An epic!

Love the book. Utterly engaging. I did however question the choice of the narrator. His voice was smooth and enjoyable, his voice for the English characters was superb. However much of the book is narrating the voices and geographical place names of Ireland. The Irish accents were difficult to listen too, place names unintelligible and attempts at speaking Irish a concern to say the least. This undermines the book. It is not the narrators fault, it would be prudent in future to support narrators by employing an expert in the pronunciations of specific languages to enable them to do the book justice.

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1 person found this helpful

Historical details about the travel to America from Ireland and the potato famine.

The details left me able to taste and smell this ship. I learned a lot of facts about the potato famine. Very disturbing. Beautifully written. A masterpiece.

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Spell-binding story.

I did not know this writer, but I am impressed by this novel: its rich variety of characters and the details it provides of that particular period of history.

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Bad reader

A wonderful piece of writing
Wish I had read it
The reader was abysmal
Pronunciation of Gaelic and Irish towns dreadful
I guess he was trying to be West Briton but got in the way

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15 people found this helpful

Really thrilling read

l loved listening to this audio book. So interesting , yet sad and full of nostalgia

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Enjoyable

I thought this was an enjoyable read with lots of interesting threads to it. I feel like it's been done before, but worth a listen.

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Thedescriptve passaes

a bit bambozled a the end! I lost the pot a bit. Mostly ok but I mustve missed something along the way

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A fantastic story but strange choice of narrator

I read this book years ago and loved it so really enjoyed reliving it. It's such a well constructed and beautifully written story, and really touches on the complexities of the famine. I do think it's bizarre that they chose an English person to narrate it though! The Irish accents he put on were usually decent but at times teetered on offensive. He only knows one accent so he wasn't able to do a Dublin or Northern Irish accent when needed. There was also a lot of Irish place names and bits of Irish language in the book, much of which was totally butchered. Wasn't there anyone Irish in the production? Why not get an Irish person to narrate, who could easily do the various accents, pronounce places and the language properly, and is perfectly capable of doing a standard "aristocratic English" accent if needed? It didn't totally spoil it, but it was confusing at times, and strange that in a story about British imperialism and its impact on Ireland, they had an English man tell it.

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1 person found this helpful

An unforgettable , engaging listen

Great story, superbly narrated. It gives insights into harsh and tragic history of Irish famine.

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This is one of my favourite books ever

I read The Star of the Sea years ago. It was a real treat to listen to it now. There is so much in this book that one visit to it is not enough.

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