily Mail)
“This is another smart and finely wrought consideration of parenthood, further proof of Donoghue’s significant skill as an author.” (The Observer - The New Review)
"In Frog Music, Donoghue constructs an entire world in which the characters and material can really breathe… filling every page with a kaleidoscope of detail." (Belfast Telegraph)
"Frog Music builds into a gripping tale of a woman’s struggle to survive in the anarchic world of a frontier city and shows what a wonderfully talented and versatile writer Emma Donoghue is." (Daily Mail)
"The novel is fast-paced and Donoghue’s talent for storytelling shows in her ability to jump around without every losing the reader. She also has a knack for description: both her characters and the world she portrays come alive in your mind." (Scotland on Sunday)
What listeners say about Frog Music
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Victoria
- 14-04-14
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 :-(
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anon
- 19-06-24
Great story telling!
I loved the story. The characters were vibrant and exciting, their lives entwining and then unraveling beautifully. This is a whodunnit, inspired by true events in 1876 San Francisco, during a heat wave and small pox epidemic.
The narrator does a reasonable job of telling the story but I found her different accents a bit off key from time to time. However, it was worth overlooking these very minor irritations because, she managed to convey the story well enough and accents can be difficult.
Highly recommended.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- friedandy
- 06-04-16
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.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- K. Bridges
- 05-08-20
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.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sarah F
- 09-05-14
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.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- alan
- 10-05-14
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
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1 person found this helpful